SNOWMAN MAGNETS from FREE Paint Stir Sticks : Primitive Snowmen

 Super Simple and CHEAP Snowmen Magnets!

Need a really cheap way to make some magnets? How about using the free paint sticks from the paint department?

That's just what I had on hand after winning a auction lot of crafty wood supplies for $2.00. In the assortment of hundreds of items was a zip lock baggie of paint stir sticks. Mid sized ones that are approximately 6 inches long.

As soon as I saw them I knew they would be cute as primitive snowmen. Then I thought MAGNETS!

And here's how I done it. Super Simple and CHEAP!

Above, here you see them in the original, plain wood. I laid them outside on wax paper, on top a box and sprayed them with Rust-oleum spray paint in gloss white.

 I let them sit and dry in the sun about 2 hours or so. One coat was enough for me.

Then I brought them inside and used a roll of magnetic tape that I had on hand from Wal-Mart. It was only about $3.00 a roll I think, and it goes a long way.  If you've ever tried them, you knw the single, round magnets are best and my favorite for almost all other magnet projects with a stronger hold, but for these lightweight sticks, these are fine.

They already have a strong tape on one side that you just peel and stick, after cutting to your desired length.

They held great on the unfinished wood. That's why I didn't paint the backs. Seems to be a better hold on these type of magnetic tape magnets.

For some reason next, I started working backwards. lol. I usually paint all the faces, then bodies, then add homespun. But for some reason, probably being it was around 3am, I just mixed and matched and jumped back and forth when I got bored from noses,to bodies and homespun. lol.

Above, I used stencils to do little stars and other designs down the body. Just to take up room. I now wish I'd left them blank for just buttons...

Oh well, next time!

They were really starting to come along!

And I started to add some rosey cheeks to make some different. And different eyebrows.

You really can't go wrong as you see. I just experimented with different everythings. lol

And if you look close, I took a sponge with a touch of barely any black paint on it, and roughed up the white a little bit. To make it look a bit more aged.

My next batch, I am definitely going to take more time on them. As you can see, I was just hurry stenciling on the bodies and it shows big time. But the faces I did free-handed.

And then when done, I put them in little plastic baggies. You can buy many different sizes of baggies in the wedding section in WalMart.  But I had about 10 of these bags from a previous order of thermometers, that I'd saved. lol. Yes, I save lots of stuff! lol

I still have to add a topper price tag. I use the Avery labels to print them off on handmade crafts such as these. It just makes them cuter. And I also staple a little piece of homespun beside the price tag. I just gives it a more country look. But I haven't done that yet, so I don't have a pic.

But here's another few pics of how they ended up. Really cute snowmen magnets on free paint sticks if you ask me! lol.

The snowman wooden spoons inside the pitcher above, you can find the post on how to make them HERE: HOLIDAY WOODEN SPOONS. 

And many thanks to Eyeballs by Day, Crafts by Night, for that great craft idea. I went on to make some of them into spoon refrigerator magnets also. It turned out great! But just use the round, stronger magnets for the spoons if you try it!

And one last pic:

I priced these for $1.99 each for sale in my Peddlers Mall Booth #555 and Etsy.

If I put them in my Etsy store, I probably will have to raise the price and allow for shipping though.

Are you going to try making these cute Snowmen Magnets from free Paint Sticks?

PRIMITIVE NIGHT LIGHTS with Silicone Candle Bulbs

PRIMITIVE NIGHT LIGHTS WITH SILICONE BULBS

Dipped Primitive Silicone Bulbs came from my $4.00 RECIPE

I wanted to make some silicone dipped, primitive themed bulbs for my nightlights.

I used the recipe that I recently wrote about found here. 

It's very simple and just includes a tube of 100% silicone (cost around $3.00 a tube) 

and a bottle of cinnamon ($1.00).

I bought some plain bulbs in the night light section and learned to make my own mix.
Here it is.

I just grubbied them up a little more than just leaving them all clear.

And the night light is just a cheap one from the Dollar Mart. 

Just make sure when you buy these that they are not the light sensitive activated ones. You need the ones that are regular.

The bulbs to the right are some I first bought to go by. And I ended up putting them in a few nightlights too.

For my first set, I simply painted the bases a flat black and added some tiny star stencils. 

I finished them off by simply ripping some shreds of homespun to tie at the base. 

Make sure the fabric is not touching the bulb. 

These happened to be the daylight sensor ones, but I don't care for them as much.

Here we have a set of the regular ones that I used my handmade silicone candle bulbs in.

I grubbied up the base of these as well. I just rubbed on some mod podge with a paint brush.

Then sprinkled some cinnamon on it.

You can see I gave each light a coat of paint first. One with black craft paint, and the other with a barn red. And then is when I started with the Mod Podge and added cinnamon. I almost forgot to mention that.

Let it dry.

Add more cinnamon if you wish, and another coat of mod podge to seal it.

I attached a little button and homespun to some of them, just to prim them a bit more.

And then topped it off with another coat of mod podge to seal in the cinnamon and paint.

Then I added a strip of homespun around each. And to finish, I hot glued a button on the front of each.

That took care of the bases.

Then I just used my silicone recipe for the grubby bulbs, made them, let them dry and then stuck them in.

Always make sure you use the correct wattage bulb for each of your night lights and candles when changing out bulbs! And be sure to keep all fabric away from bulbs. Even night lights get hot.

Happy Crafting,
until next time!
~Lisa

*I am not an expert. And only share my crafting experiences for fun. Please take precautions and consult a specialist before trying any craft you may find within this blog. AND when dealing with bulbs that get hot, please check all warnings beforehand. For entertainment purposes only.*

Grubby Silicone Bulbs RECIPE

Do you need to make some primitive looking silicone bulbs?

I use this recipe to do both the electric taper bulbs and the night light bulbs.

I took some clear silicone (the higher priced one, not the white caulk kind) and mixed in some cinnamon spice in a throw away bowl.

Just mix it until it's a nice smooth brown color. No real recipe here. Just play around with it. 

It should look something like this:

 

 

TWIRL it with one motion in the mixture. I tie a string to the ends so when they are wet I can easily hang them up.

And I use a closepin to clip them up to dry.

AND HERE IS THE LITTLE BATTERY OPERATED CANDLE BULBS:

BEFORE:

And after I bought a few dozen of these, I realized they have a green flame:

Then I took the little candles, one by one, and hand dipped each flame. 

I just stuck it in, twirled it once and pulled it straight out, in an upward motion. 

Kinda fast, so that it gives a nice tip to the flame.

I let them sit and dry in the sun for a few hours. It took longer than I thought for the 100% silicone to dry. But well worth the time.

Then after they were finally dry, the bottoms were ready to grubby on up!

See how I did the bases 

of these battery operated candles in the other post,  

found here.

And if you want to see this bulb recipe used on other night lights, click here.

DIY Grubby Electric Taper Candles

 

In needing a grubby taper for one of my crafts, I figured I'd just try and make one.

Here's how it went. And it was super simple!

THINGS YOU MAY NEED:

Mod Podge

Cinnamon

Paint Brush

As you can see, I had to remove the bottom flat piece of the taper with pliers because I needed it to stick securely in foam. Totally optional and I'm pretty sure most of you won't need to do that.

Then I simply took some mod podge, brushed it on the entire taper with a small paint brush. I held it over a paper plate to hold back the mess.

And then while it was still wet with mod podge, I simply sprinkled some .50cent bottle of Dollar Store cinnamon all around the taper.

And then I found a place that I could hang it up to dry for the first time.

And after it was mostly dry and not falling off all over the place. I gave it a second, huge helping coat of mod podge all over the top of the cinnamon this time. And this way, it will seal up the cinnamon and keep it from trying to come off on our hands. 

After the mod podge dried, which only took about an hour, it was ready.

One more thing I did was replace the bland looking light with a grubby one I recently made to make it look more prim.

And here it is in my craft project that I needed it for.

I'm happy with it, and best of all I didn't have to go out and buy another item to finish my old tool box craft.

For Sale in my Booth#555

I THREW IN MY DISH SOAP APRON

I wanted to make some cute dish soap bottle aprons that I saw for sale in the local flea market. And just happens on Saturday I won a Sears brand sewing machine at a local auction for only $9.00! I know right?

I think it is doable for me.
I started out by searching Google for "dish soap apron pattern." And I was flooded by hundreds of links. I quickly choose one from sewing.about.com that said available in two views, .jpg and .pdf. I just figured this way I had a double chance of getting a page that was useable. lol. And I thought I was right.

Wrong.

After printing it out and cutting the pattern out of my fabric, I noticed something was wrong. It was way too big. Well, it was kind of huge. Take a look at how big it is compared to regular sized pc paper:

Think about it, being held up to your dish soap bottle.... Yea little too large.

Well, I set off anyways to add some ruffles around the edges, which by the way, is only going to make the apron larger...

And boom, all of my thread got tangled together underneath the needle in that little hole. I pulled and pulled and finally it broke. Breaking the thread line all the way to the top and back of the machine.....

Hum. Being as it is was now only 5:00am I threw in my apron. Ha Ha!!! For real!

Then I jumped over to Etsy to search for some premade dish soap aprons and Bam! All over the place and o'so reasonably priced!

I found a wide variety from one Etsy seller named MyApronLady who really must know how to sew! She sells them here for only $3.49 plus $1.25 shipping! So worth not sewing my fingers together. lol.

I'm going to pick up about five of these as Christmas gifts. And use my sewing maching for the simple straight lined things such as cornhole gaming bags.

Have you ever tried making dish soap aprons before?



Things you may need:
Fabric approx. 8" x 4"
Scissors
Sewing Machine or Sewing Glue
Patience lol
Etsy Account lol