Friday, April 29, 2011

Season 2: Finals Results

What a great season, right?!?  I know I'll be following these ladies in blogland - so many great ideas!

The winner of Season 2:

Purse and Clutch by  Mary of  Bugglebee Handmade

2nd place:
Pleated Dress by  Amanda of Simply Homemade

3rd place:
Jewelry Organizer by Vivienne of  The V Spot

Big shout-out to the sponsors, who provided the great prizes:

1st Place:
$25 gift certificate to Amazon or craft supplies store from Sunburnt Cow Handmade Shop
Custom Monogrammed Teddy Bear ($40 value) from Caytee Belle's Classics
$25 gift certificate to Cherished Bliss 

2nd Place:
Bracelet and Earrings ($40 value) from Aztec Art

3rd Place:
$25 gift certificate to Photo Jewelry Making

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Season 3 Meet the contestants

We are so excited to introduce the fabulous ladies who will be competing in Season 3. Visit their sites, give them some love and wish them luck. 

My name is Heather and my little corner of the blog-o-sphere is Twin Dragonfly Designs.  I am a Program Coordinator with a passion for Inspiring Creativity.  If you grab a warm fuzzy blanket, a mug of hot chocolate and browse around awhile you will find;  crazy party ideas, tried and true recipes, epic craft projects and tutorials for just about all of it.  Oh and did I mention?  I have twin, three year old boys {so they're involved in pretty much everything}.

Emilie from Emilie Handmade
Holla Crafters! I'm Emilie and I live in PA with my wonderful Hubbs and am Mom to three children wild monkeys.  I have an unhealthy addiction to.... crafts, Project Runway, crème brûlée, blogging, simple carbohydrates (read: eating in general) and cool indie music. I know every single word to every single song on the ABBA Gold album. It's a crowning achievement of my life and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Come visit me anytime at Emilie Handmade.

Taylor from Taylor Made
Hi, I am Taylor from Taylor Made. I am lucky to be surrounded by cute boys, my sons Finn and Clyde and my husband Bryan. I graduated college with a degree in Costume Design (yes that is a real degree) then became a Teacher, now I am a stay-at-home Mommy. I love painting, re-doing my house, sewing, taking pictures, cooking and making stuff for my boys.

Hello! My name is Lois but most of the time I go by "Auntie Lolo". I am the proud Aunt to 12 kids and I love making things for them! My husband Doug not only puts up with my crafts but is my biggest fan. I started my blog Auntie Lolo Crafts as a way to keep up with all the great crafting ideas I see. Feel free to swing by and check it out for lots of inspiration!

Emily from Homemade{lovely}
Hi! I'm Emily from Homemade{lovely}. I have been married to my best friend for almost five years and have a beautiful 11 month old daughter. I love to cook, sew, craft, and garden. I think everything is lovelier when it is homemade. I am so excited to participate in One Month To Win It.

Hi! I'm Jaime from Polkadots on Parade!
I live a life full of family, food, and everyday adventures!
In my spare time I like to indulge my addiction to fabric, chocolate, and naps!
I'm so excited to be a part of this crafty competition!!


Alexis from Persia Lou
Hi! I'm Alexis, a lifelong crafter and brand new blogger, and I am so so so excited to be participating in One Month to Win It!. I love trying out new crafts, but I always seem to come back to sewing and crochet. You can see what I've been working on over at Persia Lou

Jill from mama jill
Hey there! My name is Jill. I'm the blogger behind mama jill.
I am a mommy of 2 boys (my own and my hubby's son)
My blog is filled with crafty tutorials and a little bit of funny ramblings here and there. :-P
I am so excited to be apart of OMTWI that I could just pee my pants!
Feel free to stop by sometime. :-D


Cami from tidbits
I love it when someone challenges me to make something, so I was very excited to hear I'd been selected as one of the next contestants! Being a mommy to three girls, I tend to get stuck in a rut to only make things for them. I'm looking forward to challenges that will make me think out of the box. As you may assume, I love to decorate, scrapbook digitally, blog, cook, do crafts with my kids, teach, re-purpose, and most of all, sew. That's the majority of what you will find on my blog, tidbits. Head on over to see what I have done, and hopefully I can come up with more inspiration for this competition. Can't wait!

Amy and Emily from Sisters of the Wild West
We are so excited to be a part of Season 3 of One Month to Win It.  
HI!!  We are Amy and Emily . We are Sisters of the Wild West.  
We are newbies to the blog world. We have 11 kids between us, and they are all 12 and under. 
CRAZY!  So... to keep our sanity we love to craft and create any chance
we get...especially when we are together! Please stop by and check us out!

Susan from Soozie's Cutie Patooties

Hi!  My name is Susan and I have the blog Soozie's Cutie Patooties where you can find a little something of everything.  I tend to have crafting ADD and skip around from project to project using different media and techniques.  Which means that you can find crochet, knit, jewelry, cooking/baking, and whatever else I decide to give a try.  I'm going back to school (after once celebrating never having to take another test again) to become an RN.  All of which is closely supervised my puppies Popcorn and Peanut.

Heather from Me Making Do
Hi! I'm Heather from Me Making Do. I am a SAHM who lovse to craft. I'm always trying to create something with items I already have on hand or that cost very little. I married my best friend who had three kids and I had three kids and together we had one. Even though the oldest of our bunch is off and married, our house is still a zoo, but we love it!

Season 3 starts this Monday. 

Monday, April 25, 2011

Season 2: Week 4 - Clothing Repurpose

Eek!! it's the finals!  Here are the projects from our final 3 contestants:


Pleated Dress
Re-purposing things makes me happy. For one, it's a super cheap way to go.
And second, it's just satisfying to turn a yucky old something into a useful
new something. Happy. I've been needing/wanting a new dress so when I
found this ginormous button-up shirt my project was born....(so to speak)
I wanted it to be somewhat billowy
so that I could cinch it with a belt so I cut above the bust line and added some
pleats. Then to add just a hair more length I added a bit of vintage blue and
white floral cotton. I was amazed that it matched so perfectly........
I've had the fabric for years!

ps. Thank you lovely model. I will make you a bag for your efforts....or some cookies!



Purse and Clutch
First, I'm so excited to be in the last round! It's been so fun to see what all these talented ladies have come up with for the theme each week and thanks to everyone who has been voting. This week's "refashion" theme was a lot of fun. I decided I wanted to take an item of clothing and turn it into something completely new and different. I've always been impressed by the little details put into clothing so I created a purse and clutch using as many of those details as I could.


First I purchased this men's XL shirt at a thrift store because I liked the pearl buttons and the front pockets. Then I designed a pattern that would complement the shirt design and the amount of fabric I had to work with. In the photos below you can see where I cut apart the sleeves and the front and back of the shirt. I also used a contrasting fabric for lining the strap and interior, and cut some fusible fleece to give the bag some extra stability. Then I sewed all my pieces together!


Below shows the bag all put together. I tried to use as much of the shirt as possible so here's a list of where the pieces came from: 1. The two shirt cuffs sewn together. 2. The top back of the shirt. 3. The pockets from the front of the shirt. 4. An interior buttoned pocket made from the placket of buttons on the front of the shirt. 5. Strap is made from both sleeves with the button from near the cuff. 6. The lower back of the shirt. And the best part? The entire project cost less than $5!




Jewelry Organizer
I had all sorts of wacky ideas for this week's challenge. Unfortunately all of my ideas were outside the scope of my particular skill set.
I learned a lesson about myself this week: If I try to do something based on how I think someone else would do it... it doesn't work. I learned that my real creativity doesn't really kick in until I am trying to solve a problem.

And I created lots of problems....
#1) I took a perfectly good dress, hacked off the bottom third, then cut it up the middle, thinking I would make it into a short sleeve cardigan or add cute embellishments or something. FAIL.
#2 and #3) I took a perfectly good pair of shoes, drew cheetah patterns on them with Sharpies and planned to glue tiny beads all over them. EPIC FAIL.
#4) I took an innocent wooden chicken and had plans to glue an argyle sweater all over him. (Fortunately my husband came home and saved the chicken. And the sweater.)#5) I found a broken hair clip I had been meaning to try to fix.
#6) I found a tiny frame that had been floating around in my craft supplies.
(Not shown: The necklace I ruined while trying to cannibalize it in order to make a new necklace.)

I surveyed the damage and realized all I had to show for my time was a pile of dress fabric, a ruined pair of shoes, a tangle of jewelry ...and a traumatized chicken.

Then it hit me: a way to use the dress and the broken hair clip, and to organize the jewelry.**
I made a jewelry organizer/wall art.
I took the little frame and painted it black, then put a silver wash over it. Then I tucked some of the black dress fabric into it. I did the same thing for tall frame that had held a photo collage. I took the cardboard from the back and wrapped it in the rest of the dress fabric.
I hot glued the flower from the broken hair clip into the little frame, then secured the little frame inside the big frame with floral pins. I used the floral pins to hang some of my favorite turquoise silver costume jewelry pieces. Because it's color coordinated, it doesn't look chaotic to my eye.

This contest has been a fun experience, and I am thankful for the opportunity!
(**the shoes are headed for the trash, and the chicken is currently in therapy.)



Sunday, April 24, 2011

Season 2: Week 4 - THEME - Clothing Repurpose

This week it's the finals!!  The theme will be "Refashion - redo an article of clothing/accessory to give it new life" - -


Check back tomorrow to see what the contestants came up with - for now, some projects to get you thinking about the theme:


Running With Scissors:




At Second Street:


The Country Chic Cottage:


Sugar Bee Crafts:


Friday, April 22, 2011

Season 2: Week 3 - Outdoor Craft - RESULTS

It was a close one this week!!

The winner of Outdoor Crafts:
Blue Twig Chandelier by Vivienne of  The V Spot


And the other two finalists (in random order) that Made the Cut:

Plant Stand/Table by Amanda of Simply Homemade

Picnic Blanket by Mary of  Bugglebee Handmade




As always, sorry to see these great ladies leave us (in random order):

House Numbers by Michell of Girl In Air

Picnic Bench by Tara and Kori of Mom's of All Trades
Photobucket

Coffee Table by Charlie of Attempting Aloha


Stay tuned to see who will be competing in Season 3 and to find out the theme for the finals of Season 2!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Season 2: Week 3 - Outdoor Craft - VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE

House Numbers
  The pizza guy will have no trouble finding my house now
with these nice new BIG house numbers!
I used an old shutter,  6 1/2" numbers from the craft store, some thrift store stars and a larger one I cut from scrap wood and a piece of leftover house siding.

Arranged my look to how I liked it, painted the numbers and stars and screwed it all in place.....Over time it will have a nice charming weathered look.




Plant Stand/Table
I'm not a girl that loves yard work. I enjoy pretty flowers but
I really despise weeding, raking, mulching, toiling, etc. So to
beautify my outside space I've decided that potted plants are
the way to go! I wanted some big planters but I wanted some cute small
ones as well. Cute small potted plants need cute tables right?
Here's my outdoors inspired plant stand/table. I started by making
half inch cuts from a bunch of sticks lying around the yard. (gotta love
free materials right?) Then I glued, sanded, and added polyurethane.
It still wasn't looking quite right and I started to worry a bit.
So I cut a strip of metal to glue and tack around
the outer edge of my table top. That was exactly
what it needed....oh and it also needed some aqua
table legs, because I'm currently obsessed with that
color!

It looks fantastic on my porch....just in case you were wondering.




Picnic Bench
Week 3, can I just say beyond being super excited I am still a little shocked I have made it this far! With that being said this was defiantly a theme that I could have done 100 post on! My outside needs some SERIOUS TLC! With that being said and a huge Thank you for letting me continue in this competition here we go!Photobucket
Last summer we were given a wooden picnic table. YEAH! Well it wasn't pretty but the price was right in my budget! I knew it needed a new coat of paint (desperately!) But at the end of summer that was the last thing I do!
I was looking at some fun furniture catalogs (seriously 700 bucks for an outdoor table...OUTDOOR!). I didn't enjoy the prices but loved there super fun cushions and fabrics on all of the chairs.  Well that lead to me wanting to add some fun fabric to my picnic table. I headed to the store and found 2 yards of fun bright fabric and vinyl to protect and keep it bright and pretty! For Paint I  decided I could just touch up the grey paint color.  Once I got home I realized I wanted a bright table to match my fun fabric  that I was going to add to the benches. So back to the store and there it was calling me "Seaside Blue", perfect!  I Headed home and quickly got to sanding and scrapping. Photobucket
I painted and while the paint was drying on the table I got to work on my cushioned seats. I had one of the egg foam mattresses left over in our basement and it worked perfect I simply placed my bench on my foam, fabric and vinyl to measure it.  To add my fabric I simply stapled it to the underside of the bench. The corners were a little tricky I folded them then stapled so it came out square. Then I added the vinyl I wanted my fabric to be weather proof and mainly kid proof. I added it next and folded the edges the same way as the fabric.
I am so happy with my results I cant wait until Easter Brunch to show off my new table. What do you think? Photobucket       Now what to do with all of my extra Seaside blue paint! 


Picnic Blanket
With summer just around the corner this week's outdoor craft theme was fun to think about! We live near a park and I'm looking forward to family picnics. I wanted to make a picnic blanket that was waterproof on one side and easy to store so I came up with this design. It features a vinyl table cloth on one side, a comforter on the other side, an attached pocket that the whole blanket folds up into and an easy to carry shoulder strap.


To make this, I purchased a queen size comforter and a matching vinyl tablecloth. I used a seam ripper to remove all the bindng from around the comforter. I then cut both the comforter and table cloth to 60"x75". Next I cut a 16"x16" pocket from my excess comforter material and sewed the binding strips I removed earlier to the top and right sides of the pocket. Then I laid out the table cloth, comforter and pocket (in the lower left corner of the front of the comforter), pinned it all together and sewed the binding strips around all 4 sides and sewed down the right side of the pocket. As a final step, I sewed the yellow shoulder strap to the sides of the pocket. 


When the blanket is open just tuck the strap inside the pocket as shown below in the top left photo. To fold up the blanket, lay it flat then fold it in half lengthwise, then in half again. Turn the pocket inside out so the strips you just folded are now inside the pocket. Fold the strip above the pocket in half, then in half again, then stuff it in the pocket. Now your blanket is easy to store and carry and even doubles as a pillow!




Blue Twig Chandelier
May I just start off by saying that I normally don't have a tablecloth hanging from my patio cover, but I could not get my "Outdoor Craft" to show up in photos without creating a blank background of some kind.

That being said, I made a Blue Twig Chandelier. As the weather gets warmer, it's nice to be able to hang out on the patio, host brunches, etc. I like to pair the whimsical with the traditional when it comes to setting a table, so here we are.Gathering up sticks and branches, I spray painted them with Rustoleum's Lagoon blue. When dry, I used 28 gauge wire and hot glue to make a base with the larger branches, then began to layer on the sticks. Once I had a shape that I liked, (and got the darn thing level) I wired on votive cups and used Hubby's fishing line to hang little beads.
(Note to self: return his reel to the tackle box...)
I knew I wanted to do a chandelier for my challenge. I started several different chandys but couldn't get it right. Once I got "blue sticks" in my head I couldn't get them out. While this isn't photographing very well, it does look pretty cool. (Also, because it took me so long to complete this, I wasn't able to get a photo of it with the candles lit. Sorry.)

And seriously: you do believe me when I say there usually isn't a tablecloth hanging there, right? Right...?


Coffee Table
I'm so excited to be back again for another week of OMTWI!
I love the "outdoors" theme, and I have a big to-do list for our yard...I'm happy to have one less item on the list now!
So I've had this boring old wicker coffee table sitting in my garage for about a year. We scored a huge furniture set on Craigslist, and when we went to pick it up, the guy just kept giving us more and more stuff...this was one of those items, so it was free for me. Not my style, but free's free, right?
I thought giving it a coat of spray paint (or 3 or 4...CURSE YOU, WICKER!) would do the trick, but after seeing it all white and pretty, it still just felt blah.  Maybe something to the glass?  I'd seen some fab tutorials on that glass etching stuff you can buy at craft stores, but mostly I'm cheap and lazy, so I really wanted to think of a way I could do a similar effect using things I had at home... And behold, faux faux etching was born. Or "fetching" if you prefer. ;)

I used freezer paper and traced and cut out my own stencil (ignore the millions of erase marks...it took awhile to get the design right). Then you have to have your supplies all ready to go quickly on the next part. Spray the glossy side of the freezer paper with some spray adhesive. While it's sitting (1 minute), shake your brushed nickel spray paint. Time's up on the spray adhesive, so hurry and stick it to the glass and give it a very light dusting of the spray paint. Then quickly peel off your stencil and clean up any messy spots with your fingernail (I'm classy like that). ;)
What's also great about this method is that it is removable with a little elbow grease! You'll really need to scrape it and wash with warm soapy water, but if you should ever decide to change it out or get bored with your design, you're not stuck with it! Awesome for the fickle decorator like myself!!

Maybe I'll call it "semi-permanent glass tattoo" instead of "fetching". What do you think?