Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Second Annual $5 Challenge
over at

1) The challenge was to create a new spring decor item for your home
2) It had to be purchased from a dollar store
3) $5.00 was the price limit
4) You could use paint, glue, fabric, paper and tools if you already had them on hand

 
We were in great need of a calendar in the kitchen, but I knew I did not want a big bulky one.


So while at Dollar Tree shopping for Valentine goodies I found this :


 
miniature cork board
I was not sure what I was going to do with it but for $1.00 I had to have it!

I found this and did the project before the announcement of the challenge, everything happens for a reason!

I sanded down the wood trim with some left over sand paper



I had bought these for another project and had not used them yet, I thought they would dress up the board!
They were only $1.99, so even if I had to purchase them to stay within the $5 budget
I would have been able to!
You could also choose not to hot glue them on if you want a look more contemporary

I them painted the wood frame black, with Apple brand paint (I always keep this on hand) with a cheap-o sponge brush (I buy these in bulk)!

When it had dried, I used the sand paper to rough up the edged, to give it a little personality

I then painted the decorative pieces with Apple brand paint in lime green, when the green had had time to dry I brushed over it with black with a sponge brush as well!

I glued the pieces on with hot glue, a girls best friend!!!!



I wanted my calendar to go on the fridge so I dug through the junk drawer and found 4 magnets and hot glued them on!


 
I had initially wanted to use some black and white Damask wrapping paper left over from Christmas to cover the cork but was afraid that it would be a little difficult to cut to size , so after thinking for a second I decided that I would go through a whole drawer full of scrap book paper that I never use and see if I could find something black and white.

I came up with black and white polka dot, which I was not crazy about at first but I know it had to work.
I am sure that when I purchased this paper about 3 years ago it did not cost more than .25 cents!

All I did was cut the paper just a tiny bit bigger than the cork part and slipped it under the wood frame!

Now for a calendar , I looked at dollar stores and could not find a cheap small calendar that I could take apart so I went online an found a Word version, changed the font, printed to size and then punched two holes in the top so I could run a piece of ribbon through it.

I had planned on using some burlap ribbon my Mom had given me
for Christmas but it looked too bulky, so I looked around
and found a great lime green piece of ribbon that came on a bag
from Coldwater Creek, it was perfect and FREE!

I then cut a piece of card board (from a cereal box I was throwing away)
to use as backing for the paper calendar.
Stabled it and the calendar to the cork and boom it was done!



When I saw that Lindsay was going to have a $5 challenge I knew I had to enter, this would also be perfect to hang on a metal file cabinet in the office or leave off the magnet and place in an easel on a desk!

11 comments:

  1. What a great project! You are a clever and crafty girl. Happy Spring!

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  2. This is so cute! I love the color combo.

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  3. Oh my, as cute as can be. I love the colors, the appliques and the way you threaded the green ribbon through.

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  4. Love the green with the polk dots! Very fresh!

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  5. you are so stinking creative. love it. I am about to send you a facebook message.

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  6. Nice choice in background paper! I heart polka-dots.

    Such a cute way to get organized!

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  7. Great project! I showcased you in my blog.

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