ArtfullyJune: $3 Thursdays

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Thursday, January 19, 2012

$3 Thursday – Love frames

I know at least one of my readers will be happy to see that I’m finally sharing a non-card craft. She’s been asking me for about two months what I’ve been crafting besides cards.

I found some great ornate mini frames at an after Christmas clearance sale and knew I had to pick them up as they would be perfect for a valentine display.

I really am surprised that there were any of these frames left but maybe most people were only looking at them as picture frames and didn’t have a use for such small frames.

Lucky for me I guess.

This really isn’t much of a craft as the great damask background was already in the frames. I picked out four frames, (Well those of you who really know me know that I picked up more than four of the frames, more crafts to follow I think.) and love stickers from my supply.

You may be lucky enough to find these or similar frames at Michael’s, where I bought mine at. I think they have similar ones in the bridal section two for $3.

Edit: I was at Michael's last week and they had these same style frames in their dollar bins for $1.50 each in bright, spring colors and also in some more muted colors that look antique glazed frames.

I originally planned on die cutting some letters out but then I remembered that I had these letters in my stash. I even remember buying these stickers last year for only a dollar. I bought them at Target which usually had a good selection of seasonal embellishments for only a dollar.

Since my stickers were layered and I wanted them to stand out I just stuck them to the front of the frame.

Seriously I did tell you this was hardly a craft at all. I think the hardest part of the ‘crafting’ was getting the frames out of the plastic bags.

If you attempt this hard craft project you might want to take the plastic, not glass, insert to cut down on the reflection but it does make moving the stickers around easier since you don’t have to worry about ripping the paper.

I’m hoping to be able to take the stickers off and change the letters to make new words to display seasonally.

I have more of all but the white frame so I can create longer words. I’m thinking I might display either bliss, create or inspire for in my crafting area.

In the end I’m in love with my Ornate Mini Love Frames as they are now but can’t wait to update them.

Supplies:

Mini frames $.45 each

Love stickers $1.00

Total cost: $2.90

I found my frames on clearance but you should be able to find similar frames for around a dollar each. Look beyond the frame color if you don’t like the color as these could easily be spray painted another color. I thought about using identical frames but liked the different colors and shapes of these frames, they screamed valentine to me.

I’d love to hear from you if you make a similar craft inspired by this one.

June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Thursday, November 17, 2011

$3 Thursday – Chalkboard fabric

One of the great things about blogging is all the wonderful ideas I find when I’m looking at other blogs. One recent thing I became aware of is chalkboard or blackboard fabric. Yes, chalkboard fabric, no priming, drying, painting, drying, painting, drying and painting again.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my chalkboard paint, especially spray paint but fabric you could cut and shape how you want, I had to try it. Oh, add the fact that it is relatively ~~cheap~~ inexpensive – sold. I found mine at Jo-Ann's for $5 a yard. Use a coupon and you can have ready to use chalkboard for $2.50 a yard.

It is a thick, vinyl material that sort of reminds me of old vinyl tablecloths. Since it is vinyl it have a bit of a smell but I noticed that after sitting for a while it dissipates. I bought my fabric over a month ago and don’t notice any smell now.

The chalkboard fabric made this chalkboard a rather quick and easy transformation.

I repurposed this frame with a little bit of paint and the chalkboard fabric.

I took the picture out and sprayed the image with glue and smoothed on the fabric when the glue was tacky.

Quick and simple.

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I painted the frame with a colonial red paint with a little bit of black and shimmer paint and then I lightly distressed the frame.

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I love the pop of color the red frame gives, to a quick fall decor.

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The frame matches my couch and brings some darker color to my living room which it needed.

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Just like chalkboard paint you need to ‘season’ this with chalk before you write on it so you don’t ‘burn’ your image into it.

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I’m loving my new chalkboard and have other projects in mind for the rest of the chalkboard fabric I have.

Supplies needed:

Frame - on hand

Chalkboard Fabric – about $2

Spray paint – on hand

Spray glue – on hand

Total cost: $2 for chalkboard fabric, everything else I had in my stash.

Want to make your own? Run, don’t walk, ok, well drive to your local fabric store and ask for chalkboard, or blackboard fabric and find a picture frame you can use for your new chalkboard.

June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Fabulous Finds at Frou Frou Decor

Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Thursday, October 27, 2011

$3 Thursday – Dress Shirt Apron

I know I haven’t shared much lately but I’m back with another $3 craft item for this Thursday. Thanks to my Wisconsin sisters I have my one and only apron to share. Well to be fair, I do have a couple vintage aprons I bought to go in my Etsy store. So far I haven’t taken pictures of them to list so I’m saying this is my one and only apron.

At first glance it may look like an embellished button up shirt…

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but it actually is two shirts made into an apron.

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I was asked to bring a plaid shirt to our weekend getaway last week and I didn’t have any but knew there would be extra shirts for me to pick from so I wasn’t too worried. I think if I knew what we were making I might have went searching for a shirt but I’m pretty happy with the shirts I was able to use.

Thanks go to one of my BIL’s for cleaning out his closet.

I was probably the tallest person making aprons and somehow I picked out what was probably the shortest shirt and it was just too short for an apron so I added a ruffle section to the bottom to make it a better length.

100_9088 I decided to add pockets and some flowers to the pockets to make it a bit more ‘girly’ since it is after all two men's shirts.

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After I added the yellow flowers to the pockets I added some yellow on the shirt pocket and tacked down the collar with some large yellow buttons.

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To think, all of this was relatively free to me. Two old shirts, some scrap fabric and some buttons. 100_9089

It took me a while and I worked on my apron most of the day but in the end, I love it and am so glad that I kept adding to my apron.

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Thanks to my sisters for letting me use their supplies to make my first ever shirt to apron transformation.

Supplies:

Button up shirts - I used two

Fabric scraps – optional*

Buttons – optional*

Sewing machine and thread

Total cost: Free!

If you had to purchase a shirt at the thrift store you should be able to find one for $3 or less.

* I used for flowers but would be great for pockets if you are using one shirt

What I learned:

I would look for long or men's tall shirts. Everyone else made their apron with one shirt and they looked great, a bit more tailored looking than mine with the ruffle bottom.

A crisp white shirt would look great.

I sewed my flowers directly on to the apron but if you made them into pins you could change them out with the seasons or to match your outfit.

It’s ok to take a bit longer than my sisters, almost everyone added a pocket after seeing me work to add them to my apron.

It might be best to ask before you take a shirt out of the closet or you might have someone saying ‘Hey, is that my shirt?’ or something to that effect after the shirt is already cut up. :)

Thanks to a few of my sisters for a great weekend and a great apron.

June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Frugalicous Fridays at Finding Fabulous

Fabulous Finds at Frou Frou Decor

Saturday Soiree at A Little Lovely

Tools are for Women Too

Lucky Linky Tuesday at Lucky Star Lanes

I Made It Without My Hubby at Shanty 2 Chic

Creative Share Wednesday at The Trendy Treehouse

Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage

Thursday, September 8, 2011

$3 Thursday – Old World Style Globe

I decided to try another globe makeover project and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the way it turned out.

I didn’t take pictures while I was making it over but I started out with a traditional looking globe like this one.

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And with a few supplies I had on hand turned it into this old world looking beauty.

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I decoupaged some tissue paper all over the globe to give it a bit more texture. I wasn’t worried about the wrinkles, in fact I tried to create wrinkles all over the globe.

Once the globe was covered and the tissue paper was dry I wet it down slightly with some watered down Mod Podge and sprayed walnut ink over it. I used a brush to blend in the walnut ink.

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The ink really brings out the texture of the tissue paper while still allowing some of the globe details to show through.

I wish more of the globe details showed but because I covered most of the globe with a couple layers of tissue paper it obscured a bit of the fine writing. If I did another one I’d try to use a single layer of tissue paper.

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I first sprayed the base with Oil Rubbed Bronze but it was a bit too black looking for the globe so I added a generous coat of metallic rub-on that I had.

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It looks a lot better with the walnut inked globe.

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Ah, an antique looking globe at a thrift store price.

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It makes a perfect addition next to the leather look bust I made a couple weeks ago.

Hmm, a globe covered to look like leather? That might be next on my list but how would you see the details of the globe? Any ideas? Maybe a quick outline of the continents?

After I finished my globe I did find this globe from Ultimate Globes that is actually made from leather.

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It is regularly $199.99 on sale for $169.99. Sure it is a nice globe but for $169.99 I think I’ll take my thrift store makeover for about $6.99.

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Supplies:

Globe

Tissue Paper

Mod Podge

Walnut Ink

Foam brush or sponge

Oil Rubbed Bronze or similar colored spray paint

Rub-on – if you need to adjust the spray paint color.

Total cost: $0*

*I had the globe and all the supplies on hand so this project really didn’t cost me anything. Most crafty people will have most of the supplies I used and might even have a globe stuck in the basement or in the garage sale pile. I’ve had my globe for a while, it was a thrift store find. I’m not sure what I paid for it but they usually they run $5-$7 in my area.

So anyone want to pay me $169.99 for my old world looking globe? I’ll throw in free shipping! :)

June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

Frugalicous Fridays at Finding Fabulous

Fabulous Finds at Frou Frou Decor