Pin Holder Frame

So I bought this empty frame for seriously $2 at a local flea market...and I wondered just what to do with it:

It's small, the opening is about 9x7 and it's meant to sit on your dresser. It likely had a mirror in it in a past life. Should I put a mirror in it? A picture? What picture would work?

And then I had an epiphany- I'll make a padded insert and it can hold my collection of pins!

I measured and cut a piece of very thing corrugated cardboard (got it from a shoe box) to fit in the frame and then hot glued some very thin batting (no thicker then felt) to it. I trimmed the batting so that it didn't hang over the edge. I had bought a small amount of tan fine wale corduroy to use for this project- I wanted a neutral color. A vintage distressed tan velvet looked good in my mind, but that's a little hard to come by.

I cut and ironed a piece of corduroy a little larger then my cardboard and wrapped it around the batting and hot glued on the back to secure it. I didn't want hot glue coming through the fabric on the front!

I tacked it in the frame with some hot glue, making sure not to use too much or it would bleed out on the front. It didn't need much to hold it in and I can peel it out if I want to use the frame for another purpose.

But the ugly back didn't thrill me so I glued on another thin layer of cardboard over the edges of fabric and then picked a piece of Amy Butler scrapbook paper from a pack that I have (got it on sale, love it!).

The colors went perfectly with the shade of off-white.

I imagine this living on a dresser with a mirror someday, so I wanted an attractive back on it.

And I loved how the front turned out- totally shows off my pin collection well.

My little bride doll likes it too. ;)

Mask 101

Like I said, I just couldn't bear to have a crappy mask last weekend. I thought I'd show how my mask was constructed. Between working at Craft Outlet and taking sculpture class, I feel like I can construct anything! I bought the white plastic mask base at Michaels, I picked the one with the larger eyeholes (so I could, ya know, see!). But it wasn't very wide (and having a wider mask would make my fat chin smaller) so I decided to enlarge the mask. Not to mention I wanted a butterfly theme and I thought it would be cool to shape the top of the mask. I came up with a template, fiddling with it to make sure it looked good. I cut the shapes out of thin cardboard and hot glued it to the inside and reinforced it with duct tape.



I had a remnant of fake satin (love scouring the remnants at Joann's!) and covered the inside of the mask with it. Using hot glue was bumpy, so I bought some spray adhesive and coated the front of the mask with that. I worked another piece of the satin over it, trying not to have too many bumps- it's hard working a flat item over a curved piece, but I did pretty good. I hotglued the edges of the satin over to the backside for a nice finish.


As you can see, the tape lines show through the satin, thankfully I had some black lace left over from Halloween past, which masked it (ha!) pretty well. I glued the edges of that to the backside as well. I ran black masking tape over where I had glued the edges so it wasn't too bumpy on my face.

After that, I hotglued the feather butterfly at an angle on the front. Gotta love hotglue! There are black rhinestones at the outer corners of my eyes, some of those were self adhesive and some I attached with glue dots.

Attaching the feathers was trickier. The ends come glued to a piece of heavy ribbon, which I could cut as desired (also purchased at Michaels). If I glued them to the backside of the mask, though, the angle was wrong and they would just lay flat against my head. You couldn't see them at all. I played around with them, attaching them with painter's tape till I got the right angle. I wound up having to cut up a cheapo foam craft paintbrush and glue the foam under the wings and attach the feathers on top of that to get the correct height/angle. I was pretty pleased at my ingenuity- the black foam didn't show at all.

I really liked how the feathers turned out, they had movement and that was fun. A while ago I had bought some small ruffled black elastic, not knowing what to use it for. It turned out to be perfect for holding my mask to my face! Serendipity, my friends. Sometimes it pays to hoard. lol

Like I said, I also glued pinbacks to the other butterflies for use on my outfit.

And voila! A classier mask.

Secrets

Inspired by Lisa's post about her secrets, I thought I'd post some of my own. Since I have no need for nipple cream (see Lisa's post), I thought I'd direct this towards my being thrifty/crafty.

• You can find a lot of free patterns and templates for crafts online, I just google what it is I want. I've found some great quilt patterns and baby bootie patterns by doing that.

• If you can't find what you want online, try JoAnn's- but watch the circulars for when they have patterns on sale for a $1 or $1.99. That saves you a good $15! I usually don't need a pattern for a specific deadline, so I make a list of what brands/pattern numbers I want and then buy them cheap when it's on sale. I've got a lot of great patterns this way- skirts, bags, tree skirts, etc.

• If you need a pattern for a deadline, don't buy it at Joann's...go down the street to Wal-Mart. Their patterns are always half off of retail price and they have a pretty good selection.

• I like to pick up pre-measured fat quarters of fabric at JoAnn's when they go on sale for $1- there's lots of great prints available and I use them for projects and on scrapbook pages.

• Sign up for coupons- I use a coupon whenever I go to Michael's or JoAnn's. At BB&B, do your math- are you going to save more with a 20%, a $5 off of $15 purchase or the new $10 off of $30 coupon? I used to have to tell customers all the time that the other coupon in their hand would save them more!

• Go online: Since I don't have access to a lot of stores out here, I can usually find specific scrapbooking products I want on ebay and it's usually not too expensive. I used to buy nifty butterfly plates on ebay too. I go to Amazon for books, they're always cheaper and you can get free shipping for orders over $25. I get most of my photo/art books that way.

• I love to go junking- and out here in rural PA you can find some good deals. Would you believe I got these silver pieces for $1.99 ea? They're in really good condition too. One even says "William Rogers" on the bottom- good stuff. I find treasures for just a couple bucks all the time.

• I am a magazinephile, it's been hard to cut back now that I don't have an income. Our library sells donated magazine for 10 cents ea, I can usually find some good ones. Your library might do something similar. I can also check them out from the library as well.

• I do always buy Martha Stewart Weddings though. I'm not trying to sound pathetic- I really like the photography and I get inspired by the color schemes shown. I've gotten some good party ideas (like for my 25th) too.

• I can usually find great deals at Fashion Bug- every now and then there's something good and cheap on clearance. I recently got a little cover-up jacket for $11.

• One good thing about PA- you don't pay sales tax on certain neccessities, like shoes. I didn't know that til I bought a pair of tennies last month! People come here from neighboring states to shop. PA does ream you in other tax areas, though so I don't know if that's really a bargain.

• I buy my scrapbooking staples, like adhesive and ribbon, etc at Wal-Mart. I love glue dots- they hold anything together! Wal-Mart has stepped up their scrapbook selection- I love the new Martha Stewart products they carry.

• I save all my useable scraps of cardstock- and I use them! I have a drawer full of scraps. By now, I have pretty much any size/color I need. I can make little accents on cards and pages.
• Anything for scrapbooking that I buy has to have multiple functions- like with rubber stamps. They have to be generic enough that I can use them in several different ways on my cards and pages.

• Stressed? Try playing with a kneaded eraser- it's similar to silly putty and helps break boredom and tension in my classes.

That's what I got so far, maybe I can think of more hints later.