Camera Phone Chronicles #1

Sorry if you are seeing this post twice. I tried to schedule the post and it didn't work right!

Yesterday I talked about my trip to the Dollar Tree. Well it really was a fun trip. I saw so many
fun things with lots of possibilities. With all this inspiration abounding, Camera Phone Chronicles was born. I snapped some pics of the goodies I found while strolling the aisles of a local Dollar Tree. Some I bought, some I didn't, but I saw potential with all of them.


#1- 140 jewel embellishments. I'm calling it a good deal. These are much more expensive at craft stores. Didn't have a particular project in mind, so I passed, but it was awfully tempting.
#2 - These are cameo hair elastics. Probably wouldn't leave them on the hair elastic, but Cameos are in. Hard to tell from the picture, but they had different backgrounds.

#3 - tiny decorative plates. I'm guessing about 3"-4". Comes with a stand too. Can't beat that. I bought one in green. Not certain what I will do with it, but something in miniature is too cute to pass up!
#4 - Decorative boxes. Mod Podge them over if you like, or use as is. Lots of possibilities here. These scream multi-functional to me. Mother's Day gift wrapping and cute storage.

#5 - Took a picture, but can't find it. :( They had tons of wall hooks. All kinds of shapes and sizes. I've seen a lot of projects using hooks, so it wouldn't be a bad supply to keep on hand.

I picked up a few more goodies that I didn't officially chronicle. Be on the lookout! More affordable crafts coming soon.

Okay, there you have it. What have you seen at the Dollar Store recently?

Dollar Tree {Grand}Mother's Day Glass Plaque

Foreward: This is for my Mom, and yes she will read this. Love you Mom! You are the best grandma. In fact she was babysitting my kids, while I made this. Sneaky huh? Don't worry I've got something else up my sleeve for Mother's Day too.

Tuesday I was at one of my favorite Dollar Trees. (Anyone else have a favorite one, or am I just nuts?) I came across all sorts of goodies just waiting to be spiffed up. Here is the first.
They had these beveled glass plaques, about 6 inches by 2.5 inches. They look nice and have a perfectly lovely message, but I wanted to turn this into a Mother's Day gift.

So here we go...
Supplies:

• Beveled Glass Plaque from Dollar Tree. It was up front with the seasonal stuff at my store.
  
• Something to scrape the paint off. I used a grill scraper I saw at Dollar Tree.
• Vinyl or something to decorate the plaque with
• Acrylic paint. I used a Teal pearlized color. LOVED it!
  
• Ribbon, if you don't wish to use the black.
  

Step 1: Careful remove the back from the glass. I wanted to reuse it so I tried to avoid tearing it up. Picture 2 is what is looked like after I removed the back. Should have got a long knife or something to separate the glue in the center. No worries, it all worked in the end.

Step 2: Scrape off all the paint. It took probably about 15-20 minutes to scrape it all clean. **After I was half way through scraping the thought occurred to me that I should have been wearing gloves and gone outside to do this. These products are made in China and I would not be surprised in the slightest if there was Lead in the paint. Just some food for thought.

Step 3: Clean both sides with Window Cleaner after it is all scraped down. Here is my glass all clean and new again.

Step 4: Apply your vinyl. Mine said, "Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies." My Mom ALWAYS has cookies stored away in the freezer to whip out for the kids, so I thought this was really appropriate. (Email me if you are interested in exactly duplicating mine, I can email you my file all ready to cut.) Alternate option: You can try printing something on Scrapbook paper and mod podging to the glass. I was worried it wouldn't dry clear, so I didn't try it. Let me know if you do!

Note: I mirrored my text and applied the vinyl to the back.

Here is the vinyl all applied.

Step 5: Paint, Dry, Repeat. The first coat is a little tough because the paint doesn't want to stick to the glass. Once you get that on though, it's a breeze. I probably did about 8 coats. You just need to wait until they are dry to the touch, so it doesn't take long at all.

Here it is 8 coats later. Who knows what happened with the weird colors. Must have had bad light.

Step 9: Using hot glue, or glue of your choice, reattach the back piece.

Step 10: Switch out the ribbon if you so choose. Wrap up your masterpiece!
Alternate Option - Thanks to that handy dandy stand piece, you can do away with the ribbon all together and just keep it on the table.

How fun and simple was that? This is probably the farthest I have take a Dollar Store redo and it is fun!

Winning Tile and Other Projects

I've been working like crazy so I wanted to share what I have been working on.

Here is the tile that the giveaway winner, Jessica and I came up with. That is her family motto. LOVE it! Jessica - I hope this gets you even more excited for your tile to arrive!

I did a order of YW Value necklaces for some too cute Beehives.
Here they are modeling their necklaces. What a sweet looking bunch of girls.
A while back I saw an ADORABLE gumball shirt on Nancy's Couture. It moved right up to the top of the to-do list. Here is my take on it.
Here's little Ms. Foxy herself modeling her new shirt.
Lastly, here is a bandana bib I made using Denise's Tutorial at Wall Flower Grown Wild. My model is in that wholly uncooperative stage, so Pooh Bear got to model it for me. It's for the best, as it's getting sent off for a baby present. I'm so excited.

I'm so behind on my Google Reader, I'm going through craft blog withdrawal! If you have a creative project you want me to check out, leave me a comment. I'd love to see what everyone is up to!

**If you are interested in Washer Necklaces for your Young Women's group, or really any group, send me an email CuteAsAFoxCreations@gmail.com and we can discuss pricing and design! I even offer an option to design and get everything print ready. You just print it off and you can make them yourself.

I'm on Mad in Crafts

Google Alerts just told me I was on Mad in Crafts. Too fun. Thanks to everyone who came to check out my Dollar Store "Girly Bank" from her linky party! It really is a fun and FAST project.

Thanks Mad in Crafts!

Aly & Ash Super Box Giveaway

So my dedicated readers I am going to let you in on an awesome giveaway. {It has nothing to do with the fact, that I REALLY want to win, I promise.}

One of my best blogging buddies, Jax of Aly & Ash, is having a giveaway to help her get to 100 followers. It's called the "Home Stretch to 100 Super Box Giveaway." The giveaway stays open until she reaches 100 followers and each day she adds something new to the giveaway box.

Head on over now and check out her giveaway as well as all her awesome projects. You won't be sorry!

Upcycled Mother's Day 'Treasure' Box

I thought this would be a good project for today, being Earth Day and Mother's Day is fast approaching.

This is a Mother's Day present for my Mother-in-law. I should start out by sharing three important things about my MIL before you think I've lost my mind.
1. She has a plant shelf in her living room filled with blue and white ware(The white china with blue glazed flowers and whatnot.)
2. She is ADDICTED to Vaseline, toothpicks, and to a lesser extent Mentholatum. She has them within arms reach at all times.
3. In the family room she has a 'treasure box' where she keeps her Vaseline and toothpicks. It's decorative and slows down any grandkids trying to get into the Vaseline.

A few months back I won a prize at Bunco which was Ferraro Rocher chocolates in a clear plastic container. The chocolates were yummy, AND I knew that the plastic container had a future purpose, although I wasn't sure what.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I saw this blue and white ware patterned paper. I immediately knew I was going to Mod Podge SOMETHING with that paper for my MIL.

It took me a few days, but I came across the plastic container and I knew I was going to make my MIL a blue and white ware container for all her essentials. This way she can have a 'treasure box' in her living room too.

Before:


Some cutting and lots of Mod Podge magic later....


Here's one last shot with her goodies.


Thoughtful and USEFUL gifts are always what I strive for. So while this probably isn't what pops in your mind when you think Mother's Day, I'm pretty sure my MIL will love it. Hope so anyways!

Cute as a Fox on FACEBOOK!

I love Facebook and I spend a good bit of time there. So it only makes sense I created a page for Cute as a Fox.
I love it so far! Info on what I'm working on, Facebook exclusives. (I wrote up a step by step on how I made the Young Women's Washer necklaces.)

So if you want to hang out with me on Facebook, click the "Like" button over on the sidebar. You can also click HERE to get to my page.

See you on FB!

Mosaic Tile Family Night Chart

A while back I signed up for an exchange program at Totally Tutorials, where you receive free craft supplies and in exchange you create a project and make a tutorial to go along with it. I was totally psyched when I got chosen to participate in the exchange with Artful Mosaic Supplies. Everything you need to make these tiles is over in her shop, so you had better head on over and check it out!

Let's make some mosaic tiles first!
1. Start by laying out your Tiles in the pattern you want. Take a picture so you will have a reference for later. I decided to do monograms for members of my family so I could make a chart. **IMPORTANT** When planning your design, no more than 1/4" between your tiles. Otherwise the grout will crack!

2. Seal your coasters with a coat of Mod Podge.

3. After your coasters are dry, begin gluing down your tiles. The glue I used was Weldbond. You could substitute with regular white glue if necessary. The second picture is all my tiles glues. **IMPORTANT** Let your coasters cure for several days before proceeding.

4. AFTER the coasters have set a few days, it's time to grout. I used about 1/4 lb of grout for all 4 coasters. To mix, SLOWLY add water until you get to a creamy but thick consistency. Less is more so far as water goes!

5. Using popsicle sticks or a rubber spatula, slather on the grout. It does stain, so make sure you are working on a protected surface, with an apron, and possibly gloves if you don't like red hands for a few days. Personally, I didn't mind getting a little dirty. Use a small hunk of pool noodle to really push the grout in all of the crevices.

6. After you've gotten your grout in nice and good, take a barely wet sponge and gently wipe the excess grout away. This was my favorite part, I'm not going to lie. It's important that the sponge has very little moisture. We were so careful to get the grout consistency right, you don't want to go dumping extra water on it. Let the grout dry for several days.

7. AFTER your grout has dried a few days, it's time to seal it. Using a soft cloth, wipe the sealant on a small area and then wipe and polish the tiles.

One last word on the tiles before we move onto the responsibility chart. Make sure you paint the sides/back of your tiles depending on what you are going to use them for. I actually wiped some grout on them to stain them red, but it would have been better to have used paint. So do as I say, not as I do. :)

On to our family night, or Family Home Evening responsibility chart. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, HERE is a great link to help explain the benefits of setting aside one night a week to spend with your family.

On the topic of keeping it real, we are in need of improvement in the family night category, so I'm hoping that assigning people their own role or task will help us get organized and have a structured Family Home Evening more often.

I used:
- A wooden board from the Ikea "As-is" section. $0.79 thank you very much.
- Primer spray paint, and black spray paint
- Vinyl letters
- Hammer, Nails
- Ribbon: 4 strips about 7 inches long.

1. Spray Primer and then your top color of spray paint on your board. Apparently documenting spray painting is as much fun as watching it dry, because I opted not to do it! ;)

2. Apply your vinyl. Aside: I cut my own vinyl and my frugal nature led me to cut and place each word separately to get the most of my vinyl. If you are buying from someone, hopefully they will lay it out for you, so you can just place it in one or two pieces.

3. Mark where you want your tiles to hang and hammer your nails in the board.

4. With your staple gun, attach your ribbon to the back of the coaster.

5. Hang on your wall and now you can start dishing out assignments for Family Night.

Now that you've seen one Mosaic tile idea head on over to Artful Mosaic Supplies to get some supplies and get some more inspiration.

Giveaway WINNER and Special OFFER!!

Thanks to everyone who entered my Custom Tile GIVEAWAY!
I told Random.org to pick a number between 1 and 50 and it came up with....

They don't call it a random number generator for nothing.

#50 is Jessica from Boy Terrain
Congrats Jessica! I am sending you an email now.

To everyone else who wasn't a winner... I loved reading your ideas on what you might put on a tile. I enjoyed it so much that I have decided to offer the first five people to email me a tile for $15 + shipping. I'm going to be offering these in my etsy shop for $35, so $15 is a steal.

EDIT: If interested, send an email to cuteasafoxcreations@gmail.com Thanks!

Once again, thanks for checking out my little corner of the internet and clicking that 'Follow' button! It gives me the warm fuzzies!

Dollar Store Frame Girly bank

Before we begin this tutorial let's go back a few months. I saw this tutorial on MaryJanes & Galoshes for turning a shadow box frame into a piggy bank. I LOVED it and made one for my 4 year old, Joshua. He loved it too!

In the original tutorial, Taylor found her shadow box at the Dollar Store. I searched and searched, but ended up buying one at goodwill for $4. It was so worth it, but the bargain hunter in me was determined to find a Dollar Store option.

So here we are today..... Let's make the 'Girly Bank'

I was beyond ecstatic when I found these Keepsake Box photo frames at Dollar Tree. They are actually a picture frame that slides off like a box lid. I was tempted to unwrap the plastic to see how it worked at the store, but I figured it would be worth the $1 either way. The best part is that they had them in about 5 different colors. Lots of options!

Step 1: Take all the pieces of your frame apart and you can discard the cardboard piece that would back your picture. Here is a picture of the back of the frame section.

Step 2: Glue the glass into the frame. I used E6000. Gorilla glue would be another excellent choice. Do your best not to get too much glue on the very edge, otherwise it might seep onto the glass where you might see it.

Step 3: While the glue is drying, lets prepare the back of the frame. I liked a coin purse idea. At the end of the tutorial, I have a download of the file I used. The paper I wanted to use had a metallic sheen to it, so I cut out just a portion to use of the metallic.

Step 4: Cut down your background paper to fit inside your box. Measure where you want your coin slot to be. Mine was 1.25" from the top and 3" from the left.

Step 5: Using your measurements, mark your coin slot on the back with a pencil.

Step 6: Cut the coin slot out with an exacto knife. Clearly I had a little trouble cutting cleanly. No worries, it's the back and we'll disguise it.

Step 7: Use some detail scissors to cut out a coin slot on the paper. See, messy back disguised!

Step 8: Apparently I forgot I was making a tutorial because I was excited to finish this project. We are at the home stretch! Next I mod podged the metallic paper onto the coin purse and then the back ground paper into the box.

Step 9: When your glue is all dry, reassemble the frame, and add money!

Tada! I LOVE it! I wish I needed more of them so I could go back and buy one in every color. Here are two files you can download if you liked the coin purse. Click on the images to see the full size image.

If you make one, PLEASE send me a picture. I'd love to see it.