Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Etsy Inspired Projects

Etsy is one of my favorite places to "shop". I rarely buy anything - but I shop for ideas on crafts/DIY projects.
My first successful "Etsy replica" was the prints I made for our new nursery:

Etsy Original: 
$45 (without frames). Customizable. You can find it here.

My version:

$2 total to print at Office Max (on shiny cardstock). Colors match our nursery theme perfectly!

I am so in love with them! 
Don't get my wrong, they took awhile and there was probably a WAY more efficient way to make them than the way I did (which was just using Pages on my laptop and putting each letter in a separate text box so I could edit colors/sizes/orientation and move them around).


My most recent project is a gift for my Father-In-Law for Christmas. I just happened to stumble upon it and knew it would be a perfect addition to his "Ohio State Buckeyes" den and it looked easy to make!


It's called "String art". You can find the inspiration here.
The original on Etsy was $60. 

Here is the breakdown of supplies:
  > 1-2 inch nails
  > thread (in the color of your choice)
  > paint
  > 1x1 (or any size) wooden board (or in my case.. a bulletin board!)

I already had the white & red paint. I purchased the nails, thread, gray paint, and board from Target for less than $25!

My original plan was to buy a wooden board like the original used.. but I was too excited to start making it and didn't want to cart Evelyn to Lowe's at 9 o'clock at night :) so I grabbed a square bulletin board I had. Next time I make one (which will be soon since Tommy already announced he needs one too!) I will use wood just for more durability.

The overall project took less than 2 hours to do the actually "work".. the longest part was waiting for the paint to dry! Which is what I did first - I painted a coat of white over the entire board.


Next, I just found and outline of the state of Ohio online, printed it, cut it out, and then placed it on the center of my board.

Next, I took my nails and lined them up along the boarder of the state. I found it was easiest to start at the "corners" and place nails half way in-between each other until they were closer and closer together.. that way the spacing was even.

Next, I removed the outline of the state and took my gray paint and painted along the boarder of the nails


Next, I free-handed a red heart right in the center of the State to represent not only the location of Buckeye Football mecca - but also the love we have for OSU :) Oh, and that also completes the Buckeye color scheme! Nails go around the heart too.


Finally, the threading begins!!! 
I tied a knot on the nail starting in the bottom left corner and began looping it back and forth between the boarder of the state and the heart. I did a double loop around the outside nails. And that's all there is too it!





I hope my Father-in-Law likes it! Go Bucks!


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