Crafts by Amanda.
Amanda’s Cookin’.
I love to cook and bake and have tons of different utensils. They were
taking over my drawer space and getting harder and harder to find,
so I turned some old beanie baby boxes into fun kitchen utensil holders.
Note: While I did
use my Silhouette machine to create the letters and pictures for these,
you could certainly print them out on regular copy paper, spray them
with clear matte sealer, cut them out and Mod Podge them on.
I started with these plastic beanie baby boxes (which of course I washed out first, yuck).
My husband called me from work one day and asked me if I wanted a case
of them that someone was getting rid of. Being the craft supply junkie
that I am, I of course said yes!
I apologize that I don’t have step by step photos. My camera batteries gave out on me in the middle of the project.
The next step was to give them a quick spray with some primer to help
the paint adhere to the plastic. Then I simply painted them with Vintage
White acrylic paint. I ended up giving them a total of three coats,
allowing them to dry an hour or so between coats. I did use the
Silhouette, and if you would like to use it or edit it,
the template is here.
The font that I used was
Lithos Pro, so you could recreate these in Word if you like. Here’s a
PSD file
with the clip art if you use Photoshop. I printed the designs onto
vinyl and added them to the containers, being sure they were all lined
up with each other. Once I had attached the vinyl I sprayed them with
two coats of acrylic sealer (matte finish), allowing them to dry between
coats. For the fabric liner, I simply cut strips of fabric from an old
tablecloth and doubled them up using hot glue. Then I glued the doubled
fabric to the outside, tucking the extra inside the containers. I added a
simple piece of twine around the outside of the fabric and my utensil
holders were complete!
I love the way they turned out. I hope that you like them too! They have been a great way to free up some drawer space and keep all my different utensils separate.
here are a few of Amanda’s awesome projects that I love:
This clock is one of my favorite projects. It’s a paint chip craft
taken to a different level. There are some really awesome paint chip
projects out there, but I was determined to come up with something a
little different. That’s when crackle medium entered the picture and
this paint chip clock was born!
I’ve had this rooster clock for quite a few years. It was one of
those clocks you buy on a gift website or in a gift shop. Nothing
special, but it was cute. However, it really didn’t fit in my decor
anymore so I took it down from the wall and tucked it away in a cabinet
in my craft room. Last week I had picked up a bunch of red toned paint
chips from WalMart. I knew I wanted to make something with them, I just
hadn’t decided what yet. Then one day it just hit me. The clock!
If you want to make one of these or something similar, you will need:
an old clock
paint chips
sand paper
crackle medium
Vintage white acrylic paint
paintbrushes
Mod Podge
antiquing gel
scrapbook paper
So I pulled out the clock, removed the mechanism and sanded down the face.
I laid out the paint chips across the front of the clock to make sure
I had enough and that there would be enough to cover. I made sure to
alternate the colors as well. I even changed them around a bit after
taking this picture, positioning most of the dark colors toward the
center. I was careful to keep them in the order that I wanted them as I
laid them down on the work surface.
I really wanted to do something different. There’s a lot of awesome
paint chip art out there, and they are all awesome, but I wanted mine to
be a bit more unique. So I pulled out the crackling medium and gave
each paint chip a thin coat.
When the crackle medium dried I added a coat of Vintage White. The
beauty of this is that you don’t have to paint a base coat because the
paint chips serve as the base coat! The crackle medium went to work and
started “aging” the finish right away.
When the paint chips are dry, add a coat of acrylic matte finish spray sealer.
After the paint chip strips had dried for a while, I started in the
middle of the clock and using some Mod Podge and a paintbrush attached
them to the clock. I did not Mod Podge the top yet, just the side that
attached to the clock.
NOTE: You can see where I accidentally removed some of the Vintage
White. That was from me trying to smooth the paint chips down on to the
Mod Podge. That’s when I realized that I needed to add the spray sealer
to the paint chips, to keep the crackled finish from peeling off. It
worked out ok, made it look chippy where I made my oops :)
After attaching all the paint chips to the clock I let it dry a bit,
then turned it over and used a box cutter to trim away the excess. I
turned it face up again and trimmed away about an 1/8″ or so from the
edge.
It was looking pretty cool so far, but I thought it needed something else…
So I thinned some antiquing gel with water and applied it with an old
rag. I rubbed it on gently then wiped it off. I repeated this step in a
few areas until I was happy with the result. I wasn’t completely sure
how this would work since I had to add a coat of sealer to the chips
earlier, but it worked like a charm.
I set the clock aside to dry for a while and went to work on the
numbers. Unfortunately there’s something wrong with my Silhouette
machine or I would have just cut the numbers with that. But since I
couldn’t I just used a piece of scrapbook paper and printed reversed
numbers on the back. They have to be reversed so that when you cut them
out the colored side of the paper will have the numbers in the right
direction.
After cutting out one of the numbers I realized that the numbers were
blending with the clock colors rather than standing out. Easy fix! I
pulled out the antiquing gel and used it to make the scrapbook paper
darker. Paint on, wipe off.
It took a while to get all the numbers cut out!
I began by adding the numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12 with Mod Podge. I did add Mod Podge over the top of the numbers at this point.
Once all the numbers were in place, I gave the entire surface a good coat of Mod Podge.
When it was completely dry, I put the mechanism back on the clock and
hung it on the wall! I’m happy with how it turned out. hope you like it
too!
As you know, I was a contestant in
Round Two of Crafting with the Stars.
Did you vote for this project? :) I still don’t know if I’ve made it to
the next round as the polls closed right before I posted this. The
theme for the second round was “paint” and we could pretty much do
whatever we wanted! My first thought was to redo this bookshelf that I
have, but it wasn’t really floatin’ my boat, if you know what I mean.
Then I suggested to Amy, my fabulous star partner from
Mod Podge Rocks,
that I use some of the totally cool glitter paint she sent me. She
liked the idea, but thought it better to leave that for a different day.
I think that was a good choice! ;)
Pier 1 coat hook rack - taken on cell phone, sorry it's so crappy
So I showed Amy a picture I snapped on my cell phone about a week ago
of the HOME sign you see above. See, I was at Michael’s with my
daughter picking up a few craft supplies. Right next door there’s a Pier
1 Imports. They had all their Christmas ornaments on display so we
decided to go in and have a look. Last year I did the same thing and was
inspired to make this
Santa’s Belly Ornament. They had one for sale there last year, so I made my own instead.
So anyway, Kristen and I were walking around checking out the
ornaments and I was snapping pictures of the ones that I liked and
thought I could duplicate. It was then that I noticed the employees
watching me. Bahaha! Maybe they thought I was with the competition or
something, haha! So we kept strolling through the store and I saw this
cool, weathered looking rustic sign that spelled out “home”. Each letter
had a key, the “O” had a keyhole. I loved it and knew I could replicate
it.
When I told Amy that I thought an “EAT” sign for my kitchen with a
similar design would be fun, she completely agreed! So that was it, we
were all set. Almost. I haven’t painted anything rustic in several
years. I used to paint a lot when I had my store, but that was several
years ago. Here you can see
my rustic paintings and some shots of my store.
I was a bit nervous to say the least. All I had to go by was this
cruddy cell phone picture, but then I remembered seeing this great post
by Donna on
how to make old, rustic signs
over at Funky Junk Interiors. I decided to follow her lead. I actually
used 3 different colors for each of the letters, only duplicating one
color along the way. That meant 7 different colors for this bad boy, so I
made sure I took notes and sketched it out ahead of time.
Now that I had my idea, I needed a canvas. I wanted something really
rustic. I live in a rural community, so it wasn’t hard to gather some
wood from a farmer friend of mine. I chose that big mombo one, and man
was it heavy! After brushing off all the dirt and crusty hay (yes, it
was in an old hay wagon) I brought it inside and drew lines with a ruler
where I wanted my letters to go. in order to get the right size, I used
my
Silhouette machine
to cut out the letters on black vinyl first, then I measured one inch on either side of each letter.
Finally I was ready to actually start painting! :) Because hubby
wasn’t home yet to cut this bad boy for me, I just went ahead and
started painting. Figured we could just cut it later.
The colors I used were:
E =
Turner’s Yellow
,
Aspen Green
,
Vintage White
A =
True Burgundy
,
Vintage White,
Coffee Bean
T =
Aqua
,
Terra Cotta
,
Vintage White
The beauty of painting something distressed is you can make mistakes
and no one will ever know :) So the first step was to put on my first
layer for each section. No perfection required here, just squeeze some
paint out of the tube and spread it on with a paintbrush.
Next was the second coat, which needs to be a contrasting color.
Because I wanted my sign to end up as light, dark, light, I also had to
start that way. Therefore, the second layer was dark, light, dark, from
left to right. Just dry brush it on, leaving some parts uncovered or not
covered as heavily.
A cool distressing technique I learned from Donna’s post on creating old signs (above) was to use
masking tape
on the paint before it’s fully cured.
This will lift some of the paint, and in some cases, go all the way
to the wood. Cool indeed. Don’t you love that hole in the wood too?
Neato. :)
Now that there are two layers on each section, you will want to let
it dry a bit so you can sand it. See, I didn’t actually do that. Duh.
No, instead I went ahead and put my vinyl letters on and realized
afterward that I should have sanded first. So needless to say my vinyl
letters had lost a lot of stickiness by the time it came to painting
over them. Ha! In case you are wondering why I used a reversed stencil
technique here, it’s because I wanted to preserve the colors you see
above in the actual letters, just like in the Pier 1 sign.
Now it’s time for the final coat on each section. I decided to use a
piece of folded paper towel to apply the last coat. I wanted a dry
application and all my brushes were wet. :-P I carefully went over each
vinyl letter, being careful not to let them lift anywhere since I
screwed up their sticky backing by removing them to sand. *sigh*
After getting all the top coats on I let it dry for a bit.
I removed the vinyl lettering and used a
sander
with a
fine grit sandpaper
to go over everything, pushing harder in some areas more than others. I
also sanded all the edges and corners. I used a soft brush to get all
the dust off.
Then I gave it a couple of coats of
Krylon Matte Finish sealer
.
To attach the old tarnished silverware (found at a thrift store) I used model glue. Worked like a charm. :)
I realized after adding the silverware that I should have hammered a
hanger to the back first. Oh well. Bugger. I’ll have to just be careful
when adding the hanger, will tackle that after the kitchen wall is
painted!
http://www.craftsbyamanda.com/2010/11/distressed-eat-sign.html
Doilies are dainty. Candles are romantic. Burlap is rustic. Here I’ve
combined all of them to make these pretty luminaries that would be
great for a romantic Valentine’s Day meal or even as a wedding reception
accent. Play around with different ribbons, buttons, twine and burlap
while experimenting with various doily designs as well.
I found my doilies at the thrift store for about $0.35 each. I tried
paper doilies
but they aren’t as pretty and they are solid in the center, missing the
lovely designs that real doilies possess. Because I only had a few
doilies on hand, I only put them on one side of the jar, however you
could place them on both sides if you like. They look lovely on their
own or with a lit tea light glowing inside.
Burlap and Doily Luminaries
printable version
Glass jars
Adhesive spray
(like Elmer’s Craft Bond)
Doilies
Burlap
Twine
, buttons, and/or ribbon
Make sure your jars are clean and dry. Spray the jar with
adhesive spray.
EDITED:
A commenter, Peechee, suggested spraying the doily rather than the jar
to avoid having dust particles etc cling to the glass where the doily
doesn’t touch. I think that’s an excellent idea! I haven’t tried it
myself, but would love to know how it works out if someone does try
that.
EDITED AGAIN: Have heard from another visitor that in fact spraying the doily works great!
Funny thing is I tried this project with
paper doilies
first and I DID spray the paper doily and then place it on the jar. No
idea why I didn’t do that with the real doily. Duh! The only problem I
could see would be that the doily might flop onto itself causing it to
stick to itself. so maybe instead spray the doily, leave it on the
table, then place the jar onto the doily!
Place the doily onto the jar and position it, making sure it’s not bunched up anywhere. Press in place.
Spray the rim with adhesive, then wrap the jar rim with burlap.
You can also wrap the rim with pretty ribbon then tie a piece of twine around the rim as well. Tie them both in a bow.
Another option is to use the canning jar lid, then wrap that with
twine or loose threads from your burlap. Thread two of the ends through a
button and tie in a knot.
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