Elmer's Look for Less Giveaway

Photo Credit: Elmer's Looks for Less Guide

Yesterday I participated in the Elmer's look for less challenge where I made a faux bronze wall art piece. Today I'm hosting a giveaway with products to help you make your own look for less. Here's what you could win (two winners)!

Black 20 x 30 Foam Board

White 20 x 30 Foam Board

CraftBond All Purpose Glue Stick

CraftBond Repositionable Glue Stick

CraftBond Extra Strength Glue Stick

X-ACTO Designer Series Gripster Knife

Painters Assorted Colors Set (colors may vary from photo)

*Picture frames not included in giveaway.

How to enter: Leave a comment guessing which frame above is the look for less (#1 or #2). Guessing the correct frame will not increase your odds of winning. One entry per household. Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you win. The last day to enter the contest is Saturday, December 17 2011. I'll announce the winners Sunday, December 18 2011 on this post. If I do not hear back from the winner after two weeks, I will choose a new winner. Open to US residents only.

Once you make your guess check out the Elmer's Looks for Less Guide (project 6) to find out what the correct answer is. There are a lot of other great projects made with foam board in the guide. If you have a chance, check out the projects. I think you'll be surprised with some of the projects the Elmer's team came up with.

Contest Closed

For those who were curious the look for less was frame #1 !

Craft: Faux Bronze Wall Art

I was recently asked to participate in the Elmer's Look for Less Challenge. If you know me, you know I love a good craft challenge so without hesitation I said yes. The challenge was to make a copy of something you would find at the store for a fraction of the price. The other stipulation was that I had to use the Elmer's Foam board.

Photo credit: Pottery Barn

I really wanted to see how I could manipulate the foam board and decided on recreating this PB bronze Noel wall art. This piece sells for $149 (currently sold out). My art piece only cost $19 (Foam board - $7, Spray paint - $8, Copper painter's pen - $4). Here's how I did it.

Supplies:
Elmer's Black 20x30 Foam Board
X-Acto Scissors
X-Acto Gripster Knife
X-Acto Cutting Self Healing Mat
Elmer's Painters Copper Leafing Pen
Nail file - you can use fine grain sand paper too
Bronze oil rubbed - spray paint
Pencil

Print out letters N, O, E, L in Bell MT font (size 100o pt). Cut out and tape together. Attach to foam board with low tack tape. Trace letters with pencil onto the foam board.

Cut out letters with x-acto knife. Don't worry if you're letters are not perfect because you're making a rustic art piece . Cut away any stray strips. Gently file edges to make them smoother.

To get the hammered look, I pressed a supper ball into the foam board with a layer of fabric in between. The fabric prevents the foam board from cracking or wrinkling. I recommend testing the process out on your scraps first to figure out the best pressure. Do this all over the entire piece of wall art. Apply less pressure around the edges as this is where it will most likely wrinkle/crack.

To get that metal finish, apply two coats of bronze oil rubbed spray paint. Let dry for 30 minutes. Dab some of the copper paint onto a paper plate. Dab paper towel into paint. Lightly rub the paint in a circular motion over the entire sign. Avoid getting the paint into the dents of your sign. Do this until it's completely covered. You should still be able to see the bronze paint a little. Make sure to apply copper paint to all edges as well. Apply one more coat of the spray paint but only mist it this time so the copper paint still shows through.

Your final piece should looks something like this.

So I'm sure you all have the same question, does it really look like metal? The answer: yes it really does! I asked my husband too for an unbiased opinion. If you have it in a bright sunny room it may look questionable. But, I'm confident it will fool most people. I would suggest displaying it on a high shelf.

I'll be hosting a giveaway tomorrow for some of the Elmer's products. Please come back Thursday to enter!

Owlways Christmas Printables

Jinjerup and My Owl Barn have teamed up again to bring you these cute Owlways Christmas Printables for free. The set features gift wrap, gift tags, note cards, and envelopes! I think the note cards would be perfect for writing a letter to Santa.

Printable Holiday List

Making a List? Checking it twice? Then head over to Allsorts to print out these adorable "A Jolly Holiday List" for free. These would be perfect for kids to use for their holiday wish lists. Find the free printable list here.

And while you're there, check out Jenny's virtual Gingerbread house. This has been on her site for a couple years now. It's my daughters absolute favorite thing to play on the computer. You just drag and drop candy to decorate the gingerbread house. It's perfect for preschool age. Find this gingerbread house on the right hand side bar of her site.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Does this look familiar?

Last weekend I decorated the house for Christmas. Every year I let the kids decorate the tree first with their ornaments. The end result is always something like the picture above. All the ornaments end up in a giant clump and there are always a couple ornaments pulling down the tree branches. Sometimes the ornaments even touch the floor because they were hung to far out on the branches. It's pretty comical. Later on, I go back in and add some ornaments and spread them out a little.

Besides decorating, we're already in Christmas party mode. We have our first party to attend this weekend. Can you believe it? I tried to find another cute vintage dress to wear but had no luck. So I had to go with plan B, the mall. After going blind from all the sequins and glitter in the stores, I finally settled on this dress (found it at a department store for $50). Oh, how I love a deal!

Do any of you have your holiday decorations up yet? Are you in full swing of the holidays?