Month: March 2014

Discovering 2014: Dollar Store Serving Tray

Posted in crafts
Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today’s project was a Dollar Store Serving Tray, based off of this pin from The Crafting Chicks. I chose to only add one tier instead of two since my local Dollar Store’s dish options were quite lacking. My kitchen storage space is quite limited at the moment, anyway.

There were two stoneware plates to choose from at my dollar store so I went for the most appealing one. I also picked up a glass candlestick and a four pack of plastic bowls (they didn’t have any stoneware or glass bowls). Total cost: $3.

I chose to use hot glue and applied some to the inside rim of the candlestick, then centered the bowl on it. After that cooled and dried I went around the outside lip of the candlestick to get a better bond.

You can also glue the candlestick to the plate (or, like the pin above, make a stack of plates), but I chose not to for storage purposes. Having them separate will also make cleanup a bit easier!

Tomorrow’s project is Foil Starlight!

March Madness: Candy Trail Memory Wire Bracelet

Posted in crafts

The “Candy Trail” quad-wrap gold memory wire bracelet features two strands of 6/0 czech seed beads. The beads are from a local shop and I can’t find them anywhere online, but Beadaholique has several lovely mixes, such as ‘Fall Harvest’ or ‘Rainbow Matte’!

Discovering 2014: Embroidery Floss Wrapped Cord

Posted in crafts
Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today’s project was an Embroidery Floss Wrapped Cord. This is exactly how it sounds… you wrap embroidery floss around a cord! Silly me chose a cord that’s 6.5′ long, so I’ve gone through one skein of floss thus far, though that hasn’t quite reached the halfway point. This can definitely be time consuming!

Keep a clip of some sort on hand in case you need to set it down, then you shouldn’t lose your place. To start the wrap I held down the starter and began wrapping the cord around that.

I just continued with a tight wrap, and at the end of my first skein I tied it off. Since I was doing this during lulls in work it took me a couple of hours to get through it; I think without work it still would have been close to an hour.

I plan on finishing it, but probably this weekend instead! It’s a cool way to customize and organize your cords, but be prepared to invest some time on the project.

Tomorrow’s project is a Dollar Store Serving Tray!

Discovering 2014: Faux Sea Glass

Posted in tutorial
Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

Today’s project was Faux Sea Glass. I only had this pin for reference with the caption stating to use Elmer’s School Glue and food coloring. I had no idea how many coats to apply, so I only did one (though I think, in the end, it needs a second).

My supplies included dollar store candlesticks and vase, foam brushes, Elmer’s glue and McCormick food coloring.

I decided to go with teal on the candlesticks and mixed it into the glue. I didn’t have quite enough glue (nor do I have an exact measurement) so I did have to make a bit more halfway through the second candlestick.

Here’s the candlesticks after it was all applied. I found that it was easier to apply from the top down, since you can brush the glue onto the base without holding it easier that you can onto that beveled top.

This is after it dried. I think it would benefit more from a second coat.

Here’s it held up against light. You can see that it’s definitely not a “solid” appearance and is more streaky.

For the vase I decided to be a bit crazy and see what would happen with Mod Podge and food coloring.

It is definitely thinner and that purple had me concerned, as it leaned more toward grey to me. So I applied the first coat and…

Wet on the left, dry on the right.

I actually wish I had left it at this point; it was an awesome effect. I got a bit sloppy applying the second layer to get it done before a meeting and this is how it turned out.

Wet on the left, dry on the right.

It’s kinda cool, but being overly critical of myself like usual I can tell the parts where I was messy around the rim, and I’m not a fan of the brush strokes on a second coat. At this point I think I’d rather do a Mod Podge application over Elmer’s Glue, but leave it at a single coat.

Elmer’s Glue is labeled as “washable”, so cleaning it off would likely yield a mess. I plan on applying a polyurethane spray once the weather warms up (that stuff is terribly stinky!).

Either way, they’re fun DIY decor!

Tomorrow’s project is an Embroidery Floss Wrapped Cord!

UPDATE: After the vase sat for another day, the color became opaque again, as seen below!