Craft Wars Report Part One

Wow, was I ever surprised when I saw it pop up on my app that there would be two new episodes airing last night and the second one would be the season finale. Noooooo! What am I to do now? This just won’t work at all. But not to worry, plans are in the works to keep up the craftiness.

Since there were two episodes, I’m doing two posts, it’s double the crafting, and really, isn’t that just divine?

Pop Craft

Alrighty, mini-blinds. Ok, again, I was thrown. But I have some on two windows in the house that believe me I’m dying to get rid of so maybe I’ll craft them instead of tossing them now. We’ll see, that’s for another post altogether.

So for this one the crafters were asked to take these blinds and make a chandelier. Different. It stumped me for a few minutes, I needed the commercial break to get my thoughts in order actually.

First off, my fave was Daniel’s. Simply because it was simple and clean. Sometimes that’s really nice. But the other two I totally ‘got’ and I never in a million years would have thought to curl the metal, wow. Kudos on that one.

My take. I would have punched a hole in the end of the blinds and fastened with a washer and nut or screw (depends on weight & depth etc.). The whole things needs to be spray painted too. Gold might be cool, plus it would reflect the light, bright silver too. White is too plain for me on this one.

I would then have fanned them out and bowed them into an open bowl shape, kind of like a  small bushel basket. Now obviously something would have been needed to keep the shape and that’s where I borrow the idea from the crafter who used the embroidery hoops. A perfect support. Use rivets to attach to the blinds, or for some cool style you could wrap wire too. Actually, that might be cool too and add some neat texture. Ok, so we’re adding that now.

Depending on the length of the actual blinds they may have had to be cut down so that the chandelier didn’t hang too low, but you get the idea. Simple and clean.

Master Craft

Can I just say here that I was JUST looking up barrels a week ago and had an idea similar to this? Yeah, totally.

The challenge was to make a wine and cheese display from wine and cheese related items. LOVE!!!!

I immediately grabbed my Blackberry (for some reason I could not find paper, argh!) and made notes on what supplies they had to use. This is key.

• Wine bottles
• Corks
• Crates
• Wine labels
• Post & Pans
• Barrels
• Baking Sheets

Tres awesome!

I immediately think ‘Wine Bar Bistro Set’. And I got a vision in my head of the winery I visited in Germany ages ago that was in a cellar and was exquisite and elegant at the same time.

I would definitely need a build team on this one sine I have no idea how to actually do it but what I would definitely want is to cut open two barrels and attach in a flat piece of wood with a ‘lip’ for back support to make them into stools. Foam and felt or a cool fabric for a cushion, we want to be comfy after all right?

For the second half of the barrel (from the seat down) I would like to see some storage of wine bottles as that’s what the point of the challenge is after all. Obviously if these are stools they will move and shift so we want to be smart about how we build in the storage. What I’m thinking is to make those criss-cross shelves and then have the lattice wood that was in the wood shop as a ‘door’. That way you have some character to the barrels, different textures and depth because you can see through the holes. I would stain the lattice to work with the barrels. Perhaps if the barrels were dark brown stain the lattice a cherry red for some contrast. Oooh, that would look divine!

Next I would make a bistro table out of another barrel and have a clear round top for it. I would then have a piece of wood cut and dropped in the barrel as a pseudo-shelf/stopper. I would then, because they’re super-light anyway, drop a bunch of corks in. So cute!

For the bottom 3/4′s of the barrel again you could make shelves for the wine bottles and this piece probably won’t move much so it could be open. To edge the shelves and create a slight ‘lip’ to keep the bottles safe cut up a bunch of corks and glue gun them on. Use a hair dryer for those glue strings too! I love that tip from the show! If you can see the wood between the corks, and you may, stain it first.

We need serving trays now. I love them. So much fun. Use the crates. Paint them a chocolate brown or hunter green depending on your taste. Mod podge wine labels on the ends as the sides tend to be slatted. Put in a felt liner so nothing slips out.

Coasters can be made from the wine labels mod podged into stiff cardboard or even themselves if they’re thick enough. Simple and easy to wipe down.

The baking sheets could totally be chalkboard painted to0. Then the wine choices and pairings can be posted on them. They can hang on the wall. Or on a wall you make. It depends where this is going to go. I loved the way Daniel made walls with the lattice so you could indeed mimic that. And I adored the cork grapes that the other crafter did. OMG, gorgeous!!

If you really wanted to go all out you could even make a bench. Use the barrel ends attached to wood and use the crates as a base. Make a cushion to coordinate with the stools by using foam and fabric to match. Stain the wood and the crates to match the barrel so it’ll all look like one piece. To hide edges that are less than stylish, glue gun rope.

Ooooh! And for a finishing touch, we need lighting right? Twinkle lights are of course essential, but how about a wine bottle hurricane lamp? Ok, for this take a glass hurricane tube/vase. You can put a candle in it or battery tea lights. Your choice. Position wine bottles around the vase. If you go with battery operated tea lights so there’s no heat you could hot glue the bottles to the vase for sure. Then use rope to tie them. Tres cool! If there’s another way to attach glass to glass please let me know, I honestly don’t know how. But I have this vision of it and I so want to make it.

So that’s my take on the first episode from the finale night double-bill. Did you watch? What ideas did you get?

The Craft Wars Report

As we saw last week, I am a crafting addict.  This is also apparent when you read that my mini-summer holiday involved visiting yarn stores. To me, that really is a holiday.

So, last night’s episode I admit had me a little stumped. Glasses? Zippers? Really? Wow. I commend all of the crafters on that one. I think I would have had the deer-in-the-headlights expression on my face, well, I think I actually did. Wow.
Pop Craft

This week’s pop craft was a super fun one, a lamp, but with a really odd choice for a required material, glasses and goggles. That’s when my jaw admittedly dropped. Me, stumped. The crafters, momentarily stunned and then ideas kicked in and they were off.

I must admit I was partial to the lamp by the gal who got eliminated. I would have added tulle to it and had the reflectors hanging but what a great idea using that embroidery hoop. And I even liked the colour! The wrapped one was cool too but I think it needed glitter. My friend Casi agreed. We watched togther via Skype. ***Side note: I am in love with Skype at the moment***

The guy’s lamp was a little too abstract for me, but ok, it was definitely creative.

What would NonMom have made?

If it were me, honestly, this was a hard one and I’m pondering as I type this to be honest. Perhaps use two embroidery hoops, one for the top of the shade and one for the bottom. As an outer you need something that lets light through, perhaps use some vellum. Ooh yes! Ok, now the ideas are flowing! Finally, only took 14 hours, LOL. Ok, so use vellum and have the hoops as the top and bottom. Punch holes in the edges on both sides of the vellum to make a drum shape. Use ribbon laced through the holes in a criss-cross fashion. Tie a bow. Gorgeous! I would do pink. You could accent this with glitter at a width of perhaps a half an inch at the top and bottom edges of the vellum too.

Now to incorporate the glasses. Hmm. You could take a base for a clay pot and flip it over. Paint it silver. It goes with the pink. And I like those colours so that’s what I would choose.  Drill a hole in the centre of the upside down base for your wiring and you will need something for the wire to run up, I’ll get to that. The glasses. Take the lenses and adhere them using the glue gun like feathers, layered, over the base. Time dependent, also glitter just the very edges of them. Everything is better with glitter!

For the post part, we need something hollow, you could grab a few pieces of dowel, have them surround the wire and the lamp part and run it up that way. Paint the dowels to coordinate as well. I would do pure white.

You could, again, I have more time than they did, but you could also hang a single lens at intervals so that they overlap from the bottom of the shade. That would be cool because it would sparkle the light around the room.

Darn, now I want to make a lamp. Good thing Michaels has a coupon posted with the show. I may have to run there tonight.

Master Craft

This week it was a bedroom set. WOW! As I’ve been working on my bedroom this year this really got me going. I like both sets that the competitors put together, but I think the right set won.  I wasn’t keen on the shape of the headboard of the winner though, I would have swapped headboards with the other competitor. But wow, five hours to do all that? Beyond impressive.

And zippers? Really? Ok, that one really threw me. I loved the mosaic pillow and the vase and rosettes. Smart and simple ways to use them.

What would NonMom have made?

I am modelling my bedroom after Wedgwood’s Jasperware, those beautiful pieces of blue with creamy white details so I would start there for my colour scheme.

I would have grabbed white and blue for the zipper colours and maybe some gold, yes, gold would work. A fun fabric using blue and white, I am 99.9% sure I saw some in the craft closet. I would have used that for the duvet cover for sure with a white lining/bottom. Elegant and simple.

The zippers really throw me. I think I would have used them like the winner did, as rosettes on pillows. I’m all about accent pieces so I think incorporating them that way would have done it for me. Oooh! Again inspiration hits as I write. Ok, Casi and I agreed that we would have used the spools that the zippers were on as end tables. You could paint them white (can we tell I love white?) and stack two or three of them (because I couldn’t tell the height of them from the TV). You could use the gold zipper wrapped and overlapped over and over on the spools. I would use a semi-opaque fabric as a cover, because you want to see those spiffy bases, perhaps blue and white and drape it. That would be so pretty!

For accent pieces, I love my pillows. I would have done a simple and elegant pillow or three too. If I was a better seamstress (it’s on my list of things I need to work on) I would use the zippers and fabric here. Ok, I would essentially attach a long zipper that goes around the edge of each accent pillow and I’d like them to be functional too. This way you could zip them off for easy cleaning! I would also probably put a faux flower on the centre of the main pillow. It’s centre would have to be either a jewel bead(s) or glitter.

I would love to use the zippers more but honestly again, that threw me for a loop.

Ooh! I almost forgot, a headboard!

Ok, because I saw something like it on Pinterest, get a piece of wood, paint it French blue. Have it be taller that it is wide so it goes to the ceiling. Use Christmas clear lights strung in a loosely vertical pattern, they can be secured at either end or from the back. Have them end above the pillow line, you don’t want to be sitting up in bed and lean back and hear a crunch. Then have tulle over it all, again, keep it loose and light. Attach on the back at the top and bottom. Simple and elegant.

Did you watch? What are your ideas? Do you feel inspired to craft now? I know Casi and I do! Our husband’s however both fear when we watch the show together. Too many ideas are hatched LOL.