Spraypaint Success!

The fastest way to transform something from ugly into updated? Spray paint. :) Here are two projects from a recent Spraypaint Sunday.

The first project took all of about 60 seconds, including the time to hang it on the wall. A somewhat tacky metal Christmas card display "wreath" became a year-round wreath after I removed the metal bow and sprayed it with bright yellow paint. It looks very happy on our office wall. (Now send us lotsa photos and postcards so we can fill it up, okay?)

Here is the wreath before...


...and here it is after!


The second is a set of candlesticks. I haven't decided if they're a centrepiece for the dining room table or a funky bookshelf decoration. Anyway, they're all re-used items. Two of the big candlesticks came from hubby's weird collection of stuff. The other four were purchased from the thrift store for $0.50 to $1.50 each. The tray cost a whopping $0.50, too (ugly print, but a neat shape).

Please try this at home! If there is any wax left on the candle holders, just put them in a freezer for a few minutes and then pop it off with a butter knife. Use a damp rag to wipe off any dust or grease and get to spraying. ;) (Don't forget to wear gloves....remembered that this time! Also, make sure the drop cloth you're using for spraypainting completely covers your work surface. We have black, white and schoolbus yellow patches of grass in the backyard right now.)

Total cost of the 1st project:
$2.00 for the wreath
$1.00 for 1/5 of a can of spray paint
-----
$3.00

Total cost of the 2nd project:
$4.50 for the candle sticks and tray
$0.00 for the candle sticks I found in the basement. ;)
$2.50 for the 1/2 can of spray paint
-----
$7.00

Sheet Music Art

I love the simple graphics and designs on old sheet music. When I came across this particular piece of 1920s schmaltz, titled "Cut Yourself a Piece of Cake and Make Yourself At Home," I was instantly struck with an idea of how to incorporate it into our dining room. (It's hanging right above the piano, of couse!)

The pictures below should make this project pretty simple, if you wanted to try it yourself. Simply cut off the cover (I used my Fiskars paper trimmer) and then slice the actual sheet music into smaller pieces to collage together as a background. I purchased a frame that came with a mat and used double-sided tape to secure everything to the sample picture that came in the frame.



Cost of the project:
$0.50 for the sheet music at the thrift store
$17.99 for the frame (on sale)
-------
$18.49


1. Attach sheet music bits to the sample picture that comes in the frame...
2. Centre the sheet music cover over the collage. Use double-sided tape to secure it in place...
3. Lay the matting over top to make sure you haven't missed covering any visible spots. (No need to tape this part.)

Have A Ball

It's called a pomander. The day of my wedding, I heard it called a pinata, a purse, a pompom, and a Christmas decoration. I had a lot of fun making it and I'm so grateful to my florist friend for insisting that I finish it and carry it down the aisle when the jobs were piling up and the days to go before the wedding were slipping away.

I really wish I had photographed the process step-by-step, but here's the gist of how I put it together.

To Make The Flowers:
1. Cut three circles from felt: one small, one medium, one large. (I used a felted sweater. One ladies size small long-sleeved turtleneck had enough fabric even after shrunken down to complete this.)
2. Stack the circles on top of each other and attach a piece of jewelery to the middle. Use a bit of hot glue if it's an earring. For clip-on earrings and scarf clips, snip a small hole through the centre of each piece of felt and slide the back of the clip through.

To Make The Ball:
1. Wrap a 1.5" wide strip of ribbon around a 6" styrofoam ball. Use straight pins and hot glue to secure the ribbon. Lotsa pins. Lotsa glue. Nobody sees this part. Leave a loop of ribbon for the handle.
2. Starting directly on top of the ribbon, attach flowers to the ball, using straight pins and glue. (Put a bit of glue under the flower. Spear the flower securely to the ball with pins. Pin them through the first and second layers of the flower so the top layer of felt conceals them. Put an extra little bit of glue on top of the pin head to keep it from pulling out.)
3. Work in a straight line around the "prime meridian" of the ball. Then, work in smaller circles on each side until the sphere is covered in flowers and the styrofoam isn't peeking out anywhere. I glued and pinned on a few small scraps of extra felt where the styrofoam was peeking through in random places.

It's probably not all that clear, but the gist is there. Ask questions if you need to!