Re-purposing Old Favorites into New Loves

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ard sales. Here at the Corner Craftroom we LOVE yard sales! One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. We can find something at a cheap price, spice it up a little, turn it into a unique and one-of-a-kind item. At a yard sale from one of our neighbors we bought five frames, some baby clothes, and a baby blanket.  Now-a-days not many people have a need for frames (why by a photo frame when you can look at your picture in your photo gallery via social media?). We thought we could show you a few ideas for those unwanted eyesores taking up space in your house. The frames have a desert landscape and did not really fit in with the décor of the house. We thought they were in pretty decent shape, as they have a glass cover and a stand in the back. With some supplies you can turn any old frame into a custom, one-of-kind work of art. We set different themes for each frame, pink, teal, black, white, and one with polka dots. 

For each frame, we used:

* Acrylic paint              *     Acrylic sealer

* Jewels                        *     Poms          

* Mini flowers             *     Pipe cleaners

* Chalk                         *     Stickers

* Ribbon                      *     Spackle

* Tools: Glue gun, Paint brushes and Scissors.

 This project did not take long to complete. The most time-consuming part was waiting for the paint to dry. For each frame we put spackle on top to smooth out the indentions. Afterwards, we applied 3 to 4 coats of the paint and then sealer. Once we finished painting, we were able to finally start decorating the frames.

*Pink: Two fuzzy pom-poms, a green pipe cleaner, hot-glue gun, paint, paint sealer, and a baby’s onesie.

*Teal: Flat-back craft jewels, hot-glue gun, paint, and paint sealer.

*Black: Chalk.

*White: (This  can be used as a gift or memorabilia frame.) White ribbon, invitation, gift card, hot-glue gun, and decorative mini flower buds.

*Polka-dots:  Stickers of two sizes, paint, paint sealer, and baby pants.

The frames have taken on a new style and a customized look. You can purchase the finished products at our store at www.Etsy.com/CornerCraftroom, go ahead and check it out! We hope we were able to inspire you today to create something simple and unique in a creative new way. Check out our website for pictures of the project at

CornerCraftroom.com

Autumn Do-It-Yourself Project

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Shopping at several local craft stores we found some gorgeous Autumn themed wreathes that were outrageously expensive, to say the least. Inspired by the beautiful flowers and ribbons we saw, we decided to make our own. Decorating for the holidays does not have to cost a lot of money or take a lot of time.  With a few inexpensive items, and an hour of your weekend, you too can create a statement with custom Autumn decorations.  We purchased the following items:

* 4 bunches of flowers, hay-like stuff, A Styrofoam wreathe,

* 3 Styrofoam pumpkins, Some fake flickering candle lights,

* A stem of leaves, and a stem of berries

* wire edged ribbon, flower tape, wire, wire cutters,

* Hot glue gun, paperclip, and a knife.

First we worked on the pumpkins. We used a paperclip to mark the outline of the design, and then used a butter knife to “carve” out the pattern.

Next was the wreathe, we covered the wreathe in the hay and used the flower tape and wire to adhere it to the wheel. Now just grab the hot glue gun and put the leaves onto the hay-covered wreathe. Don’t worry about making any kind of pattern just as long as it covers most of the Styrofoam. The best part was adding the berries and flowers. The wire was already included, so we clipped them about 2.5 inches from the base of the flower and then used that wire to “jab” them into the wheel. We had 4 colors: white, yellow, orange and red. We picked one of each color and clustered them on the wreathe. Again, don’t worry about making it perfect-the flowers do all the work in making it pretty. Lastly, we added a bow.  This was probably the most difficult part, but thankfully we found this video to help us: Cooking and Crafting from YouTube. After we completed the wreathe, we hung it up to take pictures and disaster struck! A storm came through our town and knocked the wreathe to the ground. As we picked it up, pieces of Styrofoam fell to the ground. We went back to the store and purchased a string of leaves, and another wreathe, this time choosing one that already had the hay on top-it cost about the same as our last Styrofoam wreathe. Re-doing the wreathe only took about 20 minutes, including removal of the flowers from the old wreathe. We also recycled the bow and decided it looked better on top of the wreathe. We think this second one came out much better, don’t you?  Check out our pictures  online at CornerCraftroom.com

Introduction to our new Website CornerCraftroom.com

Welcome everyone to the new Corner Craft Room. 

We have a new focus for the our new website at www.CornerCraftroom.com to re-purpose items and make them new again by utilizing easy crafting skills.

We will be taking ideas from fellow crafters and transforming them into wonderful designs and crafts. If you have an inspiration for refurbishing, remodeling, or recreating, please share with us. Send us your ideas to Melissa@CornerCraftroom.com.  If we incorporate your idea into our posts, we will send you a gift for your support.

Please "Like" us at www.Facebook.com/CornerCraftroom.

And subscribe to our new YouTube page at http://youtu.be/wV9p1p3lxts?list=UUmKfk0KeBcmzUl5qYbJul_Q
Corner Craftroom

Revamping some shoes!

It's been too long since the last post, so today we'll be having a really long post. We've been on a craze recently where we take shoes and see how we can add to them to make them look better. The first way is with glitter. We took some regular canvas shoes, five dollars at Wal-mart, and then added some glitter in old 50's gangster fashion. 

These shoes were supposed to be for prom, but issues with time deemed the project un-doable. We will be showing some alterations on a dress we did do, as well as the finished product when it gets done. 

So first, you get some glitter and spread it onto the shoe. We used a make-up sponge, but this is entirely optional. This was mainly to reduce the mess made. Next, we took some glitter and poured it over the glue. We used a piece of paper so that we could funnel and use the left over glitter. It is suggested that you get a paper bigger than printer paper because there was still a large mess afterwards. We repeated this same process for the back of the shoe before letting it dry for an hour. 

 

Then we took some regular fabric paint in black and used a different sponge to spread it to the middle part of the shoe. 

Repeating the process for glitter in black glitter, we let this dry overnight. 

We found this glittery ribbon in a craft store and decided to use it as an edging around the shoe. We used the same Tacky fabric glue we've used in previous crafts. 

Lastly, we glued rhinestones. The final product is gorgeous, but we forgot to take a picture. We recommend taking them for a test walk so you can figure out which rhinestones to re-glue. 

Next, we got another Tacky glue project. For Winter Formal we found these really nice shoes on clearance, however, they looked a little too casual for the occasion. 

We grabbed some of the leftover fabric from the dress and applied it to the shoe using Tacky glue. Just trim the edges and tuck in the ends and it looks great!  

This last one is not quite as simple, but still as long as you've the patience and artistic eye, you'll be fine. We grabbed these knock-off Toms from Wal-greens for ten dollars. First, we drew the outline of what we wanted to do. In this case, it was a play on the T.A.R.D.I.S. from Doctor Who. Next, we grabbed some Sharpies and colored in what we had colors for. If we had had a silver Sharpie, we would've included the "Public call" that's supposed to be in the center. However, they look pretty okay without it. Last, we colored in the letters and windows using a metallic-white fabric paint. Using a paint-brush, we applied it to the shoes.

                                                 

I hope you get some nice new-looking kicks from this! Enjoy~

Bow ties and Sequins and Cuff Links, oh my!

We decided that for accessories, we would be using a decorative bow tie and cuff links. We had already purchased a bow tie, but found that couldn't apply rhinestones to it unless it was a clip-on. However, we found a tie in the closet and set out to work with it.

First, you're going to need a tie, a pair of scissors, and a needle and thread. 

 Take your tie and fold it at the width you want your bow-tie to be.

Take the left side of your tie and then fold it over itself. The part that was on top, should now be in between two sides of the tie. The fold shouldn't be exactly the width you want your bow tie to be, make it loose for a feminine look.

You can flip it as many times as you want, but we only did two more.

Now you're going to flip it over so you can see the bottom and cut the remaining tie. Do NOT throw this piece away, you will use it later!

Now you want to use your needle and thread to secure the end through all layers of the tie.

Once you're done with that, you want to wrap the thread around the whole tie. Tie a knot with the thread and then cut off the remaining piece of thread. 

Grab the tail you cut off in the beginning and wrap it around the bow-tie so that you have a flap that hangs much longer than the rest. Cut this piece off just past the end of the bow-tie, you won't need it at all. 

Tuck the flap of the middle inside and then sew the ends shut. 

Now you have your finished bow-tie!

We decided to rhinestone it.

Now for the cuff links!

We wanted to put sequin flowers on the cuff links, so we cut out a circle using a button in order to have a surface to make the flower on. 

Using the technique for the purple flower in this video, made a sequin flower. We hot-glue gunned it to the cuff links and stuck a rhinestone in the middle. Voila! We're finished!

Hats off... but preferably on!

Today we will show you how to turn any simple novelty into a beautiful and unique adornment. Embellishments can transform your store-bought accessory into an exclusive, distinguishing, and one-of-a-kind feature.

We started off with this simple black mini-top hat that was intended to be a hair accessory. Seeing as my dress was tuxedo themed, this seemed particularly fitting. Upon closer examination, it didn't match the rest of the outfit we had created. We decided to use the rhinestones we purchased from Amazon.com.

 

We found that gluing these rhinestones to the hat was harder than we thought; here's a little bit about technique. We used some tweezers to grab the rhinestones and then dipped it in
Aleene's Original Tacky Glue, which is really nice because it can be cleaned up with water. 

This process is a little meticulous, so I would practice grabbing the rhinestones before pouring the glue.

It was better for us to use a lid to place the glue and then either dip it in the glue, or use a toothpick to grab the glue and place it on the back of the rhinestones. Either way is fine, but just dipping them in the glue results in a lot of glue-covered rhinestones.

We placed the the rhinestones in the spot we wanted them, and then pressed them lightly

to insure that they wouldn't slide. In our case it was on the black dots already on the fabric.

Inspired with how this turned out, we applied the same technique onto this plain cummerbund. We forgot to take a picture of how it started, so either click the link or just take a look at the finished product below. We think it looks awesome.

And finally, here's the finished top-hat. 

And just in case you're feeling adventurous, we found this video on how to make your own top hat. With some ribbon, feathers, tacky glue, and patience, you can have your own home-made accessory.