almost, but not quite

waaaaayyy back when i competed in the 7th season of So You Think You’re Crafty, one week was “thrift”.

my entry was a thrifted picture i redid for my living room. i loved the way it turned out, even if it didn’t do so hot in the voting.

but man was that bad boy a struggle. (you can read more about it here). halfway through the project, i sort of switched gears—i had a back-up plan, which i began working on simultaneously—figuring whichever came out better would be my entry.

and for a while, i thought it was going to be my backup…until it all went bad in the end.

at one point in the process i felt like i had two huge piles of fail.

:(

the picture turned out in the end, so it was worth the struggle.

now, in the spirit of sharing, and doing my best version of “jenny from the block”, i present to you my version of “The Back-Up Plan.”

it began with an inspiration—a set of numbered canisters from target, perfect for the shelf in my kitchen. but easily copied (so i thought).

(target is no longer selling them but i found this photo on the www)

so off to the thrift shop we go…

three thrifted porceline porcalin porceline ceramic canisters.

$8 for all of them. not the best steal in the world, but still not bad. they looked like they were never used.

i washed them all and then gave them a few coats of white spray paint.

oohhh…so pretty. this is when i started getting really excited. it’s going to work!

i had ordered some vinyl numbers from my favorite supplier, wonderfully wordy.

and applied them to the dried canisters.

fail occurring in 3…2…1…

:(

the tacky sheet the vinyl numbers and letters were attached to peeled the spray paint right off the canisters—no matter how carefully or slowly i did it.

and there’s nothing i can do about it.

i can’t take the numbers back off. i can’t spray paint around them. i even tried brushing on some acrylic paint (you can see that on the #1 canister)

basically, they’re trash.

PROBABLY i should have lightly sanded the canisters before painting them.
PROBABLY i should have sprayed a primer on first.
PROBABLY i should have have taken my time and tested it out first.

PROBABLY that last one is most important.

(probably is starting to look weird and spelled wrong to me now)

but i can’t bring myself to part with them. the potential of how cute they could have been and almost were is stuck with me.

you see it, right? the potential? i almost like them better than my target inspiration ones.

so they’re sitting, neglected, on my mantel. pretending to be almost, but not quite what i wanted.

auf wiedersehen

and not even a kiss from heidi…or missy…

but it’s okay.

last week’s challenge at SYTYC was “kids can do”. i had plans—big,fairly complicated plans. but life got in the way.

i finally had to give in to the fact that i am approximately 1000 weeks pregnant.

so my “plan b” project, while cute and fun…

well, i went into the week expecting to get blown away. because i’ve seen what those other women are capable of!

but really—it’s really really okay. because i’m so busy you know. i have important things to do this week—like sit on the couch and think…

sixmoredayssixmoredayssixmoredayssixmoredays

thanks missy for letting me be a part of SYTYC!! i can’t wait to see the final weeks of projects!!!

 

i made a dress…and it was all yellow

with full apologies to coldplay, i couldn’t help it.

the entire time i sewed my “sunshine” challenge dress for SYTYC i sang.

i made a dresssss…i made a dress for you

and all the things you do

and it was all

yellow.

but i must be honest: this is not at all the dress i set out to make.

it’s really not even close. i had a sketch, a plan. i bought fabric and stitched away, creating…well, basically something i pretty much hated.

so i let it stew and simmer for a couple days.

and finally, when it was down to the wire, i took a pair of scissors and hacked off 2/3 of the dress. then i worked with the fabric pieces i had left to create this.

the “little miss sunshine” aspect of it was also a last minute decision. and i’m really glad i went with it (also thanks to some encouragement from girlfriend girl). i was fully convinced i would not be the only one to make that connection…

and, in a final burst of honesty: i found it extremely ironic that this last minute thrown together dress scored my highest votes yet.

but i’m glad you liked it. because i made it for youuuuuuuu…

(that’s supposed to be a singing voice…not a creepy one. which is kind of how it looks)

the rain in spain… (SYTYC round 5)

i admit it...freely. i love dresses. i love costumes, i love gowns--bridal and otherwise. i couldn't care less about the royal wedding or the academy awards or any other celebrity-studded event...except, that is, for the dresses. oooh…the dresses.

when i watch project runway--i'm ALWAYS rooting for the gown maker--the christian siriano, the laura bennett, the austin scarlett. (even though they rarely win).

so the upcycle challenge last week at SYTYC was just the excuse i needed to get my gown-sewin' on. yup, i went into the challenge already knowing what i wanted to make--and searching out the supplies necessary for it.

it’s truly one of my all time favorite movies, movie scenes, and movie costumes. the entire scene is gorgeous—the costuming, the choreography…everything. (seriously—if you’ve never seen it, GO WATCH NOW)

when i pulled up photos of the black & white dress audrey
hepburn wore in the ascot races scene of my fair lady i realized it's major components were not that difficult to list: lace, black & white stripes, big bows, big hat.

 

the hat...well, i'm no hatter--mad or otherwise. it was a challenge. and it's fortunate that there was so much stuff on the top of it (the better to conceal errors with, my dears).
i started out (as usual) thinking that i would photograph the entire process for a potential tutorial.
yeah, right.

basically, for anyone who cares:
it involved three wire hangers, cut and bent into circles (two joined together to make the large outer brim, one smaller circle in the top of the hat). i made big fabric circles and sewed a pocket to slide the wire into, and put a black bias tape (homemade from scraps of course) around the edge. the 'hat' portion is a reinforced tube with a lid, sewn to a hole in the large outer brim. i made the lace cap out of another tube, sewing elastic to the bottom and handstitching it in place to the underside of the hat in a couple spots to secure it. the lace cap and a couple of bobby pins are really all that held it on--and believe me--that bad boy was HEAVY.

    

initially i thought it the large black and white poofy things were feathers. but i ended up using a making big yarn tassels attached to dowels, and i think they have just the right look! the "bow" on the hat is one of the sleeves from the shirt--just cut it off, sewed one end shut, stuffed it with some scraps, and sewed the other end shut.

i admit...i did buy the flowers at the $1 store. i just don't have any {ugly} fake flowers sitting around the house. ;0) but the grassy stuff...well, that i "upcycled" from my neighbor's lawn...hehehe.

once i got all my hat pieces made i took my trusty glue gun, my photo of audrey's hat, and my poor daughter and started glueing. that was really the most stressful part of the project. that hat has such a huge impact, and because i was using white fabric and hot glue--i basically had one shot to make it work.


now on to the dress…

the lace i got from a friend (thanks Patty!)--lace curtains she had in storage. i bleached them to get them a bit whiter, and then used every single piece of the two panels.
(a dress made from curtains??? that’s totally the wrong movie!! hahahaha)

the stripes were more tricky. i thought for sure i'd be able to find something suitable at the thrift shop. but it really wasn't happening. all the stripes i found were too skinny or not vibrant enough. boo.



and then i stumbled upon the referee shirt--perfection! that too i used almost every bit of. i had one sleeve and the zipper left at the end.
(and i have to say how sad the googiedaddy was to see that shirt get chopped up. he really, really liked it. i think he was hoping i'd lose the week before so i wouldn't have to use the shirt and he could keep it.)

i made my own pattern, and then pinned it right on girlfriend girl to ensure a really good fit.

 


we headed off to philadelphia park, hoping for some horses?
maybe? but there were no races that day :o(

it was fun to parade around and get shots at the racetrack though!


(those marker thingys in the background…maybe that’s where they got the whole black & white color scheme? ya think? i don’t know if that’s a universal “horse track” thing. i’ve never been to one before!)



as a final touch, i grabbed an old curtain rod that was lying around and cut it to size with a hacksaw. then i gathered all the white fabric i could find in my stash and rubber-banded it to the curtain rod.
ta-da! instant illusion of an umbrella! (say that 10x fast)


SOOO…i guess i should talk about the fact that i would have been out for this one? unfortunately a fellow contestant’s mother passed away, and so she resigned from the competition. so i’m still in.

but i got the fewest votes…
and you know what? i really, truly, honestly would have been fine with that. i had SO MUCH FUN making this dress. it was worth it. i’m excited to still be in the competition, but i’m sorry for how it had to happen.

well, that’s it. if you’ve made it to the end, i’ll give you my usual spiel—did you vote yet this week?
it’s SUNSHINE week! head over to vote (for me, obviously) at SYTYC!

basket case

last week's SYTYC challenge was "scraps".
 now--i know i say this well, pretty much every week...but this was HARD.

like "forget it i give up you can't fire me i quit" hard.

but at some point in my whining to others discussing my lack of inspiration in a mature fashion with others, i received an email from http://bugaboominimrme.blogspot.com/ that (finally!) got my wheels a-turnin'. (thanks kim!)

and so i came up with this:



using (some) of this:


(i changed the fabric i used to line the interior after taking this photo)

and this was my entry:

When I was trying to decide what to make for this week's challenge, I pulled out all the scraps I could find...and what a collection it was! Florals and plaids and cottons and satins and leathers and kiddie prints and...

And, well, to be perfectly honest there wasn't any rhyme or reason to any of it. And I was stumped. (I was also quite shocked at the amount of scraps I've been hanging on to...but that's a whole other story!)

So I pulled out a pile of leather scraps--no piece was bigger than one square foot--and started playing around...

The result?



In the words of one Mr. Tim Gunn--"it's a lot of look." So I kept it all neutrals and naturals--shades of brown, green and cream help coordinate the overall color theme but keep it from being too overwhelming or too juvenile.



Inside I added a little pop of color with a small scrap of fabric I found that contained many of the colors I'd used on the outside--it was such a small piece I could only put a border of it around the top! It also has an inside pocket.

The roses are simple rolled flowers. Both colors are leftover pieces of lining fabric--and the beige started as white before taking a little bath in some hot tea to tone it down!



All together it's one cute clutch perfect for a night out on the town!

------------------

so, i actually was happy with how this turned out. and--bonus--it made a nice little gift for my momma! :o)

next week i'll throw together a little "how-to" explaining how i did it.

and don't forget--today's the last day to vote in this week's SYTYC challenge--UPCYCLE!

how many reasons you need man?

okay, so truth be told…i was really hoping NOT to win SYTYC’s “knock-off” challenge week.

 

no, really. i’m not just sayin’ that to make myself feel better.
the thing is, the winning craft has to post a tutorial. and to do a tutorial you have to document as you work. and you know what? I HATE DOING THAT.

which, really, is why you don’t see many tutorials on googiemomma.

i’m not a big planner. i sew organically—changing my design on the fly, figuring how exactly to do something by trial and error.



who feels like stopping to photograph every.single.step?

not this momma, i can tell you that much.

i give mad props to the bloggers out there who churn out those excellent tutorials. (not to go all early 90’s on ya or nothin’…but yeah, MAD props)

when i did my knockoff dress i knew there was no way i could come up with any kind of tutorial for it. i figured if, by some FLUKE, i managed to edge out the seemingly UNSTOPPABLE force that is seekatesew i’d come up with something. (i want to hate her. really i do. but she keeps leaving me sweet comments here. and she seems so nice. hmph.)

 

nevermind the fact i was actually sewing machine-less at the time. my baby was in for service. yes, my workhorse of a sewing machine gave out on me. $120 later helga is good as new. (ouch!) but my industrial machine also needed to go in for service (sniff, sniff), and the timing on my serger is all wonky and needs servicing.

GAH!
what’s a gal to do???

the bulk of the dress was sewn at a friend’s home. us amateur stitchers need to stick together, ya know?



okay, that’s it. i’m done coming up with excuses. the fact is i was pretty happy with how the dress came out, and girlfriend girl LOVES it.

and that’s all i have to say about that.

 

now…have you been over to this week’s SYTYC challenge?



it’s “UPCYCLED”, and i had a BLAST with this one.
get thee to the voting! we’re down to six, and there’s some seriously awesome stuff over there!

an epic 6 night 7 day GUILT trip on the s.s. finedon’tvoteformethen

i thought we discussed this.

i thought we reached an agreement.

i make projects, you head over to SYTYC and vote for me.
oh, you did, did you?

really?
REALLY?

well then how do you explain this?



THAT, my (so-called) friends, is girlfriend girl in her oscar knock-off dress.

a dress which, may i remind you, BARELY made it through last week’s round.

well, let’s see if you can redeem yourself this week…

head over to SYTYC and vote in this week’s challenge:
SCRAPS ONLY

how to make a cheap thrift shop project…well, not so cheap

last week’s SYTYC theme was “thrift”, and i was excited because i not one, but TWO potential projects i’d been waiting to do.

the one i ended up going with was my wall art:

the other? well, that was a MAJOR craftfail…but that’s a blog post for another day. (trust me, it’s too good not to share)

so this is what i started with:

(sorry about the bad photoshopping…the picture is so big i couldn’t find a place to photograph it without it being pretty obvious that it was my house. hence the bad last minute attempt to white out the background)

really…this thing is HUGE—about 36”x48”. and the best part?

in case you can’t see—that price tag says $7.99. would you believe i almost passed this up? i walked away from it the first time, and then thought “what are you? an idiot? a HUMONGOUS wooden frame and glass and mat in perfect condition for $8!?!?!?”

fortunately, i listened to my inner bargain hunter…and i brought it home.

the picture…well, it’s not horrible. NOT at ALL my style though, so it had to go.

taking it apart was a little painful. it had obviously been professionally done—well done—and very well cared for. but i put on my big girl panties and got to work.

all the paper ripped off…then a thick cardboard layer, then the picture itself followed by the mat. when i got to the glass i paused. it was a LARGE piece of fairly thin glass—relatively sturdy once in the frame, not at all sturdy once taken out of the frame.

  so…with a deep breath i started sliding it out…and…

CRACK.

right through the center.

i was so upset i don’t even have a picture to share with you. plus, i have a fear of glass that mimics my fear of things like toasters and irons—you know, even if it’s unplugged and has been for a week i’m still afraid to touch it because it MIGHT BE HOT. so yeah, it was a big piece of glass with a sharp edge and i’m IMMEDIATELY CONVINCED someone is going to fall on it and die a horrible bloody death even if NO ONE IS AROUND and i wrap it up really well and take it out to the trash right away.

for reals.

i even worry about the garbage man. i don’t want him to get hurt.

so yeah, i’m a little crazy. whatevs. anyway, moving on.

it’s cool. i’ll just load up my four kiddos and my massively pregnant self and head to the local home improvement store to buy a new piece of glass.

cause you know, nothing says classy like a hugely pregnant woman wearing her husband’s sweatpants and t-shirt riding an electric scooter with four other children trailing behind her looking to buy a giant piece of certain death uh, glass.

but i got it. and glass is surprisingly cheap—only about $13 for the replacement piece. which puts my project still under $25—a great price for such a large piece of artwork.

so i brought it home, laid it on the table (once my children were safely in bed) and carefully lifted it out of it’s paper wrapping…

CRACK.

srsly.

i DIDN’T EVEN GET IT OUT OF THE PAPER WRAPPING BEFORE IT CRACKED RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER.

i may have cried a little that time. come on, i’m hormonal.

plus it’s more DEATHKILLDIEBLOODSHARPGLASS in my house.

back to the store…

and this time i wasn’t taking any chances. i sprang (sprung?) for the $23 PLEXIGLASS. and consoled myself that, really, under $50 is STILL a good price for such a big piece of artwork.

right? RIGHT????

so, i finally have all my pieces, and thus begins the actual tutorial of how i went…

but i’m so emotionally drained from recounting all my NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES. i have to take a break and do this in two parts.

hang on to your hats kids—actual picture tutorial coming soon!

well, fine then. (sytyc week 2)

so last week was thrift week on so you think you’re crafty, and my entry was…


my wall art.

which went over like a lead balloon.

hmph. fine then.

i like it, and that’s what matters.

but i did manage to squeak through to the next round (no thanks to you).

you can redeem yourself though—get on over to SYTYC for this week’s round: knock-off.

and vote for ME.




yes, because clearly you’re such a devoted googiemomma-ite that you’ll know my work immediately—even if it’s anonymous.

(i kid, because i love. don’t get your pantyhose in a twist. googiemomma still loves you my little chunky monkeys.)

oh, and i’ll share the details on my wall art later this week…for the few of you who may care.

monogram wall art tutorial

okay, i’ll say it: this was a really hard “theme” for me.

don’t get me wrong, i {heart} dollar stores as much as the next penny-pinching suburban mom…but, you know—not so much for the decorative items.

and then when it’s a challenge and i’m on a time constraint and i HAVE to come up with something?

ugh.

so i give props where they’re due: thanks to the googie-grandmomma. i made asked her nicely to come with me as a sounding board. i start to get a little crazy under the pressure (“wait, this box of off-brand ramen soup—i think i could spray paint the noodles and they’d be awesome”) i need her calming influence and suggestions. (this truly may be the only time my mother has ever been called a ‘calming influence’. mark it in your calendar ma peeps)

so here’s the supply list:

not pictured:
large sheet of black foam board (from the $1 store)
hot glue gun
mod podge
x-acto knife
straight pins
(ignore the sharpie…i didn’t use it)

{STEP 1}

cut open your gift bags and use the paper from the inside of the frame to cut the right size to line your frame:

check how it looks:

(these gift bags had shiny dots only on one side. so i got the large frame from one gift bag and the two smaller frames from the other gift bag)

{STEP 2}

take your ribbon and cut 4 pieces for each frame to make an inner border. attach these with double stick tape.

boom! frames done! on to the letters.

a note about the letters: this isn’t a difficult process, but you have to really become one with your crafting self. in other words, you’re gonna get messy :o)

{STEP 3}

pick a font that you love for your letters. (i used “euphorigenic” from dafont)
print out your letters and then cut them out. (i would love to tell you what size font i used to make the letters…but i ran out of printer ink, so i actually just free-handed them—copying them off the computer screen.)

once you’re happy with the size of your letters, move on to…

{STEP 4}

trace around your cut-out onto the black foam board…

and cut (i found a sawing motion with the exacto knife gives you a cleaner cut than slicing it—just a little tip from me to you)

yay! letters! now do it again.

ha!

no really, i cut each letter out twice and then glued them together. a letter sandwich if you will. (sounds like something from sesame street, no?)

now comes the super fun part, also known as…

{STEP 5}

basically you’re going to slop your mod podge around the edges of the letter and attach the ribbon. i coated the tops of the letters at the same time to make them a little shiny and protect the paper too.

pictures will help :o)

here’s my letter sandwich with one coat of mod podge on top:

slop loads of mod podge around the edge:

and put your ribbon in there, smoooooothing it as you go. this is where you need the straight pins—stick them in sporadically to help keep the ribbon tight and prevent you from pulling it as you work your way around the letter.

you are left with some overhang of ribbon (width-wise), but that’s okay. just keep the ribbon level along the top side of the letter.

and let those bad boys dry dry dry before moving on to…

{STEP 6}

once the letters are all dry, we have to fill in the gaps. flip them over and use little scraps of your foam board to bulk up the letters…

 

hot glue the scraps to the letters, and then letters on TOP of your glass.

{STEP 7}

i made some little (cheesy!) flowers from scraps of the gift bag. i hot glued more ribbon to the back of the frames and (shhh…don’t tell googiedaddy) i hot glued the flower and ribbon right to the wall (the frames are actually hanging on nails so the the ribbon is just decorative)

and there you have it!

1 sheet black foam board $1
3 picture frames $3
2 rolls black ribbon $2
2 polka dot gift bags $2
--------------------------------
total --- $8 (plus misc. supplies you should have. and you call yourself a crafter. pshaw.)

 
cheap, pretty, personalized wall art for your daughter’s room? priceless.

(okay, it’s still 8 bucks. but it’s pretty cool either way.)