“Cheater” Greeting Cards
I’ve been battling the bubons for the last week and have not felt like making Mother’s Day cards. However, I can’t bring myself to buy a ready-made card, so I resorted to making ‘cheater’ cards. What are those? Those are cards that are embellished with store-bought stickers. These gorgeous dimensional butterfly stickers are from K & Company. I believe there were 16 stickers in a package, which means there are plenty leftover for more ‘cheaters’! 
How to: ‘Silver Leaf’ on Glass
This project started out as a simple etched monogram on a bottle, but after filling the bottle with bath salts, the monogram disappeared. That’s the problem with glass etching; unless the contents of the clear glass are of fairly significant contrast with the etched portion, the etching will not be really visible. So, I after sifting through my craft supplies, I came up with a plan to salvage my project. It began by punching out a letter out of an address label using my Cuttlebug. Then I applied it to the bottle and slathered on a good, thick coat of etching cream.
This is when the detour happened. After that, I rubbed on a bit of Rub ‘n Buff silver leaf over the letter. The medium stuck to the etched portion just as I had hoped, AND it doesn’t rub, wash or scratch off.
A bit of gingham grosgrain around the bottle’s neck and I have a cute container for my homemade bath salts. To make those, I simply mixed Morton sea salt with a few drops of lavender oil.
How to Make a Pottery Barn Faux Potted Plant
Okay! Now that we’ve made our faux dirt we can get on with our PB knock off. (Here’s a link to a little inspiration.) Once again, we’ll start with the supplies:
- a small terra cotta saucer (I used the 3″ diameter variety)
- styrofoam
- hot glue gun
- white glue, a la Elmers
- a craft stick
- side cutter
- a serrated knife
- a plastic container rescued from the recycle bin
- newspaper
- silk flowers, about 4 or 5 stems of each will do
How to Make Faux Dirt-Pottery Barn Style
I know, I know. Making faux dirt sounds ridiculous, but bear with me. It’s really cool! The idea of making fake, I mean faux, dirt came to me as I was perusing my local PB. If you’ve been, I’m sure you’ve seen their faux plants in those little terra cotta pots. They go for about 12 to 15 bucks a piece. Not much for the money, really, considering the quality of the faux plants themselves isn’t really any better than the kind you can buy in a craft store. HOWEVER, the thing that sets these little plants apart and makes them better than your average faux is the ‘dirt’, in my opinion anyway. Which is exactly why I decided to make my own faux dirt. The cool thing about this project is it costs nothing, because I’m guessing you have everything on hand to make it, as I did. Now, on to the tutorial!!!
Supplies:
- a plastic bowl rescued from the recycle bin
- any kind of black acrylic paint
- a craft stick
- newspaper
- and the secret ingredient….pencil or saw dust.
Note: The pencil leavings or saw dust should be of the fine variety, not shavings. If you don’t have either of these on hand, I’d suggest taking a zippy to your nearest Lowes or Home Depot and visit the area where they cut wood to size. There should be some saw dust there!
Add a tablespoon or two of black paint. I’d start out with a bit too little than too much and just add as much as needed to coat the dust. I started stirring with the craft stick but found my fingers to be more efficient.
When the dust is coated, flip it out onto a piece of newspaper and let dry.
And there you have it, faux dirt! Wanna see what to do with it?? Follow this jump and we’ll replicate those Pottery Barn plants.
Turning a Hinged Jar into a Pottery Barn-esque Lamp
The jar you see above used to hold our penny collection. A few months ago we took it to the bank and cashed it out. (Over 4000 pennies!) We weren’t interested in saving them anymore, but I still rather liked the jar. After some consideration, I decided it would be perfect for a lamp, Pottery Barn style.
Removing the glass lid was super easy. I just squeezed the harms of the hinge together and separated it from the wire that goes around the jar’s neck.
Next my boo made a wood replacement for the top. Then it was just a matter of installing a lamp kit.
A PB lampshade to finishing it up and voila. I imagine I’ll be changing the contents of the jar lamp as the seasons change.
