Vicki O'Dell

Chalk on Glass Update

2009-11-05T15:29:56-05:00

Pier 1 Imports has the chalk board on glass in their flyer again. There are different pieces but it's the same concept. I scanned the image in for you. The online flyer doesn't show this close enough for you to really see it. It's shown on a bar a background decoration.

The pieces are reasonably priced. I don't know if it's cheaper to buy the supplies and make your own or not but then you can't say, "I made it"! Besides, if you make your own you can recycle glassware that is already in your home or at the thrift store.

The directions for MY version of Chalkboard on glass are HERE.

Recycling Vases

2009-11-04T11:08:06-05:00

I have been a Floral Designer for about 10 years now and a lover of fresh cut flowers since I was a little girl. Even though I have some allergies I love them too much to give them up. Needless to say, I have quite a store of clear glass vases hanging around my house. Sometimes, I don't want a clear vase, sometimes I want to add more color to my design. And just sometimes, I'm tired of the vase looking the way it does and I want to change it up...

Here are a couple of ways I do that.

Make sure the vase is clean and dry. Then all you will need for this project is a hot glue gun, glue sticks and Design Master spray paint.

Using the hot glue gun "draw" a design on the vase with glue. I find that the cooler temp glue sticks work better for this. The hot ones just get too hot and runny to make a good design.

Once the glue is set and cool spray the vase with Design Master spray paint in whatever color you choose.

The second look uses masking tape, gold spray paint and Rub'nBuff.

Cover the vase with small, torn pieces of masking tape, over lap the tape pieces many times over. You don't want any of the glass to show and the more torn edges you have the better it looks. Burnish the edges to make sure it's all lying down nice and flat. Spray with spray paint. I used Darice Antique Gold but you could use any color you like. Lightly go over with Rub'nBuff so that the darker color sticks in the creases and lines.

There you have it. Two ways to recycle or change the look of just about any clear class vase.

Is it November Already?

2009-11-02T11:02:15-05:00

Oh my goodness! I can't believe Halloween/Samhain weekend is already over. It went by so fast and now here we are in November. The clocks have turned back for Daylight Savings Time, the leaves are almost all on the ground and there are only, 22 days until Thanksgiving and 52 days until Christmas. What!?!?

I've been caught in the world of Fall/Christmas crafting. The two seem to over lap for a while and my poor brain doesn't know which direction to turn. One minute I'm working on Halloween or Fall and the next I'm making a snowman. Crazy! You might think my ADD addled brain would be happy with this arrangement but it's craft possibility over load!

I made this fall hanging basket a couple of weeks ago and listed it in my etsy store. And right before that I made this darling snow man from paper clay that I also listed in my etsy store.

I also made the Santa in the cloche behind him but I'm not going to list him for sale. I can't imagine how I'd ever package that one up and ship it safely.

I've been a little discouraged with the etsy store. Sales are slow and I'm not sure if it's the economy or something I'm doing/not doing. I think the stuff I do on the web could easily be a full-time job. The problem is that I already have a full-time job (4 kids, house and all that go with them) so part of my problem may just be lack of time to concentrate on promoting and making items for my shop.

I decided yesterday that I'm going to keep plugging away, doing things that I truly enjoy doing, and at some point in time all of the planets will align and I'll wake up and be doing what I LOVE and making good money at it at the same time. Until then I'll keep making things I enjoy and share some of the extras with YOU!

Spider Victim

2009-10-28T09:09:00-04:00

I never imagined a thing like this would be popular but Martha Stewart had them in her Halloween issue and then one of the designers on HGTV's Halloween Block Party did them too. Guess I'm running with the big dogs now, huh?

Tyler and I made our "Spider Victims" a few weeks ago and they have been hanging in the maple tree.

Here's how:

We laid the skeleton out on the picnic table with some cheesecloth underneath him. (Yes, my picnic table is blue, what did you expect?) The skeleton is white because I spray painted the pair I have for a Day of the Day theme we had going. But that was last year. This year it's spiders!

Then we wrapped him up nice and cozy.

And spread spider web from head to toe. Spread it thin so it looks more realistic.

Hot glue spiders all over.

And hang him from the spider’s web. We stretched ours out from one of our big maple trees. It’s kind of freaky when it’s almost dark and they are swaying with the breeze. ooooooOOOO! (That was a spooky sound!) :)

Super Easy Treat Tote

2009-10-27T10:26:19-04:00

It's not too late to make a treat tote for your little one. It does take a while for the fabric paint to dry but even if you make this Friday evening or Saturday morning it will still be dry in time for Trick or Treating on Saturday evening.

I used Squiggles fabric paint to decorate this nylon bag with purple swirls, orange squiggles and sets of 3 dots then I put the foam stickers on in between the paint. I like the little bottles of fabric paint. They make it really easy to draw a fine line with their small tips. You can add the name or not. For safety reasons you may choose not to include it or make it small enough that a passing person cannot easily read it.

For even more fun you can let your children decorate their own bag!

A Funny Thing Happened

2009-10-26T14:05:14-04:00

I came home from work on Saturday evening and this sign that I have hanging near my door said "The Witch is Out". I just happened to be looking at as I turned off the ignition of my van and the sign flipped over to say "The Witch is In".

I know it had some help from the wind but it amused me anyway. There is a little bit of magic in everyday moments if you are watching for it!

What a Difference

2009-10-23T19:32:18-04:00

What a difference a (wet) day makes. It’s been raining and close to 60° today and the leaves are falling like crazy! Here is the big maple I put in my slide show yesterday.

Nearly the whole top of it is leafless.

I like the way the leaves stick in what is left of the spider web we put up for Halloween. There are skulls and bones laying on the ground under the spider victims but you’ll probably not find them. Time to get out the leaf blower!

Stacked Pumpkin Candlesticks

2009-10-23T09:00:00-04:00

Here is an idea I got from the crazy talented Pattie Wilkinson. She used the real mini pumpkins and I used foam ones. She used an urn and plaque for a base and I used fat candle sticks. She used real tea lights and I used the battery operated ones… Hey, a girl has to use what she has on hand sometimes.

Remove the stem of the pumpkin...actually, you'll have to remove the stems from ALL of the pumpkins. (The foam pumpkins I got had stems that were wired to the pumpkin so all I had to do was pull real hard to remove them.) Place the tea light candle on top and trace around it with a pencil to determine how much and where to cut.

Carefully using an x-acto knife cut around the circle and remove the center. I found it made things easier to cut around and then cut an X across the remove smaller sections.

Then, just like Pattie I stacked them together to make my candle stacks. I secured them with a dollop of hot glue in between the pumpkins. I’m not sure if I’m all that crazy about the moss. I wonder what else I could have used. It really needs something between the pumpkins and the candle stick. What do you think? What might work there?

My 2 Acres of Autumn

2009-10-22T15:12:22-04:00

I took a walk around my (nearly) 2 acres of yard today. I was just amazed at all of the colors so I grabbed my camera and saved them for future. I smell new artwork coming! I made a little slide show... I hope you like it.

Here is the link to the slideshow on flickr. There you can see the descriptions I added in and bigger photos.

Drawing for a New Winner

2009-10-21T21:24:35-04:00

I’m really sad that Donna didn’t contact me about winning the Halloween Blog Party prize. So Olivia and I had to draw a new name…

The new WINNER is Piper at http://woodlandwanderings.typepad.com!!! I’ll also email her to let her know. Piper you have until Friday to contact me with an address.