Saturday, January 27, 2024

Metal Tub Decoupage Makeover

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Goodwill is my one stop place to shop for items to upcycle and make over! And I bet you didn't know that Goodwill has an online shop plus Amazon sells thrift items from Goodwill, too!  Goodwill certainly is a fun place to go to get crafty! You just never know what you might find. Like this metal tub with a Christmas holiday logo on front. It was just $4.00!
Imagine what you can do with this once you make it over! Use it for storage for your craft supplies or a party tub to hold just about anything like ice, sodas, snacks, decorations and even plants - the possibilities are endless! 

Perfect for me to "do over" for our very first "Do It Over" Designers Hop for the new year! The "Do It Over Designers" is a group of creative bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/ DIY, hosted by Anne @The Apple Street Cottage. It happens the 4th Saturday of every other month and it's all about taking something old and/or unused and 'doing it over' into something new. Anything from fabric, old dishes, and decor, to dressers and hutches. Items found in closets, cabinets, barns, garages, yard sales, thrift stores, you name it! Thanks Anne for hosting this wonderful blog hop!

The materials I used to "do over" this metal tub include:

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How to:

Fortunately, I had everything in my stash for this makeover! So let's get started by making sure the tub container is clean and free of any grease and grime by cleaning and washing it with mild dish detergent like Dawn and let dry. The tub was in perfect condition. Free of any dents or imperfections! I just needed to cover up the holiday logo on the front.
That proved to be a bit of a challenge to do. 
I applied several coats of white paint including white chalk paint to cover  the logo, but nothing I had seemed to match the color of the metal tub.
I did manage to cover the logo, but now there is a big blob of white on the front. Not to worry, though!  

I'm always on the look out for napkins with purple in it and found these on the Temu site I discovered last fall. After opening the napkin and laying it on my work surface, I used a brush pen filled with water to outline the portion of the napkin I will use. I love how the brush pen works! Instead of dipping a regular brush in water, you simply add water to the barrel of the pen and squeeze it to wet the brush! Pretty cool, huh!
Then tear the water outlined portion of the napkin out, feathering the edges  .  .  .
and separating the printed layer from the plain white layer. I have to say that this napkin was very hard to separate the layers. I had to lightly dip my forefinger in Mod Podge and tap my thumb and forefingers together to get them sticky. 
                        
Then tap the edge of the napkin with my fingers until the layers easily separated. 
Next, apply a layer of Matte Mod Podge to the front area of the tub and place the feathered napkin on top. When I did this, I didn't  like how the feathered napkin looked on the front. So I quickly removed the napkin and went to plan B .  .  .

which was cutting the individual flowers out. 


Then adding them on the front of the tub separately. First by brushing on a layer of Mod Podge, 
then gently smoothing the napkin flower design down and .  .  .
                                 using the brush to help smooth the flowers out. 

I also used a clear plastic ziplock bag which I cut open to smooth any remaining wrinkles out.


The individual flowers looked great together, and .  .  .

looked even better after adding a bit of foliage around.
Then I got the cool idea to make the flowers on the front dimensional using foam sheets. So I placed a large foam sheet on my work surface and .  .  .

painted on a layer of Matte Mod Podge. 
Then placed an open napkin (pattern up) down on top of the foam sheet and used an open plastic ziplock bag to smooth the napkin out.
And let dry.
Once the napkin and foam was dry, it was time to cut out the large purple foam backed flowers.
To add to the dimension, a few of the flower petals were cut out individually.
Then heated for a few seconds using a hot iron and .  .  .
pressed on thick foam using a ball stylus to give the flowers dimension.
Hot glue was then added to the center of the flower .  .  .
and seed beads poured gently into the center for added dimension.
How cool does this look!
The center flower!
And with all three dimensional flowers!
I'm really loving this look!
A fun way to store paper napkins!
Contain anything and everything with this cool looking tub makeover! It's deep enough to keep things upright, craft supplies organized and essentials always where you need them!




Thanks for stopping by!


Be sure to visit all of this month's creative Projects by the 

"Do It Over Designers" listed below:

Southern Sunflowers

Sum of Their Stories

Tea and Forget-Me-Nots

Pandora’s Box

Color Me Thrifty

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Exquisitely Unremarkable

Little Vintage Cottage

Modern on Monticello

Purple Hues & Me



Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Handcrafted Marbled Heart Shape Dish

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 Welcome to our first Creative Craft Hop of the new year hosted by Sara @Birdz of a Feather! We are so glad you're here!

If you're coming over from Donna @Modern on Monticello, HELLO! Wasn't her fabulous Evergreen Winter Wreath gorgeous!   At the end of my post I'll share the next stop on this hop, but be sure to visit all of the other stops, too, for some amazing creations! 

     Just in time for Valentines or any special occasion, try making this lovely red and white marble heart dish out of oven bake polymer clay! You won't believe how easy it is!  And they're so many ways to use the dish! Perfect to hold wrapped candies, jewelry and trinkets! Or use as a decorative accent anywhere in your home! It's also great for gift giving! There's something extra special about a handmade gift - one that comes from the heart - see the play on words, lol! So let's get started with what you'll need to make one!

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

Materials:

How To:

Start by making a heart-shape template out of printer paper. You can fold a sheet of printer paper in half, drawing half of a heart shape on it!  Then cutting it out and opening  the paper to reveal a full size heart shape. How cool is that! The heart template is about 10" high and 8" wide. A great size for a heart shape dish! Next, draw the outline of the heart template onto a piece of cardboard for a sturdier pattern  . . .

then cut out using a craft knife or craft scissors.

After cutting out the cardboard template, it's time to start kneading the clay.
The last time I used oven-baked clay, I had a very hard time kneading the clay to make it soft, as you can see here  . I thought a newer pack would be easier. But in reality, it wasn't. Before, I had tried stomping the parchment covered clay with my shoes on. That was rough! This time, I used my rolling pin to pound it into softness. I made a lot of noise, but it worked.

I was able to roll the clay into two coils after pounding it out.

Then it was time to do the same to the red clay.
It didn't take me as long to roll the red clay into coils. I used just two ounces of red clay. Then I twisted the white clay coils together with the red clay coils. And rolled them together into a ball .  .  .
so I could roll it out with my rolling pen.
Not liking the looks of that marble clay roll, I smushed the clay together again into a ball to .  .  .
roll it out again.
The second roll was looking a bit better. And I probably should have balled it up again to blend more of the red, but the white clay was beginning to look pink from the red so I decided to go with the design I had.
The rolled out clay should be about 1/4" thick to make a dish. Lay the cardboard template on top of the clay and use a craft knife to cut out the heart design.
Once the heart is cut out, remove the excess clay and save it to make smaller hearts. You can see a pic of the smaller ones later.

Place the heart shape clay in an oven safe bowl, following the package directions to bake - "heat oven to 275 degrees and bake for 30 minutes". Using a bowl lets the heart shaped clay dish curl a bit instead of laying flat.
I made two smaller heart shaped dishes out of the leftover scraps and placed them in smaller heat resistant bowls. Then baked them all together in the oven.
Make sure to allow the oven-baked clay hearts to cool completely once they are finished baking.
Once the clay hearts are cooled, use a sanding block or sandpaper to remove any imperfections along the edges and elsewhere.
 And finally, apply a satin glaze by Sculpey that provides a smooth seal to set the clay and cover any imperfections. 
Here's how it looks as a candy dish!
And for one of the smaller versions, a place to lay jewelry while washing hands, etc. You can probably come up with lots of ways to use the heart shaped dishes!

Thank you so much for visiting! I hope you enjoyed seeing how I made these marbled heart shape dishes.
Up next is Cecilia @ My Thrift Store Addiction sharing her adorable Upcycled Whimsical Winter Birds

Be sure to visit all of the wonderful creations and inspirations listed below: