Showing posts with label Knock Off. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knock Off. Show all posts

Monday, April 4, 2011

Chicos Inspired Necklace and Earrings

So I was at the mall last week wandering through several of my favorite stores. I don’t sew that well so I don’t knock off clothes. Trust me, people saying "Oh, you made that" about a clothing item would NOT be saying it in a tone conveying their awe at my dressmaking skills. More like "OMG, didn't anyone see you before you left the house?"  But jewelry I can  do.

I saw something like this at Chicos ( this is from their website) :
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The one I saw was  longer and $48. I’ve seen variations of these long chain necklaces, some with beads incorporated. I had a couple of styles of Bead Landing chain on hand from Michaels, along with leftover washers from my Washer Charm Bracelet and beads from my stash.

The fun thing about this is there is no right or wrong. I wasn’t going for symmetry so I threaded some beads on wire and made wrapped loops on either end and then joined them to different lengths of pieces of chain:
Metal Necklace and Earrings

Faceted Metal Beads

Metallic Bead

It was such a fast project I had time to make a pair of matching earrings!

Hammered Metal Clips

I can’t wear pierced earrings so these are clip-ons. Just glued the clip backs (I love Beadalon’s adhesive for this) to some findings and attached one loop from leftover chain to each earring using a jump ring. Added a bead and a small washer to complete.

Metal Madness Earrings
They look a lot heavier than they are. They’re actually really light. Nothing like making something in the morning to wear  for something you need to go to in the afternoon!
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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Pottery Barn Inspired Easter Egg

I hate it when I start to question my sanity. Like when I assume that something I see at PB will be on their website and it isn’t and then I start thinking well maybe that’s not where I saw it! I  know I saw some floral eggs at PB last week. I was short on time so I just figured they’d be on their website and I could take a closer look. Well no. But I wanted to make them! (insert big stamping foot pout here).  Here’s my take on a “I Know I Saw This @ Pottery Barn  / Don’t Have A Picture to Show You Egg”:

Pottery Barn Inspired Egg (3)
I started with a package of styrofoam eggs from Michaels. $4.49 before 40% for a package of 4.
Pottery Barn Inspired Egg (2)
And a stem of these silk cherry blossom things for $1.49
Pottery Barn Inspired Egg
Other materials, straight pins and a ginormous bag of “pearls” from my bead stash.
I inserted a screw eye into the top of the egg. Then I popped one of the blossoms (they’re two layers each) off of the stem and threaded it onto a straight pin with a pearl and stuck it into the egg. Went around the whole egg until it was covered and threaded a coordinating ribbon through the screw eye.
Pottery Barn Inspired Egg (5)
Pottery Barn Inspired Egg (6)
So the next time I’m in PB I will remember to sneak  pics on my phone! And even though I don’t remember how much PB wanted, I know it was more than the $1.86 my egg cost me to make!
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A Little Knick Knack





Saturday, March 5, 2011

Knock Off or Knock It Off #2

Copycat Crafts
Call it ICTMTM ( I Can Totally Make That Myself) Inspired By-itis or Knock Off Fever, all of us creative types have it in some form or another.

I had fun with my first real knock off piece that even got featured over at Copy Cat Crafts, it emboldened me to try again. I may have exhausted my skills!

This time, the inspiration came from Ballard Designs. Both in their current catalog and on their website they have several pieces of abstract art, either paintings or digitally printed glicee prints…and they range from $249 to$459. GULP. I can’t draw to save my life but these aren’t still lifes they’re abstract so no one can tell me that my apple looks like a pumpkin.

I liked these from Ballard:
Breaking Through II Handpainted Canvas
First Light I Giclee Print
Grey Haze Hand Painted Print
because even though our house isn’t contemporary, these are really muted and I think they go with many styles. And they’re $249-$429!

So, I had a canvas (previous DIY art) that had been hanging up that I was tired of, and I had paint, and I even had some Golden Gel Medium molding paste that I bought for reasons that weren’t clear to me at the time. I think an art store was closing.

I covered the whole thing in black paint, then smudged ( sorry all you Fine Arts people whom I do truly respect) some of the Gel Medium goop all over with a plastic knife. Dried that overnight. Then I started splotching ( another technical term) various paints on. I used a combination of pewters, silver, grey, black, white, gold. Whatever I had wherever it went. Added some silver rub n buff in places.
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Closeup of the layering of molding paste and paints
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Another closeup from another section

I know the Louvre or MOMA won’t be calling any time soon but hey, it was stuff I had on hand and it works for now. Be honest. I can take it…I have chocolate.
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Friday, February 18, 2011

I Knocked It Off

Copycat Crafts
The February Open House link party is still going strong here and you can link up and enter to win the giveaway through Sunday night.

I’ve seen lots of fun framed typography prints in various boutiques and on line and decided to try my hand at knocking one off because well, they “ain’t cheap”!
Here’s one from a great site I recently joined called Joss and Main.
Smith & Co
You can join Joss and Main for free and receive emails with their daily “events” which are limited time offers to buy home décor, kitchen items, accessories etc. Prices range, well they range! Something about the above print by Smith & Co just caught my eye but reg price is $186, on sale for $99.

So I downloaded a free parchment background ( googled parchment background) and then imported into my graphics program and went to work on letters. Ended up having to do them one by one in order to get the same effect but it wasn’t too bad.

I had a coupon burning a hole in my pocket for my favorite frame store, Aaron Brothers. Found a frame for $24.99, 40% off that and my additional 20% off that…$11.99. Had a mat in my stash and since I was making my own print, printed my image to fit my mat.
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I am really happy with the end result but I was not happy with the pics of the end result so I uploaded the file I created to Picnik and put a digital frame on it so I could zoom in on the lettering to show you better. I also added the word “JOY” to mine because I like that word and that way the copyright police won’t come after me!
PeaceLove1
So what do you think? Did I knock it off? (Or should I knock off the knock offs?)
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 UndertheTableandDreaming