Monday, March 22, 2010

Talented Tuesday

Interested in sponsoring next week's Talented Tuesday post with your own crafts, shop items, or a tutorial? Contact me for details at herberkids3(at)yahoo(dot)com!

Welcome to another edition of Talented Tuesday. For today's post, I am showing off a wall hanging I did for my Mom's bathroom, as a follow up to the wall hanging set I helped her make for her kitchen. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out!

For this set, I had a concrete idea in mind. My mom recently repainted her bathroom from yellow to a pale lime green, with white wainscotting. She changed out her shower curtain from yellow flowers to green, blue, brown, and white stripes. Now, we just need to add a few things to the room!

Over the weekend, we picked up lots of supplies for the main project, including paint we never even opened, too much scrapbook paper, and a couple extra canvases, for a "Just In Case" moment. We wound up not needing those.

Star Wall Hanging

You'll Need:
Dollar Tree Pre-Printed Canvas
Paint
Mod Podge
Scrapbook Paper
3-D Paper Mache Barn Star
Hot Glue


  1. Paint the edges and part of the top of each canvas in the color of your choosing. I used Moss Green. I painted about 1 1/2" in on the tops. Let it dry, then add another coat if needed. My white bird picture needed 2 coats, and the brown lily picture needed 3 to cover the darker colors.
  2. Paint your stars the color of your choice while the pictures dry. I used 2 coats of Moss Green, but one would have been enough.
  3. Using a wet paintbrush, add a darker color paint to the stars, especially in the edges. I used plain old Brown, very watered down. Once it's coated, wipe it off with a damp paper towel. Repeat until you've achieved a good distressed look. I also used a brown pad of Distress Ink to just lightly ghost over the top ridges of the stars, so the brown was a bit darker in spots.
  4. Measure out two squares of scrapbook paper. I had a lot, but ended up deciding to use the same paper for both. Cut it just a bit larger than you want, then tear the edges for a more ragged, rustic look.
  5. If you want, you can distress those edges with ink. I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink to do this, and very lightly distressed the paper itself.
  6. Apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the picture, and press your paper on, smoothing out the wrinkles as you go. Apply another thin coat, coating the entire front and sides of the picture. I chose Glossy for this project.
  7. Hot glue the star onto the front of the picture, and Viola! You're done!


Notes-
It only took me about 15 minutes to do this, NOT counting the time I was waiting for the paint to dry. It might be easier to paint it, and go about doing something else, then going back to it. If you try to paint over it before it's fully dry, it wipes the paint off due to the plastic like feeling from the pictures.

Like my last project, this project is fully customizable to any decor with the multitude of paints and scrapbook paper available.

Total Costs:
DT Canvas- $1/each, $2 total
Scrapbook Paper- $.59, half used, $.30 total
Barn Stars- $.50/each, $1 total (actually, I think I got them cheaper, back at Christmas, but I can't recall. They've just been sitting here ever since)
Paint- $.50 (while this WAS on hand, it was a brand new bottle, so I'll count the cost. We got it 2/$1 at Michael's this past weekend).

End Cost: $3.80, or $1.90 each.






The Rules


1) Post a blog about something you've made- a refurnish, recipes, a craft project, a sewing project, room decoration, anything you've done!

2) Add a link to your blog post- not to the blog itself, but to the individual posts! You can post more than one project, just add more links! The links should look something like:

http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/2010/01/love-banner.html

and NOT like this:

http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/

3) Add the code below to each post you link to the MckLinky, so that others can post their projects here as well! The list will accept new links through Saturday, so if you make something new, come back and post it! Don't forget to look at the links on the list, and let people know where you found their post at!

This MckLinky will remain open and accepting links through Thursday evening!! 







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Craft Hacking Grandin Road

It all started with a message on Facebook from my mom. She found some wall art she really liked, but the price was just insane. She asked me to wrap my head around it, and see what we could do to recreate it.

It was very clear to me that we could indeed do it for much cheaper than Grandin Road wanted for it.

Here's a photo of the original art work she loved.


It's 3 canvases across, and 4 canvases down, for 12 total canvases. In this instance, it resembles a telephone pad. The canvases are sold separately, at a cost of $119 each for 16x16, and $159 each for 24x24.  To buy 1 each of the 16x16 canvases, you are looking at spending $1,428. Want to splurge on the larger size? $1908 in all.

Well, it was a no brainer to me. Obviously we could do it a LOT cheaper than that, and fully customize it while we were at it!

This weekend, I drove over to her neck of the woods with my older daughter Raegan, and we got started.

Telephone Pad Wall Art

You'll Need:
  1. 12 Canvases- we went to Dollar Tree and picked up 12 of the bird printed 5x5 wall art picture, which are stretched like a canvas around a wooden frame, but the "canvas" is more of a plasticy feel.
  2. Mod Podge
  3. Scrapbook Paper or Fabric- We used 2-3 patterns for each canvas, but the scraps left over on most of them were large enough for some numbers or contrasting. I would recommend 12 sheets of 12x12, and 4-6 sheets of 12x12 for extra paper
  4. Distress Ink
  5. Stencils or computer print outs of numbers- we used stencils on some, free hand on some, and computer print outs on some
  6. Paint brushes
  7. Buttons- we used these for dots on the number 3 block, but this can easily be skipped.
  8. Scissors
All in all, supply wise, we spent $12 on the canvases, and we spent roughly  $15 on scrapbook paper, with plenty left over. The buttons we found came in 3 packs, but only 1 large one per pack, so we bought 3 packs at $2.99 each. Split that down to what was used, and it was $1 per button- but this could easily be "On Hand" with buttons you have, or circles, or even just using the number 3.

We picked up the stencils for $3.50 after a 40% coupon, and they're totally reusable, so I'm not counting that as a cost necessary to this project. I had Mod Podge, but we also bought some, again with 40% coupons. I had everything else on hand that we needed.

So total costs:

Canvases- $12
Paper- $15
Buttons- $3

For a total of $30 spent, probably less when I subtract papers not used. $2.50 for each of 12 pieces for this large wall art. I -freaking- love it. We "saved" $116.50 on each piece we made, for a total savings of $1398. Almost $1400 saved by "Doing It Yourself!"




And now, for the tutorial.

  1. First, do as I say, not as I did- match each paper up with 1-2 contrasting papers for the numbers or design. Trust me. Once you've matched it, lay it all out in the order you want them in- rearrange so you don't have all orange on top, and all green on the bottom have the colors matched up where you want them. Take a photo, and number the backs of the paper in pencil. Trust me. 
  2. Decide which paper will be the back ground. We decided to crumple some, and leave some flat. The crumpled paper got distressed immediatly. From there, start covering the canvases. You'll want to measure the paper out to about 1/4" wider than the canvas, give or take a bit.
  3. Spread the top of the canvas with Mod Podge (we used Matte, and it turned out great), and smooth the paper on. From there, start folding and Mod Podging it around the edges. Take care to remember where the hanger is on the back, and don't podge over it.
  4. As the canvases dry, distress them to your liking. We used 4 different colors, so some were more brown, some had a touch of black, some red, etc. 
  5. Once all the canvases are papered, it's time to start cutting out your numbers. While we did do the phone pad, we didn't do a number, precisely, on each one. The 4, for instance, spells out FOUR in a square, instead of the number 4. The 5 is hash marks. The 3 resembles a dice with 3 dots. Be creative. Also- this is where you'll notice that while a large chunk of paper A stands out nicely against paper B, when cut to a thin number, it blends RIGHT in. Ugh. This is where chunks of scrap paper came in nicely to form blocks behind some of the numbers. I also took advantage of my distress ink to high light edges, or create square blocks behind numbers.
  6. When you are satisfied, start to podge over the tops, adding the numbers. 
  7. Seal the top with more podge.
  8. Viola! You are done!
All in all, I was surprised at how quickly this project went. We made 12, and granted, there were 2 of us working on it, but the entire project only took about 2 hours from start to finish.  And without further ado, some photos.



A few of the paper covered canvases

Trying to figure out/remember what papers we picked to go with which papers. Oops- this is where my stressing of doing this first came in.

A few finished canvases

This one, we wound up going back and outlining the letters with a cranberry colored marker, because while the print stands out, the letters themselves blend in, and it was very hard to read the letters FOUR. I did not, however, get a photo of it outlined.




(I just LOVE the 2 with the circle around it!)

And finally... The whole thing!


The entire project, put together- isn't it fantastic? The awesome thing about this? Well, aside from being FRUGAL? It's totally customizable when you DIY. Don't like the colors? The fonts? Want letters instead of numbers? Totally doable. It came out great, and we had a lot of fun making it!

I'm hard pressed to pick an all out favorite, because I love the entire project. And I also love that I "saved" us almost $1400 with some ingenuity and craftiness. 

One last comparison:



Once my mom gets it hung, I'll get some photos of it, but I was too anxious to post this wicked awesome project to wait for them!

This post is linked up at the link parties listed here.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Blogging at 1:05am

I'm blogging from my Mom's place at 1:05am. :) My step-dad, my mom, and I went out tonight after a day of Craft Hacking. We made something totally cool that I'll blog in full about on Monday.

Today, however (probably during daylight hours, and not right now at 1:06am- time goes fast while blogging), you'll find me guest posting over at one of my favorite sites, Dollarstorecrafts.com :)

That super cool Craft Hack, though? Let's just leave you with this- I turned a nearly $1500 piece of Wall Art into a $36 piece of equally cool wall art. Gotta love craft hacking!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Blog Shout Out

I'm in a lack-of-crafting sort of stage right now. Not for lack of projects. No, more like for lack of ambition. Yep, that sounds right. So, in order to actually have people remember my little blog here, I thought I would go ahead and do a few blog shout outs.

First up, and this is totally self serving, is the most awesome mom blog out there, Minions x 3.

....

Yes, I hear the crickets all the way over here. All right, so it probably isn't the most awesome anything out there, but it's brand new, and it's all mine. It's more about ME than about what I do, if that make sense. It's about being a mom, a person, having kids, and life. Go, read, friend it, and bask in it's awesomeness.



Next up is another cool blog- Sarah's Deals. Sarah is someone I've "known" online for several years through a state wide yahoo group I help run. She started her blog about a year ago, and it's got all sorts of cool deals through it- coupons, magazine deals, grocery store price matching, and more. Take a gander, and while you are at it, compliment her new banner (psst.. I made it!).


Next up is one of the first blogs I found and started following, Mad In Crafts. Jess has some great ideas, and they are almost all really frugal, like mine! She has been MIA for a week or two, but if you've never been to her blog, you'll find some really cool ideas!
BWS tips button

I currently have over 100 blogs I am following, and these are only a couple of my favorites. Take a moment to check them out!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Welcome to Talented Tuesday!

And as it usually happens, the week has changed, and with it, another Tuesday. Welcome, then, to Talented Tuesday, where you get to strut your stuff!

As you have no doubt noticed, I'm strutting a new blog look, and loving it! With it comes a brand new, hopefully permanent, Talented Tuesday icon. If you are using any of the past ones, please swap out for the new one!!

And for those of you who have your own blog or Etsy shop, I am now offering Talented Tuesday Sponsorships. For $5, you will be able to post a tutorial, or feature your own past projects, along with choosing a handful of projects you enjoyed from the prior Tuesday's link party. This will result in advertising for your blog or shop, and extra hits to your page.

If you are interested in sponsoring a Talented Tuesday link party here on my blog, please email me at herberkids3(at)yahoo(dot)com, with "Talented Tuesday Sponsor" as the subject matter.
 
You can also now advertise with My Frugal Family on a monthly basis. Please check out our advertising rates here.

Without further bugging you, here are a few of my favorites from last week's post. 

For those of you featured, you can pick up my new "Featured On" button here. When I was placing it in the post, a lot of people thought it was the Talented Tuesday button, and used it for that.




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Just a bit of paint turned this rental kitchen from Blah to Fab! Bridgette at All Thingz Related re-did a dated paneled kitchen and made it gorgeous.

To fully appreciate this makeover, you must go view the original! Bonnie at House of Grace re-did her guest bedroom for under $100, and it looks fantastic!

Last, but hardly least...


Jen at Mimi Bella Boo recently lost her grandmother, and wanted to create something special to wear to the funeral. She dug through her Grandma's drawers and found vintage t's and costume jewelry, and made several lovely necklaces to remember her by.
 
There were many more wonderful posts last week, but I'm pleading a headache, and heading to bed early tonight (though, for once, I've got the post done, and won't be scrambling to finish it at 8am tomorrow!).

Thank you all so much for participating! Don't forget to spread the news of the party- the more the merrier!






The Rules


1) Post a blog about something you've made- a refurnish, recipes, a craft project, a sewing project, room decoration, anything you've done!

2) Add a link to your blog post- not to the blog itself, but to the individual posts! You can post more than one project, just add more links! The links should look something like:

http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/2010/01/love-banner.html

and NOT like this:

http://theherberfamily.blogspot.com/

3) Add the code below to each post you link to the MckLinky, so that others can post their projects here as well! The list will accept new links through Saturday, so if you make something new, come back and post it! Don't forget to look at the links on the list, and let people know where you found their post at!

This MckLinky will remain open and accepting links through Thursday evening!! 







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