Getting Crafty

I often find that when I shop for items in which to decorate my home with, I often come up short. The things I like are either too expensive or they simply don't exist. I'm a dark kind of gal who loves her monsters as well as vintage. Monster Chic is what I like to call it. Lately I have been looking for items for my dressing table and the things I have found all cost a pretty penny yet they lack that dark side I'm so drawn to. So I had to improvise. I decided to make my own things and gave myself a small budget. How did I do? See for yourself.

While looking for a vintage decanter  (in which to house my perfume oils) I came across very many lovey ones which were more money than I wanted to spend and yet were not quite right in style. I found this clear glass bottle with topper at an estate sale for 1.00. I think it may have been used for salad dressing as it was found in a kitchen. I thought it would be lovely for my dressing table and oils. I took it home , cleaned it up and got a little crafty. I added my own personal flair by adding a green satin bow and I added a black bat and rhinestone accent. The bow I made out of ribbon I already had and the bat was from a pack of plastic bat rings I bought last year at the dollar store. I snipped off the ring part and just glued it on top of the ribbon. I added a plastic rhinestone accent to jazz it up a bit and loved how it turned out! I had that black plastic frame and I simply printed out that pic of Bela and Vampira to put inside. The crystal tray was a gift from about 10 years ago and the black flower was from a bunch I also purchased at the dollar store last year.


I also decided that I needed a little something to go with the thrifted vintage black dish in which I keep my rings in on my night stand. I wanted something a little art deco. After looking around for awhile I was surprised to find this frame at the dollar store and I gave it a little make over to fit my theme.

I added the bow which I made from my black ribbon stash and added a little plastic jewel accent I got awhile back from Michales. I found a picture to fit my Monster Chic theme and printed it out then placed it inside. The silver and black frame was perfect! The faux rhinestone trim made it look elegant and so art deco.


These crafty projects were very simple and all that was really needed were some items I already had, a printer with paper and a glue gun. Thinking outside the box saved me money and made the items much more personal. They tied in to my monster chic style perfectly and made me a very happy girl!

The Retro Glam Gal Gets Crafty: Holiday Issue Part 1

 

 

I am huge fan of crafting. I love to sit at a table while sipping yummy coffee

while having a wonderful crafternoon. I get inspired by lots of things and always

love to use vintage items. I find many a vintage things in thrift stores. One of the many thrift shops I

visit has this large chest of drawers all devoted to crafts. The contents inside those drawers is

usually old and vintage. It's quite a treat.

 

Awhile back I had taken out my Christmas bins and was looking at all my wonderful

vintage Christmas décor. I have so much and not everything gets used every year. I decided to use some of these items in a new craft. My inspiration came from a vintage item I saw on Ebay.

I thought " I can do that!" and so... I did.

 

The first thing I did was gather my materials.

 

Some items were non vintage but they still had a vintage look. I was

happy that some of my vintage pieces were being put to good use. I wanted to make

little vintage Christmas trees to display as décor in that house. I bought a few extra so that I

could give them away as gifts to my vintage loving friends. The inspiration piece I saw

used vintage bottle brush trees however I did not have any so I went with white and green artificial

mini trees which I purchased at a discount craft store. My local dollar store had some great ornaments

that came 5 in a pack for 1.00. I bought some to use as stars on my trees. I especially felt the one that

said Merry Christmas was vintage looking.

 

What was also needed for this craft was a base for your tree to sit in. I had some vintage Santa mugs and was lucky to find some vintage Christmas plant holders at The Goodwill. One was a super cute boot and the other was a box with a Santa Clause on the side. While on the hunt for these things, I ran across Styrofoam cone shaped item in the craft section of the dollar store. I knew I could also use them as a tree so I grabbed two and headed on home to craft.

 

I had vintage balls and tinsel holly leaves along with beads, garland  and vintage ornaments. I also had a Styrofoam brick left over from another craft night. When I had everything laid out on my table, I began by taking the plastic base off my mini tree. This was easy as it simply unscrewed. Next I took my Styrofoam brick and sliced a small piece off. This is what would hold my tree inside the cup. I hot glued it inside my Santa mug and let it cool a bit. The tree had a wire point bottom, this slid easily into the foam base in the cup and held it tightly in place. When that was done I got busy decorating the little tree. I hot glued everything onto the tree. I thought it came out super cute!

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my vintage items were not perfect but I simply hid the imperfections

by either gluing the bad side of a ball to the tree so the pretty side showed. My Santa mug

had a small chip near the handle so I glued a cute mini red bow over it.

 

Next I decided to make a tree out of the cone shape Styrofoam piece I got a the dollar store.

I had a smaller Santa mug for the base which was perfect because it fit the foam tree nicely.

I glued the vintage silver tinsel around the foam, added some vintage red mini glass balls

to that and then glued a sweet vintage angel to the top of  it.

 

How cute is this?

 

 

 

My vintage Santa mug was not in the best condition. I didn't mind his imperfections

and thought they added to the charm of the piece so I left it alone. The hubs really loved this

one so we decided we would keep it.

 

I finished off the rest of the trees and then took a group shot.

 

 

I still have some left over pieces to used on another craft.

I think they came out great and I can't wait to gift them to my friends!