Jumbo Candy Corn

Jumbo Styrofoam Candy Corn

I am soooo excited about this post! I giggled out loud twice when I was making these. (Would that be GOL?) I've been frustrated, too, as I lost my camera cord!!! I went out this afternoon and bought a card reader. You know what's destined to happen now? Yes, I'll lose the card. Let's get goin' with the good stuff, shall we?

I bought two sets of two cones at Walmart~cost $7, (these are 7-8") then I carved the sides off and gently rounded the ends using a steak knife. Next, I made a batch of plaster (purchased for 49¢ on clearance from Michael's-woot!) A shout out to Marianne from Songbird is in order, I purchased the plaster after I saw her very cool post on using plaster to coat fabric flowers.

I mixed it up on the thin side and poured it over the carved styrofoam. (Giggle out loud #1 when this worked well!) There were a few places when the plaster dried that had hollow bubble spots. I would suggest for those spots to use spackle. (I tried putting another coat of plaster over the first and it didn't work out that well.)

After they dried overnight, I painted them traditional candy corn colors.

faux canvas

My supplies:

12x12 photos

12x12 boards

black spray paint

Mod Podge

Foam brush

Sand paper

Drill

Screw (to hang photo on)

I started with a 3/4" 2x2 birch plywood board and cut it into four 12x12 squares.

Then I spray painted the edges black. I also wanted a little on the front of the board in case my photo didn't quite cover the entire surface.

Then I flipped the board over and drilled a hole in the back so it would hang flush against the wall.

Then I got out my handy dandy Mod Podge and a foam brush and painted the surface of the wood. I set the photo on the board and smoothed it out. After it was dry, I sanded the edges of the photo to help make them more flush with the edge of the board. Then I took my foam brush and painted over the photo in a horizontal motion with more glue. Before the glue dried I painted in a vertical motion (without applying anymore glue this time). This gives the photo a great canvas texture.

be careful about how much glue gets on the brush. It's can be thicker in some places and wont dry evenly.

3-D wreath

Here’s what you need:

A round wreath form — mine is 12 inches with a flat top and sides. I found it at Hobby Lobby.

Ribbon (about 9 yards for a 12 inch wreath)

Gorilla Glue

Paint that matches your ribbon

Small Dowels or wooden beads.

Round Wooden Craft Circles (also found at Hobby Lobby) I used 2 packages – approximately 30 circles of different sizes

4 different patterns of decorative paper

Glue gun and sticks OR Superglue

Decoupage medium (I used Outdoor Mod Podge since my wreath is going to be outside - this stuff rocks!)

Here’s what you do:

• Put a dab of Gorilla Glue on the back side of your wreath form. Put one end of your ribbon on top of the glue and pin. Then wrap the wreath form with your ribbon tightly, overlapping the edges until the entire wreath is wrapped. End the ribbon in the same way you started – by applying a dab of Gorilla Glue and pinning it until it dries.

• Take your circles divide the circles into four equal piles with the same sizes of circles in each pile. Trace the circles from each pile onto your four different papers. So you end up with the same number of circles and sizes for each of your four papers.

• Cut out all of your circles.

• Cut your dowels to three different sizes — 1/2 inch, 1 inch and 1 1/2 inch. You only need about 5 of the 1 1/2 inch sizes, then evenly split the 1/2 inch and 1 inch sizes to match the number of circles you are going to make. I used about 30 circles on my wreath. **note — you do not have to use dowels, you can use small wooden beads too. I used two different sizes of wooden bead – one was 1/2 inch and the other was 1 inch. I then cut a dowel for the 5 taller circles using a chop saw.
  

• Glue the beads or dowels onto the back of the wooden circle. Once dry, paint the backs of the circles and beads the color that coordinates with your paper. let dry.

• Mod Podge your paper onto each of the circles. I applied a thin layer of Mod Podge to each of the circles and then to the back side of the paper. When I had done all of the circles, then I put a top layer over all of the circles. Let dry. **Let me just say that I love the Outdoor Mod Podge! It is thicker and very durable.

• Then lay your circles out on the wreath to see what you want your placement to look like.

• Glue your circles onto the wreath. When gluing, hold the dowel straight onto the wreath for a few seconds until it is cooled or dry (depending on whether you are using Superglue or hot glue).

• Cut 2 different coordinating ribbon and wrap it through the wreath and tie at the top.

Nob Pictures

BEFORE~

AFTER~ AND THIS IS what I TURNED THEM INTO!

YOU COULD EASILY pick up some wood at the hardware store and knobs and make these yourself.

STEPS:

prime wood~ two coats

paint wood~ three coats white paint

paint knobs~ acrylic paint

glaze knobs, wipe off with paper towels

finish knobs with clear acrylic sealer "gloss"

do a outer glaze paint to plaques, wipe off glaze with

paper towels.

use a stencil and brissel brush to stencil

"No." and numbers

whole punch card stock paper

glue pics. on

add twine, tie knots hang pics.

Paint Chip Mural

Paint Chip Mosaic Artwork.

Supplies:

Plywood or a pine panel (my board is 20x20 inches)
Paint chips
Spray adhesive
Acrylic paint
Mod Podge Matte-Mat
Stain

Instructions:

I began by painting the sides and edges of my board black. I used a pine panel, because I had it cut out to use for a frame already, but plywood or MDF would also work. (For some reason, I began this project at nightfall, so the photos are on the dark side.)



Here is my paint chip collection, but you could easily cut squares of scrapbook paper for a similar effect. To get the randomness right, I simply shuffled the chips several times like a deck of cards:



I laid out the cards to get an idea of spacing:



The next step is to simply spray a line of adhesive and stick on the paint chip squares. Now repeat, again, and again:



See? All finished! Now, let this dry well. Go over it once in awhile to smooth any edges that might begin to come unstuck.



Once the adhesive was dry, I touched up any sticky spots on the painted edges with more paint to even out the color.

Now, apply 3 coats of Matte Mod Podge to get a nice smooth surface.



Let dry overnight, then rub stain over the whole piece with a rag. Make sure to really get it into all the cracks and seams so they look darker and defined.

Cloth MP Frame

This tutorial is for creating a 8x10 mat that holds a 5x7 picture.

MATERIALS:

• a rectangular piece of cotton fabric approx. 11x13 in. or a bit bigger (it doesn't have to be cut perfectly)
• a 8x10 mat - you can either purchase a pre-cut mat or cut your own out of mat board
• spray glue -nothing beats 3M Super 77 found at Hobby Lobby or hardware stores
• a scissor - one you don't mind getting glue on
• a sheet rocking knife with a thin blade... an x-acto knife/craft knife will work, too
• Mod-podge
• small foam brush

THE PROCESS:

1.With all your supplies laid out and ready to go, spray the back side of the fabric and the front of the mat with a generous coat of spray glue (outside).

2.Lay your glue covered fabric on a table, glue side up. Carefully place your glue covered mat face down onto the fabric. Make sure to center it, leaving equal portions on each side. Press down firmly all over the back side of the mat. Check the front of the fabric to make sure all air bubbles are out.

3.Cut off the corners of the fabric with scissors... careful to leave only a tiny margin by the corner of the mat (see close-up pic)

4.Pulling firmly, starting next to the corner, pull the fabric up over the mat, one side at a time. Press down, smoothing out all air bubbles.

5. With your knife, cut the interior of the fabric diagonally out, starting in each corner -creating an X. Trim edges.

6. Again, pull fabric up over the edge of the mat, starting in the corners. Pull firmly to ensure that the fabric is tight, especially in the corners. Use Mod-podge on your foam brush to help adhere, if fabric doesn't stick. Once all edges are in place, use Mod-podge to go over the edges of the fabric for extra security and to prevent any fraying. Also pay special attention to the outside corners. These will need a dab of Mod-podge, smoothed down with your finger, also (second photo shows how corner should look before smoothing down).

7. Let dry thoroughly and place in frame!!

W Tray

This was a fun little project. I took an ordinary frame that I got on clearance for a couple of dollars It was deeper than a normal frame, not quite as deep as a shadow box, but deep enough that I was able to add some material and some buttons underneath the glass.

Then I took two extra large unfinished wood letters. I used W's, but I think you could get M's to work depending on the font of the wooden letter.

I covered the letter with scrapbook paper using Mod Podge. Then I inked the edges of the letter and applied a couple of coats of mod podge on top of the letters and paper.

I attached the letters to the bottom of the frame using E6000 and then I screwed small screws from the inside back of the frame down into the tops of the wooden letters.

I took a dowel and attached it with screws along the backside of the W's and then covered the screws with buttons.

I painted the dowels and the backside of the letters a cream color to match my frame. Then I ended up with this handy dandy lap tray.

Die Block

To make a Job Die, just cut a piece of a 4x4 into a square block.

Paint your block. Mine is green. I've heard it's not easy being green, so it's my goal to make all green things feel very loved.

Add vinyl.

We'll give it a try! The kids are pretty excited about it so far!

pumpkinss

Start with some scrap wood. I found these in a little garbage pile next to a new home being built in my area. Paint them orange then sand around the edges. Then I cut some 2 inch medium thick branches off my tree. Glued them to the top and wrapped around some green fabric, raffia, and wire I had in my craft closet. (I think the fun part is just using things you already have around the house.) Ta-Da! Wooden pumpkins!

Pumpkins

Materials:

• 1 funkin (faux pumpkin). I bought 3 different sized white ones at Michaels with a 40% off coupon for the large one. The orange would be okay too. Gourds would be a fun twist.
  
• 1 can of Metallic Finish spray paint (Mine was from WalMart - Rust-oleum Bright Coat/silver). It takes way less than a full can.
• 1 nearly empty can of Rust-oleum Universal Satin in Brown Hammered (or see instructions for another option).

Tutorial:

I sprayed my pumpins with the silver paint. Spray generously. If there are drips, they're unseen and towards the bottom.

Do not let silver dry - go directly to next step. My can of metallic brown was nearly empty, so it was sputtering which was perfect. I spritzed "spots" on top of the generous wet silver paint. So, both paints sort of blended. Let dry. All done! (Email me pictures! I'd love to do a slide show!)

(Note: I also tried white paint instead of the brown hammered, but it didn't give me enough contrast or the look that I wanted. If you can't "spritz/sputter" the brown...maybe try splattering with a toothbrush and metallic brown craft paint. You will have tons of paint so experiment to see what works best to achieve the look you like).

End Result:

I love my shiny faux mercury glass pumpkins. They change in different lighting. It's so easy! Let me know if you give it a shot! I'd love to see how yours turned out!

recipe holder

It's a cutie!... This is what I did...

I purchased a 1x8x4 at Lowes and a large square dowel...

I also purchased a small craft circle...

My first step was to cut the dowel. I cut it about 11" long. I then used my Gorilla Glue Epoxy to attach the dowel to my wood circle.

I then cut my 1x8 10" long. I used the epoxy to attach the 1x8 piece to the front of the dowel.

Then I let it dry a bit...

I used my drill to put a hole in the top for the finial.

And here is was ready for paint!!!

I painted that with Rustoleum American Accents Heirloom White spray paint. After that was dry I started working on the next step.

I decided to shanty the edges up a bit with my sander and a bit of Minwax Dark Walnut stain...

I then added a bit of Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze... You guys know the routine!!

I found this galvanized roof flashing at Lowe's...

I cut a piece just a bit smaller than the plaque I attached to the dowel.

I then used my epoxy again to attach the metal to the plaque to the wood piece. I added a silver nail in each

corner for a bit of shanty-ness!!

Now for my magnets... I used the same super cute Fleur-de-lis wood pieces that Ash used on a previous procect. I painted and glzed them the same and then used some Gorilla Glue to attach the magnets.

All finished... Now it just needs a great recipe...