DIY Fail: Krylon Magnetic Spray Paint Review

I said I would update, and I am doing so in seething anger.

KRYLON MAGNETIC SPRAY PAINT IS A WASTE OF MONEY, TIME AND COMPLETE GARBAGE.

I sprayed four layers of magnetic spray paint on my board before covering it in two THIN layers of chalkboard paint (which they actually have a project for on their site!). This morning, knowing it was completely dry, I put a light advertisement magnet on. It fell off. I tried one of those rare earth magnets I have hanging around. It fell off.

NOTHING STICKS.

So, going back to my project, I would HIGHLY recommend that if you want your board to be magnetic you put a piece of metal in lieu of the mirror/wood you are painting. Ensure the metal is magnetic, as not all metals are. I would then cover that in chalkboard paint. Alternatively, if you live in the US there are other magnetic paints available. The container of paint that you brush on by Krylon, however, has just as horrible reviews.

As for me... I guess the magnets are out and cute writing with a chalk pen is in. *sigh*.

~Miss. Sunshine (isn't) Smil(ing).

DIY: Vintage Style Magnetic Chalkboard

As I mentioned in a  previous post, I have started, and due to impatience, completed my magnetic chalkboard to hold my escort cards. Without further ado, a DIY How-To...

Materials:
-screwdriver
-board or cardboard to spray paint on (DO NOT USE A GARBAGE BAG LIKE ME)
-magnetic spray paint  (BEFORE YOU DO THIS... PLEASE READ HERE FOR UPDATED INFORMATION REGARDING KRYLON MAGNETIC SPRAY PAINT)
-chalkboard spray paint
-primer spray paint
-spray paint in your favourite colour
-vintage frame (mirrors are awesome, but not all spray paints will adhere)
-sandpaper
-soft cloth

STEP ONE:

Find a mirror.

Sexxxxyyyyy

STEP TWO:

Disassemble the entire thing. BE CAREFUL NOT TO DROP ANY IN GRASS.... Oops.. If you have a big heavy mirror like mine, carefully take it out and lay it somewhere safe.

I swear the ants stole it.

STEP THREE:
Sand the mirror and frame lightly with 220 grit sandpaper. This will help everything to really stick.

STEP FOUR:
Layout cardboard or a hard surface (I will soon explain why grass and garbage bag doesn't work) and put your frame and mirror on it.

STEP FIVE:
Spray paint primer on the frame. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS! Being lazy and doing it quickly will result in drips, then dry time, then sanding, then repainting. I promise you.

Plastic bags bunch up and blow in the wind causing missed spots, rubbed off paint and streaks. BAD IDEA.

STEP SIX:
Spray the mirror with 2 or more coats of magnetic paint. Ensure you read the directions for drying time and how long you have to wait between coats. I believe the Krylon was 30 minutes to four hours, but it was dry to the touch much faster than that.  
DISCLAIMER: I have now read that the magnetic paint sucks and won't even hold up a magnetic letter. I will be testing this soon and let you know. If this board is NOT magnetic, it would defeat my entire purpose, putting me into a huge rage.

Sorry.. it was silver and sunny out, so you can imagine the glare!

STEP SEVEN:
Spray the mirror with two coats of chalkboard paint. Again, read the directions carefully before applying.

Remember that sunny day I was talking about? This is actually the same patch of grass as above.

STEP EIGHT:
Prime the back of the frame by flipping the dry frame over and giving it a good coat. This part really isn't THAT important, because you won't see the back.


STEP NINE:
Once the frame is dry, spray paint with a coat of your favourite colour. THIN coats are best because they do not drip and such. I hung mine from a tree because I was in desperate need of a hard, flat surface and didn't have one.

The wind blowing it around made it a bit blurry. Sorry!

STEP TEN:
Once everything is dry (don't be like me and think, Hey! It's not coming off on my hand! It's still not dry after 10 minutes. I swear), assemble.

Tada! The back (minus one screw).

STEP ELEVEN:
Touch ups if you are like me...

You can barely see it, but I took the paint off the corner.

STEP TWELVE:
Hang and enjoy. Don't forget to prime the chalkboard before use or it will never be the same!

Sexy!

Beau-ti-ful!

CAUTION:
-prime before painting will require one versus ten coats
-if it looks like it's barely covering, you are doing it right. Repeat that step over and over again rather than going closer and adding more
-gloves save nails
-doing this in the grass will lead to: Grass marks, streaks, drips, ant stuck to your frame, pollen stuck to your frame, spiders spinning webs and dirt on the back.

DIY: Glitter Wine Glasses

Well, this whole DIY started with the need to make/buy/create something to fill my SUPER sexy monogrammed bags I had made for my bridesmaids. What, I asked myself, would I do? My sister's was an easy "aha!" moment as I saw these cute glittered wine glasses on pinterest and thought back to that time I went to her house and drank wine from a drinking glass.

Yeah.

And she LOVES wine.

I don't get it either.

Anyways, without futher ado, DIY Glitter Wine Glasses!

Materials
- Glitter (I used packets from Dollarama because I kept this budget)
- Modge Podge (I used matte because I didn't want to take away from the sparkle of the glitter, but not sure what would be best)
- Wine glasses (20 oz for me!)
- Paint brush. I used the sponge brush and loved it.
- Container for glitter
- Paper/something to shake glitter off onto and back into container
 - Krylon Clear Coat

Step One:
 Clean and dry your glasses really well. If not, the modge podge might not stick right.

So clean!

Step Two:
Choose your glitter and dump it into a cup/container if it doesn't have a way to pour it nicely. I mixed together several small packets for most of mine, but was able to cover the entire base and stem with only one packet.

The Dollarama Sparkles. I liked them because they were super fine and had a variety of colours.

Two lightest blues mixed and swirled together in my pouring cup, which was way too big.

  Step Three:
Cover your cup's base, sides of the base (oops!) and stem with modge podge using your brush. I found a spot on the stem where it started to flare to end my glittering, but you might choose a different area. To make a good, straight line at the top, I inserted my hand into the cup, held the brush lightly to the stem and moved my hand in a circle to make the brush make a line. It worked like a charm.

I'd say the more the better, unless it is too much and drippy. But you want it to be mostly solid coloured.

Step Four:
Pour sparkles over the modge podge. I have NO pictures of this because, well, it was messy! What I did was pour over the stem first, then, when I was out of sparkles, put it back in the cup and poured over another area, etc, etc until I was done.

Step Five: 
Set to dry.

So nice! The light sucks, so the colours aren't perfect here, but close. Lots of shine too!

Step Six/Seven (TBD):
I haven't done this step yet, but I will tell you what is next. After these dry I will modge podge them again with no sparkles. I did save some sparkles in case there are bald spots. After the next layer of modge podge to seal these suckers in, I am going to spray the glitter with a layer of Krylon Clear Spray Paint. I bought this a LONG time ago to seal a cup that Mr. Sunshine got from kids at work, but have used it for countless crafts since. I love it!


TOTAL COST
For four glasses, this was a fairly cheap craft! I spent the following:
$5-- 4 glasses @ $1.25 each from Dollar Tree
$3 -- 3 glitter packs (and tons left over) @ $1.00 each from Dollarama
$3 -- Modge Podge small bottle with 50% coupon from Michael's
$0.10 -- foam brush a long time ago on sale from Michael's
$Free$ -- Krylon Clear Coat. Considering how little I'm using anyways, maybe $0.25 worth of it?

Total before taxes= $11.10


Anyone else find a great DIY gift they've completed?

~Miss. Sunshine

The Disappearing Lady

So anyone who reads my blog is probably wondering where the heck I've gone. The answer is hell. Seriously! I can only describe the last week as blissful. Day 1-5 of being on antibiotics immediately got rid of the chills, lethargy and hacking cough as well as the runny nose of doom. Day 6, I knew we had a problem because I had a runny nose. Day 7 the cough came back. I'm now two days past my antibiotics (they are all done) and I am truly right back where I started, complete with puffers not working, near asthma attacks daily and green as far as the eye can see. It sucks. So today I went to the walk-in, and, living in Smalltown, Ontario, they told me to go home and they will call when it is my turn. Heck ya!

But being sick and a DIY bride do not go hand in hand, especially when we are now less than three months out from the wedding! Eep! Yesterday I managed to put together my sister's invitation, as she wanted the work for her portfolio since she has a job interview Monday. I also managed to make these beautiful bags for my bridesmaids:

Beautiful, eh? The great tutorial I got on how to do these was found here: http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/11/21/diy-doily-canvas-bag/ Being in Canada I used coupons and $12 bags from Michaels, but you get what ya get! My only advice, less is more when it comes to paint, or put a newspaper between the layers so you don't get paint all the way to the back. Oops!

I also managed to get some rocking stamps for my invites. I had the choice between using three daylilly stamps or two daylillies and an ugly 7 cent stamp, so you know I am paying the extra $0.50 per invite. I'm insane. Here they are though...

Finally, Mr. Sunshine has been getting increasingly annoyed with the wedding room. Probably because it started out as a guest bedroom/junk room (we moved from a large 4 bedroom house with a basement to a small 2 bedroom house with a crawlspace) and has now become the guest bedroom/junk room/Miss. Sunshine's teaching stuff until the beginning of June when she can move it to her new school/wedding supplies/crafting supplies room. Needless to say he put his foot down and insisted we clean up! We flipped up the bed, are getting rid of the extra boxspring, cleaned out some junk and then piled boxes as high as the eye can see.

The view from the doorway. At least there is a path now!

It's like a pie-- mattress crust followed by teaching stuff filling, capped off with wedding supply boxes

Notice how nicely my teaching books and binders are shoved haphazardly into that bookshelf?

Well, the walk in just called which means it is time for antibiotics! Yay!

Until next time,

~Miss. Sunshine

Envelope Liners-- DIY

Once again I sat down to conquer a task a week ago and got to it today. Don't even ask how long addressing the RSVP's is taking *sigh*.

Anyways, for your pleasure and amusement... DIY Envelope Liners!

You Need:
-nice, thin paper (I used a rice paper)
-dry glue roller
-sharp scissors
-pencil
-envelopes+ 1 extra
-ruler or straight edge
-paper cutter (if you are lazy like me!)

The pieces of this puzzle.

Step One
Take your spare envelope and cut a thin, thin strip down each side so that your envelope folds apart. Mark where you want the envelope liner to go down to (I put it about an inch below where you can see it) and using your ruler or paper cutter, cut straight across. You can see in my picture where I used a pen to mark a quick guideline for where I wanted it to be below. Next, cut about 1/4 inch off each side of what is left. You will not want the envelope liner to touch the edge of the envelope. Finally, cut off the "glue" at the top. Tada! Perfect template!

Step Two

Super lazy man's way to do anything wedding related.

Trace out the envelope liner as many times as you need and I would suggest roughly cutting them out. On a 20" by 30" piece of paper I am guessing I will get about 20 liners for my 5.75" by 5.75" envelopes. I finished off my cutting by using the paper cutter and then rounding the top with my scissors. Super simple and very quick and easy.

Yeah, nail. You sexy foldin' that liner.

Step Three
Grab an envelope, liner and the dry glue roller. Put a line of glue just below the fold crease where it is visible when the flap is open. Carefully (so carefully!) puff open your envelope and slide in the liner. ENSURE THAT THE LINER IS RIGHT SIDE UP *oops!*. Line up the liner with the glue line on your envelope and carefully press to secure. Fold the flap back and put another triangle of glue around the glue line where your liner will touch. Carefully press to secure. Fold your flap back halfway and use your nail or, for the fancy fellows, a boning tool to create a proper crease. And that's it!


Super simple. Tips and tricks I have figured out:

1. Make sure you trace on the BACK of your paper. That way if there is a small pencil line left, no one will see.
2. Ensure you have a sharp blade on your cutter.
3. Putting the glue both directly above and below the fold will decrease wrinkling significantly.
4. Some of your envelopes will have misplaced glue, forcing you to choose between going directly beside the glue or over the glue. Make a choice and make it well.

For those who are curious, one "before and after" picture.

Before

After

I agree. It's so much nicer :)

~Miss. Sunshine

DIY Bouts

I went to work today and left at lunch to procure some medicine. I fought the cough and the cough won and kicked my ass on the way out. After a quick (I love this city!) visit to the walk-in clinic, I left with a better inhaler and some antibiotics to get rid of the remainder of this cold.

Anyways, now that I can breathe properly, I am bored and thought, what better way to start this afternoon than to get going on the bouts that I am HATING. I have made over 10 mock ups using a variety of different leaf/flower combinations and techniques and have hated them all. After reading a few more tutorials on how to do bouts using silk flowers, real flowers and even fabric flowers, I figured I'd give it one last go and came up with this...

So purdy!

I am so impressed! Hey-a bout, wanna go for a ride? *wink*. Anyways, it currently is made from better quality hydrangeas than those in my bouquet (although for 6 times the price per stem, they look almost identical), as well as the leaves from the peonies I used in my bouquet and I love it! This one is for Mr. Sunshine, so it has some pearls to match the necklace and bracelet I made for my dress, as well as the pearls on my veil.

So I figured after all the damned trouble I came up with, I  would make a tutorial for the next poor sucker who tries this...

What You Need

• hydrangea flower
• large leaves that you think look good as a background
• pearl and fishing line flower decor thing (no idea what it's really called, clearly)
• floral tape
• wire cutters
• sharp scissors
• 20-24 gauge wire (something thick enough to be strong to hold up the stems, but easy to wrap)

The how to part...

1. Cut a few flowers off your hydrangea. You want to leave as much of a "stem" as possible to allow for a good wire wrap. I used 4-5 blooms for my bouts.
2. Cut 4-5 pieces of wire about 6 inches long.
3. Wrap each stem with a piece of wire until the wire and stem are quite secure. To make mine secure I first bent the wire into an L shape at the end and lined up the L with the stem. I wrapped around the L and the stem at the same time to ensure that the wire was firm, then tightened what needed to be tightened with my beading pliers that have a nice flat edge to them.
4. Bunch the flowers the way that you will want them to sit in front of the leaves and then carefully twist the wires together into a big bunch. I used pliers to tighten the wrap to ensure that the wires were firmly held together, and then trimmed the ends to about 4 inches long.
5. Wrap the entire wire/flower thing you have in floral tape, covering up all wire. I would suggest starting at the top of the piece and working your way to the bottom, and then wrapping it back up to the top for extra strength.
6. Position the beads on the back and wrap onto what you have made in step 5.
7. Position the leaves on the back and wrap onto what you have made in step 6.
8. Tada! You are done! To finish it off, add a dab of glue at the bottom of the floral tape and wrap the floral tape in a nice ribbon to hide the ugly green.

While that might NOT have helped, I hope it gave you some hope for what can be accomplished! Here is a final picture, just in case you want to see what two crap and one great one might look like...

Crappy, AMAZING, and okay looking bouts.

~Miss. Sunshine