One Month To Win It final project follow up

You might recall that both Jessica and I were contestants on One Month To Win It.  You saw Jessica compete in the first season and I was in the fourth season.  The site just received a pretty makeover and it looks like they are making some fun changes to the competition.  Go check out the competition!

I realized I never wrote a follow up post to my final project in the competition.  I ended up getting third place with my bathroom beach art project in the final week .  Unfortunately the art and wall didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped.  The timing of the final week was horrible for me.  My husband and daughter were sick with the flu and I didn't have any time to really commit to the project.  I literally painted the wall the day before the post was due.  The canvases weren't completed until the next morning.  I am extremely competitive and felt horrible submitting a project I could have done better.  I am not upset because I didn't win...I'm upset because I could have done so much better with my project. 

The wall was in serious need of touch ups.  For months I scheduled time to get it done but never actually made it to the bathroom with my paintbrush.  I actually started avoiding this room because I didn't want to be reminded of the lingering task on my to do list. 

Last week I finally decided I had to fix that wall.  Originally I had big plans to use a small paintbrush and touch up every circle.  I made a quick decision to completely paint over the blue instead.  Maybe one day I'll try using that stencil again but this week I was in no mood to save what I had already done.

I started by taping...

 then I painted...

and painted...

until I no longer cringed at the site of the wall.

Brown is not a color choice I normally would have made but I had a full gallon sitting in the closet.  I purchased it last year from Lowes for only two dollars from the mixed paint clearance shelf.  I didn't want to spend anything on this project so I opted to use the brown.  I'm happy with the new wall and won't be explaining myself with, "oh, don't mind that wall, it needs touch ups..." each time a guest comes over.

 

1 Month 2 Win It Final Round

I am so excited to be part of the top three at 1 Month 2 Win It!  Please go here and take a few minutes to vote for your favorite project!  Voting ends tomorrow.

 

Dry Erase and Cork Board Calendar Collage

Earlier this week I told you I would put together a tutorial for my dry erase collage that got me through the frame theme week at 1 Month 2 Win It.  This morning I received a very nice comment from one of our readers.  She loved this project when she saw it on 1 Month 2 Win It and mentioned she is really looking forward to the tutorial.  I took a few minutes to post this tonight for our new friend.

I had been thinking of making myself a big dry erase calendar in my office for months.  In addition to a big calendar I really wanted a place for my to do list and somewhere nearby for a shopping list.  I thought about using several different frames or painting an entire chalkboard wall to keep track of everything in my mind.  Then I dreamt about having everything in the same place on an organizational collage.  Really, I had a dream about this.  I woke up excited to get started.  I couldn't be happier with this project!

the collage looks small here but is actually pretty big (28" x 38") 

I started with four frames I had in a closet.  The largest frame came from an old hotel estate sale in the small mining town where I grew up.  My dad called me a couple of months ago and asked if I wanted anything from a closed hotel.  I would have LOVED to have been there!!  I figured it wasn't very nice to ask my dad to load up a truck full of awesome stuff, pay cash for everything, and then drive a couple of hours to deliver it all to me.  Instead I was happy to settle for a few awesome mirrors and this frame. 

I took the glass and backing off of the three smaller frames.  Then I figured out how to dismantle the big frame.  This was not an easy task and I was terrified I would break the glass.  Luckily I managed to unscrew all the corner brackets and carefully remove the glass with out any problems.

I applied a couple of coats of Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze spray paint to make the frames pretty. 

picture taken after first coat of paint

I worked on the interior of the frames while I waited for the paint to dry.   I turned one of the frames into a cork board because I wanted to be able to pin ideas and pictures to the collage.  Instead of going on a treasure hunt for a good piece of cork board (thrift stores, garage sales, etc.), I purchased a package of tiles that included one chalkboard, one dry erase board, and two cork boards.  I'm sure I will use everything in the package at some point.

I lined the glass from the frame up to the cork board and cut it with an exacto knife.

I put the cork board into the frame just as you would insert a picture (with out the glass). 

Next I started working on the calendar portion of the collage.  I cut thin strips of black vinyl and laid them down (sticky side up) onto contact paper to form a calendar grid.  The grid has seven rows across (for days of the week) and six rows down (for weeks of the month).  Each square is 2" x 2" (inside vinyl borders).

I had a difficult time applying the vinyl calendar to the glass.  I would suggest doing this with out contact paper and placing the vinyl directly onto the glass.  A cutting mat made it so much easier to be sure my calendar was not crooked on the glass.  I finally had the calendar on straight and I was very excited to look at the other side of the glass.  Major disappointment.  There were so many air bubbles!  I spent about half an hour rubbing out all the bubbles.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of me applying the calendar grid to the glass.  It was not a pretty site and I can't imagine ever getting it done if my daughter wasn't napping.  Fortunately the end result was a perfect calendar grid!  I used my Cricut to cut out the days of the week and a scalloped border for the month.  I ended up using adhesive cardstock instead of vinyl.  It was so much easier to apply the cardstock to the glass!  If you don't have a cutting machine, you could use a permanent marker to trace the words and frame onto the backside of the glass.

I used the same adhesive cardstock to cut out the letters for the other two dry erase boards ("to do" and "shopping list").  I used the cutting mat as a guide to apply the letters to the back side of the glass. 

 I put the glass back into the frames.

Then I covered the back of the glass with pieces of white cotton fabric.  Old tees or a pretty patterned fabric would work great for this!  Just remember that you don't want something too bright because you won't be able to see everything you write with your dry erase markers.  I used the original cardboard backing on the frames.

Once I had all my frames done I used gorilla glue to attach them together.  This was actually my first experience with gorilla glue.  Holly from 504Main uses gorilla glue on everything.  It was one of the first things we talked about when I first met her at Creative Estates.  My dad is also a big fan of gorilla glue.  I crossed my fingers and hoped it worked!  Thanks to Holly I am now a huge fan!  The great thing about this glue is that is expands like a foam so it filled in the gap between the smaller frames and the glass top.  I used my husband's heavy college books to hold the frames together while the glue dried.

A few hours later I doodled on the frames with dry erase markers  Then I had my husband help me hang the heavy collage in the empty space above my computer in my office.

I felt like the collage was missing something.  It definitely was and looked so much better after I added yellow and turquoise embellishments.  I used felt and fabric to make push pins for the cork board.  I made the flowers and left a small hole in the center.  I filled the holes with hot glue and then carefully pushed the back of thumb tacks into the back of the flowers.  I made sure the tops of the thumb tacks weren't poking through the tops of the flowers.  I added a couple of rhinestones for no other reason than because I generally try to add rhinestones or glitter (sometimes both) into everything I make.

I also added flower embellishments to the large frame. 

I love how this turned out!!

Thanks again if you voted for this project at 1 Month 2 Win It! 

I would love to see your frame collage if you make one too!

I'm linking this post here.

 

1 Month 2 Win It update

I was very excited to see that my project last week on 1 Month 2 Win It had the most votes!  Our challenge was to make something using frames.  I used four old frames and turned them into a dry erase calendar with attached dry erase boards (to do and shopping lists) and an attached cork board.  I couldn't be happier with how my project turned out. 

The project wasn't terribly time consuming but had a lot of different steps (painting the frames, vinyl on the back of the glass, connecting the frames, embellishing, etc.).   I'll put together a tutorial soon!

This week's theme is crafting with kids.  There are some really good projects from the contestants!  Please go here to vote for your favorite.

 

1 Month 2 Win It

Are you wondering who was selected to compete on the next season of 1 month 2 win it?

Me!  Yay!  I'm super excited for our first projects to be debuted.  Be sure to go check out the site so you can vote when the projects are up!

 

Spring Clean-Tuxedo Dress

Okay fellow craft addicts. I am sure you are like me with lists and lists of crafting ideas you need to get through. I swear I make a list, lose it, and remake lists all the time. I guess I just have SOOO many ideas and so little time to get them all done. Well this week for the 1 Month 2 Win It project we were told to do some SPRING CLEANING, meaning create a project that you buy nothing for. Challenging? Not for me because I have pile and piles of supplies I have collected. Honestly I did this project a while ago for the contest because I knew that I was moving this week and wouldn't have time to get it done. BUT I didn't buy anything for it. Here is what I did:

This weeks challenge was especially exciting for me because I have been dying to do something with my huge pile of "maybe I can make something out of this" clothing. Every time I go through my closet for spring cleaning, I create 3 piles. One is the donate pile, another is the trash pile, and the third is the craft pile.

Now this craft pile has been growing and growing and it was time to really evaluate the "maybe I can make something out of this" craft pile and whether or not I was actually going to do something with those clothes. But, thanks to 1 Month 2 Win It, I had the perfect opportunity to sift through those clothes and find something spectacular to make. Hence the tuxedo dress was born. I found an old tuxedo shirt my husband wore in high school when he waited tables. It was very dated but in really good condition. That is when I decided to use it as a dress for a little girl. I love the pleating on the old tuxedo shirts and it is very hard to replicate so I used that as my main inspiration. Then to make the dress more feminine I decided to add some ruffles to the bottom, and nothing says feminine as much as pink. So I looked through my scrap fabric supply and found a bunch of strips of fabric that I had used on a few baby quilts I made. They coordinated perfectly and they weren't even from the same line or manufacturer. I had to piece together several strips but with ruffles you can't even tell. Finally I went through my stash of trims and buttons. I found some yellow rick rack that I added to define the waistline and some random pink, brown, and yellow buttons to add down the front. This dress is fun and flirty, perfect for spring.
I have to tell you the shirt was U G L Y, ugly and in need of the garbage or a remake. I am just glad I had the great idea of using the pleats. I even kept the rest for another future project (as you can tell I am not too good at actually cleaning out my supplies). But I MIGHT NEED IT SOMEDAY lol. Liz grows so fast that I even added an extra ruffle to the bottom to give it some more length. It is definitely my favorite dress in her closet right now.

Like I said the last round of dresses I made for her was back in Nov and she has gotten a lot taller since then so guess what...LET THE DRESS MAKING BEGIN. I have piles of fabric and ideas ready for some cute new creations. Stay tuned as they pop up on the blog over then next month or so including an Easter dress of course. I LOVE LITTLE GIRLS.

OMTWI-Wear Green

Sorry about the lack of posts last week. Heather was holding down the fort all by herself because I was busy moving to New Mexico. Great work Heather. Now I am all settled in and ready to share some crafty knowledge. First I wanted to share my craft from the competition last week. I know you are all dying to know which one was mine, lol.

For those that don't know I posted the HONEY BLOOM DRESS.

Nothing says March like flowers and green. I love the smells that arise in the beginning of spring time. The green grass, the new blooms, and little kids playing outside enjoying the fresh air. This was my inspiration for the wear green challenge. When I saw the challenge I knew right away that I wanted to make a little girl dress, my favorite craft to make.

I searched through my supplies and collected a variety of materials that I thought would work perfectly for this project. First I began with the base of the dress and I found the perfect print. Michael Miller Honey Bee Honey Bloom. Could the name say spring any better? I actually bought this material for another project but it was too perfect to not use for the challenge. Then I looked around for some inspiration and figured out how to make the dress special. I truly believe it is all in the details and that is what makes this dress different from any other.

I used a triangle lace trim that I got at a craft fair for $1 a yard, some small yellow roses, and some white ribbon around the arm holes to give it a charming touch. I also love pleats so I added 5 rows of pleats along the front of the dress and instead of letting them hang freely I decided to top stitch them down which creates a bubble effect on the bottom of the dress. After all this and some further evaluation I decided the dress was missing something. As I was milling through the options, (fabric flowers, another ribbon, some more roses, buttons maybe?) I decided a simple white ruffle around the neckline would be perfect. The ruffle is soft, and sweet. The perfect touch to a little girl's spring dress.



I asked my friend if her little girl would model it for me at a playdate. She loved how easy and comfy the dress was as she danced around for pictures. Another little girl at the play date liked it so much she wanted to be my model too. So I took some pictures of her in the same dress. I can't wait for my little girl to have her turn wearing it this spring.

This pictures really don't do it justice. The pleating is so cute and the fabric is a soft cotton which makes the dress comfy and easy to wear. Gabriella really loved modeling for me she was so adorable posing for the camera. Thanks to everyone for voting and keeping me in the competition.

1 Month 2 Win It!-Trash to Treasure

Now that the voting is over I can show you all what project was mine for the OMTWI contest.

The first challenge was Trash to Treasure. For this assignment we had to find something that was "trash" meaning at a yard sale, thrift store, the side of the road. . . the options are endless. Then we had to make it into something new. 50% of the project had to be the trash. This challenge was especially hard for me because there are so many options. After going through all the alternatives in my head I decided to go with a project that I have been planning in my mind for awhile. The inspiration for my project were these flower sandals I saw at Anthropology.

Whenever I am feeling I need a creative burst I check out their website. First I went to a few garage sales looking for items I might use on projects when I saw these old silver sandals. They were a little worn and a little boring but in overall good shape.
For the second part of my project I went to the fabric store in search of some distressed leather. When I couldn't find anything I liked I looked at the vinyl. I was a little aprehensive but it was so cheap for the amount I needed I thought I would give it a try. The great thing is it worked beautifully. I just started playing around with the material trying to create different layered flowers. I also tapped into my supplies and used a few decorative brads that I had on hand. Finally I used my trusty hot glue gun to attach all the flowers to the shoes and an amazing creation was born. I think they look very similar to the Anthro ones and at a fraction of the cost. Original Dahlia Dear Wedges $168.00, my version $8. Talk about getting your money's worth with a little creativity and some old shoes.
Honestly if I could do this project again I would have looked a little more for the leather. I found some swatches at Michael's that would have worked really well. The leather is just thicker and gives it a more expensive look and feel.

As for the flowers they are so easy to make. All you have to do is cut out flower shapes decreasing in size and stack them on top of each other. As you can see I went for variety with rolled flowers, stacked flowers, and even used some leather strips sticking out of one of the flowers to create a more dimensional effect. That is the trick adding the dimensions to make the flowers look real. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can sport my new sandals on the town.