"Dollar-kea" Mirror II...Now With Mod Podge

I made this mirror last week without really knowing where it was going. I finally decided what I wanted to do with it which is to put it in our bathroom but it's going to replace a botanical print that's part of a pair so I needed to make it a friend. Since I decided it was going in the bathroom, I thought I should seal the paper with Mod Podge so I went back and sealed the first one too.

Started with the basic Malma frame and this time, a plain frame from the $1 Tree:

 

Used some more of my ginormous roll of industrial capet tape to tape up the Ikea mirror and painted the $1 Tree frame and the edges of the Ikea mirror black.  Chose different but complementary scrapbook paper and some more silver handmade paper scraps and adhered to the Ikea mirror:

 

You can't see it too well but will be able to in the finished product... before I painted the $1 frame, I super glued ( for small things I am in love with Locktite's super glue gel) two keys that are actually scrapbooking stickers to the frame. It was plain and I wanted some dimension. They're "Jolee's" dimensional stickers...I got mine @ JoAnn's during one of their 40% off sticker sales:

If you're wondering why I bought a plain frame if I was just going to put stuff on it, I wondered that too, but hey, it's what I do :)
So for this one I sealed the base mirror with Mod Podge before I glued the frame on, and while that was drying, got out my silver Rub n Buff and aged my key frame. End result:

Total cost $5 ( adding in a buck and change for 1/2 package of 40% off key stickers since I used the other half for another project)

Here are the two together:

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Welcome Fellow Friday Followers!

 

It's OFFICIAL! It's A 100 Follower Giveaway!

Update: When I first put this up today,  I was at 97 follwers and had titled it "3 Away From A Giveaway.
It's official now, I have 100 wonderful followers and it's such an exciting milestone to reach!

So the giveaway will close one week from today and I'll post the winner on 6/18!

When I started this blog, I really had no idea what to expect. Would anyone see it? Would anyone like it? I know these are things we've all felt and asked ourselves. In my wildest dreams, I had no idea that in a little over a month, I'd be at almost 100 followers. WOW. So first, thank you to each and every one of you who has chosen to follow me and my nutty ramblings and crazy ideas, and for the support and encouragement you've provided. 

Thank you to all of the bloggers who so willingly share their ideas and creativity. A special thanks to Megan at Shabby Blogs for providing people such lovely and free blog designs. Another one to Karen, "The Queen of the Graphics", at The Graphics Fairy for her generosity as well in sharing the incredible images she finds.

To call out other blogs that have inspired me in some way would be to list every single one that's in my blog reader list so this thanks is for all of you.

I'm still new at this and haven't explored the whole sponsor / advertising things ( mostly because I have no clue how!) so I don't have a "professional" giveaway for you. What I do have, is something I made that I hope represents how much joy I take in making things. The winner will receive this "Dream" box, filled with some items I hope will spark their creative muse. 

Ephemera, charms, hand stamped gift / hang tags, embellishments, a special treat and there MAY even be chocolate!

"Da Rules"

•  As of this writing, I'm 3 followers away from 100 followers
• The giveaway will close one week from the day I reach 100 followers
• To be eligible to win:

1. Become a follower if you aren't, and leave me a comment telling me
2. Refer a friend and if they become a follower, leave a comment telling me
3. If you're already a follower, leave a comment
4. Post about this on your blog, leave a comment and a link to your post telling me

 I will use random.org to generate the winner.

That's it! I'm keeping it simple because have I mentioned, I don't know what I'm doing?

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Paying It Forward

Update:  Imagine my surprise when I saw that I'd received another lovely award yesterday!

Thank you Michelle from All Home Cooking. All Year Long  for thinking of me. Truly, I am so honored. I thought I'd combine it wit this post because I'm going to admit up front that I'm going to cheat a bit. This award asks us to post 7 things about ourselves and since I'd just done this and am not that interesting really, they're all on the list below!  The guidelines for accepting this award are...

• Thank the person/people who gave it to you.
• Tell 7 things yourself.
• Pass the award on to 15 bloggers, whom you have recently discovered, and think are fantastic.

So I am passing this award on to:

1. Calamity Anne's Adventures
2. Charm Bracelet Diva
3. Chic on A Shoestring Decorating
4. Christine & Co
5. Crafts & Sutch
6. I Been Thinkin' 'Bout Inkin
7. Leksi Designs...This Handmade Life
8. Life In My PJs
9. mbellished
10. Mich in LA
11. Mosaic Magpie
12. Pony Tails & Fish Scales
13. The Little Green Bean
14. The CraftInMe
15. Get Craftin

Fun blogs with great ideas and definitely worth a visit :)


If you've never seen the movie of the same name or are unfamiliar with the term, simply put it's like a future propelled "Golden Rule". You do nice things for other people and they do the same to others, thus, paying it forward. Dawn K from  The Way I See Things surprised and blew me away by presenting me with two awards! I'm humbled and honored:

So first things first and a huge THANK YOU Dawn!

And now time for me to "Pay It Forward" which is as much fun as receiving the awards!

For the Trendy Blog Award :  

Once you receive this award, promise to share this with 10 other bloggers that you think are Trendy too.  

•Post about your award in your blog.  

•Share with the bloggers .

•Ask them to give this award out to 10 as well.

Ten Trendy Bloggers I'd like to recognize are:

1. Cricky's Corner
2. Food,Wine, and Mod Podge
3. Green Submarine
4. All Thingz Related
5. Lorrie Everitt Studio
6. Singing Three Little Birds
7. Twelve Crafts Til Christmas
8. A Little Lovely
9. Le Chateau des Fleurs
10. Lemon Tree Creations

For the Honest Scrap Award:   

Once you receive this award, you need to share 10 lies honest things about yourself, and then pass the award along to other great bloggers. So here goes about moi:

1. My husband and I couldn't stand each other when we first met
2. My husband and I each insist the other was the first to be interested ( he was!)
3. I really, truly, honestly, am a chocoholic
4. You would never know from looking at me that I'd rather shop at Home Depot or wander through a junk yard than a high end department store
5. I wear lipstick every day
6. I rarely plan out my projects
7. I love to cook
8. I use waaaaaay too many movie quotes and exclamation points!
9. Growing up, I read the encyclopedia WILLINGLY
10. I hate Facebook yet I have a blog. Go figure!

OK so now that you can't get the time it took you to read that back, drumroll please for those receiving the "Honest Scrap" award for their inspiration and awesomeness and for which you don't have to be a scrapper:)  :

1. Simply Scratch
2. The Graphics Fairy
3. Blue Artichoke Interiors
4. One Cheap B*tch
5. Pumpkin Tart
6. Room To Inspire
7. The Scrap Shoppe
8. Things I Learn From Bear
9. Under the Table and Dreaming
10. The Sewing Dork

So congrats, and please go check out these great blogs!

Introducing A Recurring Feature: "So You Don't Think You Can Craft"

I got this idea while watching a promo for the show "So You Think You Can Dance". If you're not familiar with it, it's the American Idol of dance competitions. This series is designed for those who don't think they are crafty or creative. Rather than put it on a set schedule, it will run whenever but will always be titled "So You Don't Think You Can Craft".

While I try to include instructions for the projects I make and feature, many of them require things that are in existing crafters toolboxes or with which they are familiar. SYDTYCC projects will use materials EVERYONE has on hand whether they think they do or not :)  So on to today's project:

Re-Purposed Gift Bag

Who doesn't need a gift bag? They're easy ways to give gifts but they can also be expensive. We get small handled  "gift bags" all over the place from Starbucks, to Department Stores, to the really nice ones my Salvation Army thrift store gives out. So I've transformed one into a bag for a present for one of my son's teachers. It's a double win because it also re-uses something I already have and if she doesn't think it's hideous, she could use it again. 

Materials Needed:

• Small handled gift bag / shopping bag
• Paper: Can be an old book, newspaper, copy paper, scrapbook paper, wrapping paper,another bag or you could use fabric
• Glue stick or other adhesive

Look at your bag's design and decide what you want to leave exposed vs what you might want to cover. Mine had a big graphic on one side and smaller text on the other:

I decided on paper flowers to decorate and these are EASY to make. They really are. 

Take your paper of choice and cut some circles. I just did mine freehand and "squiggled" the scissors in a circle. If you're uncertain about this, you can easily find different sized circular objects around the house to trace. 

Cut enough so you have 2 pieces per layer. I think adding layers makes them more sturdy so I cut three sizes of circles, 2 layers of each size.

Crumble your circles with your hands. Smoosh them ( good way to get rid of any frustration!) 

Flatten your crumbled "petals" and then glue one layer on top of the other starting with the biggest, ending with the smallest. I glued a button to the center of each of mine.

 Adhere ( I used double sided tape) to your bag:

On the side with the bigger graphic, I just tore a page big enough to cover it and then made another flower to put on top and  then another  strip the width of the bag with a flower at the top. 

That's it. You can do it!

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Ikea Meets Dollar Tree And They Make A Mirror

Craft, art, DIY supplies are like the old Lays potato chips ad...you can't have just one...of anything. And when you go places like Ikea or The Dollar Tree and you see basic things you know you can make things from, you buy them in multiples because you know if you don't, you'll make one of something and you'll be so happy with it that you'll want to make another and you don't want to have to drive to the inconvenient Ikea to get stuff. Right? OK well that's my story and I'm sticking to it and I had some stuff in my stash that I decided to play with.

Ikea regularly stocks these 10x10 plain wood mirrors. They're $2.99. I covered the wood with some carpet tape I'd bought in a ridiculously large roll. It's called Polyken 108 and you don't need it for this project. I just have been trying to use this ridiculously large roll that I  had to have when I was at a stamp show. TWO ( or maybe even three) years ago. Anway....you could use any strong double sided tape or Mod Podge your paper onto the frame, but here's my taped up frame:

You can see the ridiculously large 2 (or 3) year old roll of tape in the pic. Then I cut some scrapbook paper for the "long sides".  Yes...I know it's a square and therefore 4 even sides but you'll see what I mean because oh well here:

See? There are long sides and then short sides in the middle which I cut some scraps of handmade silver paper to fit. Hard to see in the picture but the silver pieces are two different kinds of paper which I thought added something and they were from my scrap stash and that's what I had :)


So now let's go to the Dollar Tree where I'd picked up this frame for a $1, you know, being the Dollar Tree:

I painted it black and then glued it to the mirror. I then went over it with silver Rub-n-Buff and here's the end result:

Total cost : $3.99. Still have ginormous roll of carpet tape.

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NOT Headed for Project Runway...

but my creative / thrifty /  curious/ CHEAP / re-purposing mind continues to be intrigued and inspired by all of the amazing fashion re-style projects around blogland. For example a very cool denim skirt over at The Sewing Dork  (Dork must mean talented genius in some language I don't know, because she is). It's from an old pair of jeans.  I've seen other skirts made from jeans and it's been one of those projects I've wanted to try but have been afraid cutting up jeans I paid actual money for because I am not much of a seamstress.

Thing is...those jeans I paid actual money for ( which came from one of my favorite shops Chicos...) have been sitting in my closet unworn because they're actually too big (yay!). So yes, they could have been donated to charity ( if Mr. Chocolate reads this, no I'm not cleaning out my closet today) but I decided to go for it and try to make myself a skirt. I'm not going to get better at sewing if I don't ever do it right? So here's how it went:

Using the tutorial from The Sewing Dork ( I wish I was such a Dork) I cut off the legs.

and opened the seam right under the zipper placket I re-sewed that to make the front lay flat. The next step in the tutorial uses the legs you cut off which you use to make panels to attach to the upper part of the skirt. She used two but she is taller than me. So in addition to being a sewing goddess, there's that! Being shall we say "height challenged", I only needed on leg! Evened the leg material up and sewed it together.

 

I got wrapped up in trying it on and adjusting seams ( I managed to actually take the sides in and as long as no one ever, ever, looks at the reverse side, it looks OK!) and didn't take pics during this part.  Well I really oopsed  and missed part of the seam when I was sewing the bottom panel on but I was not about to rip the whole thing apart so I did some Frankensteinish top stitching to repair it and had an "aha" moment and decided I'd just slap a flower on top of it and no one would ever know. Unless they read my blog. Then I decided the flower was lonely and made two more. Being short has its advantages...I had another leg leftover afterall!

Here's a closeup of the flowers:

 Like I said, I won't win Project Runway ( Project Run-Away maybe) but it'll do for going to Safeway!