The V Spot

Rants, observations, and home decorating... from a woman with no time for a blog.


Franken-Crafts. Making something outta a whole bunch of junk…

89 Comments

On Monday I showed you this picture of a bunch of random items:

This is what I made:

 

Here’s another look:

Here’s how I did it:
I got this funky footed bowl with a lid at my local Goodwill.

I really like the bowl, but wasn’t too wild about the lid. I think it might have been the wacky curly-doodad on top. It was sort of antennae-ish to me.

So I broke it off.

An idea started formulating in my mind… I had a little glass vase/jar from an old reed-diffuser and decided it would be a nice base for a footed bowl. I figured some plastic beads from the Dollar Tree would be just the right thing to add some detail.

Since I knew that I would be painting this entire thing with a coat of Heirloom White it didn’t matter to me that the beads were purple, plastic and of the Mardi Gras variety.

I flipped the lid (henceforth, the “bowl”) upside down. I ran a little bit of glue around the edge. To “start” the beads I put a little dollop of hot glue to hold the strand securely. By having the strand rest along the counter top I had hoped it would provide a guide and that the beads would go on straight.

While the glue on the bowl was setting, I took more beads and glued them on to the neck of the little glass bottle.

Next I glued the bowl to the bottle to create a pedestal bowl.

I began to add a second row of beads only to discover that the first one hadn’t actually been all that straight. Oh well. It was already kind of craptastic, now it was even more of a challenge to make it something pretty.

I loves me a good challenge.

I spray painted the whole thing with my beloved Heirloom White….

Meh.

I added a coat of clear gloss…

Meh.

It definitely needed something. Not just to pretty it up a bit, but also to help balance out some of the wonky parts…..

Beads. This was kind of a pain in the arse because each one was placed by hand, with tweezers. However, if you do this at the dining room table, where you would be sitting and supervising homework anyway, it isn’t so bad.

I had filled the little hole that was made when I ripped the curly-cue off of the top, so I put an orchid in there, added green sheet moss (WHICH EVERY CRAFTER SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE ON HAND) and added a little silver pin with our initial.

Mommy like!

Is it perfect?
No. But that’s OK…. Like The Nester says, it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.

white, pearl, bowl, orchid
white, pearl, bowl, orchid, W
white, pearl, bowl, orchid, moss, W, letter

It’s a little on the fragile side, so I won’t toss a bunch of apples into it, or put it where boys can get it (Or where husbands need to move it off the coffee table so they can see the TV when they’re lying down on the couch and complain about the fact that decorative items get put on the coffee table in the first place….!) But I digress.

At any rate, I’m happy with my little Franken-Craft and think I’m going to create a label for this and similar posts.

Thanks for looking!

Comments

  8. I’m with IA… HOW DO YOU FREAKIN DO THAT??? That looks great, I saw the mardi gras beads and thought WTH is she doing. Guess I ate my thoughts huh!

    Reply

  9. I’m really amazed at what you turned that into! WOW!

    Hey…what do you know about painting furniture. I want to paint my entertainment center. First of all…I need to talk iKeith into it.

    Reply

  13. Visiting from Finding Fabulous and I just had to see this transformed dish. I am so glad I visited! It is beautiful!!!!! Amazing!! And the process photos are wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing
    Hugs
    SueAnn

    Reply

  14. The mardi gras beads threw me at first, but once I saw the finished project I was stunned! I’m visiting from The Shabby Nest and love your trash to treasure project!

    Reply

  17. Beautiful! Your creativity amazes me. I can copy, but I wouldn’t have been able to “see” the finished project. Thanks for showing us how you did it.

    I’m a new follower from Fingerprints on the Fridge.

    Reply

  19. You did an awesome job! I love the when mixing up all kinds of ‘crap’ turns into something so beautiful! A+++

    Have a great week!

    Reply

  20. I want to step inside your head for just a few minutes to just look around and steal some ideas but I’m afraid that with everything you have running around in there I’ll get hurt!

    Crazy!

    Amazing!

    Aggravating!

    Jealous!

    Reply

  30. Vivienne that is amazing! I have to admit, I thought you maybe had one too many glasses of your favorite when I saw the first pictures but you definitely knew where you were going with the idea. It turned out beautiful! I am so copying this idea 🙂

    Thanks!

    Little Miss Penny Wenny

    Reply

  34. great minds – LOL – I posted a pedestal bowl tutorial on my blog today! 🙂 I love the beading on yours – definitely can’t tell they are plastic mardi gras beads 🙂

    greendoordesigns.blogspot.com

    Reply

  35. I LOVE the Franken-craft!!! SO great that I definitely need to create one, too!! Will have to start thinking about that one!! Also, I just found you!! Great blog!!

    Reply

  38. What the what?!?!?! How did you come up with that?!!! You’re probably able to pull random nothings out of your pantry and make an amazing meal too! I so wish my brain worked like this.

    So glad you stopped by my blog today! I’m now your newest follower too 😀

    Reply

  67. FANTASTIC!!! What a great idea, you’re so creative and talented! Anyone has a stupid whatever that we can go ahead and follow your tutorial to the end and do this and hey, I’m your newest follower.
    FABBY

    Reply

  68. You constantly suprise me, and in the best way possible, it makes me rethink things like beads spray painted and made to look AWESOME!

    Reply

  73. Wow could you please come over to my place (Melbourne Australia) and make something out of all the crap, I mean stuff I have sitting around. It looks gorgeous! I took was a bit scared by those beads but you turned it right around.
    My Daughter Airlie who is 5 would love your ‘making’ efforts, not only because you make some pretty cool things but this would mean she got to hold onto all the stuff that i throw out. Shall not tell her about this little post 😉
    Fiona

    Reply

  81. holy smokes talk about CREATIVITY!!!! wishing i would have saved my mardi gras beads now- lol

    we’d love for you to link this @ our weekend party 🙂
    lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com

    Reply

  85. Sweetie…this is over the top gorgeous! you’ve been asked to join lots of linky’s and I hate to ask again, but if you have an extra minute pls link up this Wednesday (linky goes up Tuesday by 7:00) I’d love to feature you in the wrap-up the following week!
    xo
    Robin
    All Things Heart and Home

    Reply

  86. I laughed out loud when I read your comment about husbands moving decorative items and then complain about decorative items being placed on the coffee table in the first place because they can’t see the tv when lying down…lol, glad to know I’m not alone in my decorating frustrations too! Of course, I have cluttered up his garage with projects…oops!

    Reply

  89. That is amazing what you’ve done with an old piece of junk and transformed it into a beautiful item to decorate your home. It looks so clean and pure in white. Love it!

    Reply

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