And the winner IS . . . . .

Kim C. with this suggestion for what to do with my broken lamp base:

“Here is exactly what I would do…I would make a ‘crystal’ ball with Madam Leota from Disney’s Haunted mansion for a Halloween prop! Find a clear ball-shaped light fixture globe. (I’d try Habitat for Humanity first) Then a doll head that would fix through the hole, but not be too small. I’d glue the doll head to either a section of pvc pipe that would fit inside of the hole at the top of the lamp base or a section of a wooden dowel to do the same. Put the doll’s head on the stick/pipe then into the lamp base. Glue if needed. Then tease and back comb the doll’s hair to look crazy and mostly fill up the globe. Paint the hair with white spray paint and hand paint her face so that her eyes really stand out. (I’d add false eyelashes) maybe even paint her skin a creepy green color. When she looked really creepy, I’d glue the clear globe to the top of the lamp base and over the doll’s head. I LOVE Halloween so I think this one would be way cool and magical!”

Kim, you have won a $20.00 credit to my etsy shop!

To redeem your credit, just ‘go shopping’ in my etsy shop.  You can buy ANYTHING YOU WANT!  (you will have to ‘initially’ pay for the entire purchase; sorry that is just how I have to do it on etsy) 

When you process your payment, in the note to seller section, tell me you are the winner of my blog contest, and I will REFUND $20.00 of your purchase back to your PayPal account.  (email me if you don’t have PayPal and I’ll figure something out!)

Michael and I BOTH agreed that Kim should be the winner.  ALL the suggestions were ‘good ones’; but Kim went into the most detail.  I could really ENVISION her creation!  Not only did she go into detail about HOW to create her idea, she even mentioned WHERE to look for the globe for it!  The WAY she presented her suggestion was the most ‘aj-like’ of all the suggestions.  Since no one guessed exactly what I did with it, we went with what we thought was the most creative (as easily DO-able!) suggestion.  Congratulations Kim!

So, are you ready to see what I actually DID with that thing??

Here is what I started with as components.  I didn’t want to ‘mess with’ (try to change or re-do) the lamp base in any way.  I had already invested SO much time and energy into glittering it as a lamp base, that I really wanted to use it ‘as it was’ and just ADD to it.  I don’t have a glass drill so enlarging the hole was out.  The bottom of it is ‘open’ (I covered it with a cardboard base) and it has the hole in the back, so it wasn’t suitable for holding water or using as a vase.

I’m calling it a FINIAL.  But I suppose it could also be an abstract Christmas tree.  (but NOT a tree topper!  Far to heavy for that!

So I had my lamp base, a plastic tree topper (from Dollar Tree!) and a thrifted glass votive holder.  Glued (using e6000) the votive holder upside down to the lamp base first.  Once that glue set, I glued the topper to the inverted votive holder.  Let the glue cure for at least 24 hours.

I also didn’t want people to look at it and immediately be able to tell it was a lamp base.  But I DO like to ‘leave little hints’ for people to ‘figure out’ what it used to be.  So I did leave the cord hole at the bottom; just faced it to the back.  Once my glue had set, I started glittering.  This took a while because I could only do one section at a time, and each section needed 3 applications.  Mostly ‘waiting time’ for the glue to dry before I could add another coat.  I went with different colors of glitter for an ‘ombre’ effect.

Once all my glitter was fully dry, I added a ring of tiny seed beads at the base of the two skinniest parts.  Once that glue dried, I took it outside for a couple of coats of clear spray paint.  This extra step helps keep your glitter from ‘shedding’.  I recommend adding a clear spray coat to ALL your glittered items.

And now it’s ready to go to Stars!

The ribbon is just to tie the price tag on with.

So, what’s your opinion on ‘blog contests’ in general?  

Like them?  Don’t like that?  For a while it seemed like a lot of bloggers were having so many ‘parties’ and contests that they hardly ever had any good CONTENT anymore.  Would you like to see contests (with PRIZES) a little more often in my blog?  And if so, what kinds of prizes do you like to win??

I hope you all are ENJOYING getting ready for Christmas!

How about a little contest?!?!?

Remember this big ole wall paper paste brush I showed you a short while ago?

I was ‘playing with it’ last night; and I am feeling pretty darn clever about how it turned out!

But instead of just SHOWING you what I did with it; I thought I’d help YOU get your own creative juices flowing by having you GUESS what I did with it.  The prize for the first correct guess will be your choice of ANY one of my e-books; as shown here in my etsy shop.

I will tell you that I ‘added to it’ but I did not take anything away from it (ie didn’t cut off the handle or remove bristles)  It is still completely in tact.

AND that it is functional for something other than its original use.

So, put your thinking caps on and leave your comment as to what you think I did with that big ole brush!

*** WE HAVE A WINNER ***  WE HAVE A WINNER ***

Ravensmom guessed that I added a clothespin and made it into a recipe holder.   And here it is:

I used e6000 to glue the clothespin to the handle, then covered the clothespin with some pretty pink paper to match the pink in the magnets.

The magnets I used were just ‘whatever I had’ on hand, but they dictated the color scheme.  A string of ribbon through the hole in the handle to hang it from and DONE!

I really wanted to include a little memo pad in the clothespin, but the ones that I had (3×3″ sticky pads) are all too big, and covered up the magnets.   SO if you are going to make something similar, use your notepad to determine how high you’ll need to place your clothespin.  OR position your clothes pin UPward, so the pad doesn’t cover the pretty magnets.

Will be taking this little lovely to my booth at Stars.

Valentine doll give-away

How sweet is this little doll?!?!?  And she is being GIVEN away on Sweet Meadows Farm Blog.

Just click on the link to see how to enter.

Blog giveaway

Now I’m not exactly sure WHY all these wonderful blogs have these ‘give-aways’ so frequently.  But I see them ALL over the place in blogland, and  they are usually giving away some REALLY cool stuff!  I’ve never taken the time to enter though.  Usually by the time I find them, there are HUNDREDS of entrants and being one who never wins anything, well, I just don’t bother.

Just came across this one on Robin’s Egg Blues blog:

And I just HAD to enter!   I absolutely LOVE everything!

You can enter too.  Read the how to enter info carefully on her blog.