David

Henry

Jack

Katie

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Crafty Business

Since we have no dossier to be working on or suitcases to be packing, I've been keeping myself busy with some craft projects.  I usually have about 6 or 7 different ones going at any point, so I've really tried to finish some up before I start new ones.  We'll see how long that lasts. . .

As you may have noticed, I'm quite *ahem* thrifty.  I pretty much refuse to pay full price for something.  This is rooted in several things.  We are a single income family with three children, so I can't just run out and buy something every time I feel like it - I have to be more intentional about my purchases.  And trust me when I say this did not come naturally to me.  My thriftiness started out of necessity.  Now, it's almost a game for me.  If I see something for our home that I like at, for example, Pottery Barn or Ballard Designs, I will try to duplicate it instead of buying it.  Most of the time, I'm very satisfied with my version.  Which I promise cost significantly less than the original item.  So the first thing I recently finished was some storage for Katie's room.


I started with this.  For real.
It was 99 cents on half price day at Goodwill.
Now seriously, buying that and knowing I could make it look good is some real vision.  Or crazy business, because this was some airbrushing at its finest.


This cute pink bucket is what it looks like now.
I sanded the heck out of it, use a spray primer, and spray painted it with some leftover pink I had.  Total project cost?  99 cents.


This was my next project.  It was also a half price GW find.  It had some chickens and eggs hot glued to the front.  Cute, right?  I yanked those suckers off.  It was $1.99, so I really wasn't going to be too heartbroken if I ruined it by pulling off the crazy chickens.  Next, I used some leftover sample paint I had from when I couldn't decide what color to paint Katie's room, so that part of the project was free.  I used a foam brush and painted a few coats over the brick red.  Now it's a perfect storage basket on her bookshelf, and it cost $1.99 and about an hour of my time.  I'm going to find a small K and glue it to the front.  By that point the project will probably be about $5.00.


I love the framed saying on the top of her bookshelf - it says "There's no place like home."  I think I'm going to paint that bookend tangerine, which would match her curtains and some pillows I've already made.  That bookend is part of a set that I got as a gift about 7 years ago.  I already have the paint, so that project will be a freebie.

Do you remember in my post about her Christmas stocking I showed you an etsy print that I wanted to try to make?

It looks like this.  


I liked that version, but I didn't love it.  
And I certainly didn't love it for $75.00 plus shipping.



So I got a canvas for $5.00 (two for $10.00 - Henry got one of them for Christmas) and got started.  I painted the canvas tangerine, my current color obsession.  ($2.49 for the craft paint.)  I bought some scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off, and I just picked random patterns that I liked together, some skin tones, and some colors for hair.  I ended up spending $6.00 on the paper and got WAY more than I needed.  I probably used $2.00 worth of the paper I got, and I will use some of the other pieces for mats for some frames in her room or elsewhere in the house.  (So my total cost for this project was about $10.00.  Not $75 plus shipping!)  The prints on the papers I got match other rooms in our home as well.  

I used the same template from the Christmas stocking and just eyeballed it to make it bigger for the largest doll.  I used the largest one to make them incrementally smaller and just eyeballed it again each time.  For the faces, I just found things that were round and were the size I wanted the faces to be, traced them, and used that as a guide.


And I L.O.V.E. it.  Henry is working on something that will go on either side of it, and I can't wait to show you that.  And yes, I realize the mantle needs something else other than a Tyler candle (my favorite!), some bare wood people begging to be painted, and a candy cane pen.  Baby steps.  That mantle's been empty for a year and a half!


They still need some faces, but I had maxed out my *artistic* abilities for the day.  And really, I'm a little scared that my lack of creativity will ruin this when I put their faces on....I promise they'll be faceless for a while!

5 comments:

  1. You are so crafty!! You can come help me with my girls room!! :) I can't wait to see Henry's finished project!!

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  2. Love all your craftiness on a budget! Awesome!

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  3. Oh my goodness you are super crafy! LOVE the Matryoshka dolls! I think you should sell those ;)

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  4. Oh that 'before' bucket...lol.

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  5. Hi Kim! I'm a little late on this comment, but I wanted to tell you that the canvas is darling! You mentioned that you had some extra paper and I wanted to suggest making a paper bunting/banner to hang across the front of the fireplace. Go on Etsy and do a search for paper banners or paper bunting. They are so easy and you are SO talented, it would be simple to do. LOVE your girl and her new room! Have a wonderful trip! ~ Jo

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