A small craft you can also make for Mother's Day or keep for yourself

Searching for simple and budget friendly crafts?  We have a small and easy craft project for you that is easy on your purse strings too. 

Have you roamed online or down the craft aisles at Walmart?  I went through their craft supplies online and decided to give the Plaid unpainted wood surface, rose layered shape a try... and then I decided I would also try their 5x7 plaque... I had an idea of what I wanted to try, but wasn't sure if I would put the two together or not...

So the roses are $.77 a piece!  And the plaques?  $.97 a piece!  How can you beat those prices?  Experimenting was on my brain and I did not feel so bad if the project did not turn out as I had anticipated it may... I wanted to try to elevate the low budget pieces and had a art deco vibe in mind... think black, white, gold... when I think art deco, I think glam... black and metallic gold especially... a bit flashy... eye catching, drawing attention to itself... 

Bows... I need to work on it a bit... GRR...

In our stairwell I had always wanted it full of family photos... black and whites are my favorite.  I am not one for much color, I like to be drawn in and black and whites do that to me.  I see so much more in black and white than I do color, does anyone else feel that same way?  I think it is because I am not distracted by the color, I can hone into details... and we all know I do love the details.  

I had asked Mr. Vintage for help in hanging photos in our stairwell, he is not one who likes to put holes in the walls so the project kept getting pushed to the side.  He was unsure how we would hang them and I think he did not want to be responsible if things were not hung in the right places.  He is kind of a perfectionist like myself, good match, huh?  

One Saturday he had to go into work and I decided I would do it myself.... and in "Cara fashion" I did not do any planning.  I am not one of those people who trace the frames on paper, cut it out, and then place them on the wall in search of the perfect equation in really anything in life.  I like to "eyeball" things and then just do it.  Jump in with both feet and get into the nitty gritty of life and see what happens.  I am experimental with my décor and home, I think the backsplash was the perfect example of that.  I may have mentioned to you before, when I plan, it never turns out so I learned early on in life to expect the unexpected... good grief, now I sound like a Big Brother show...  this is me and it's how I roll...  

I put the first picture up to the wall and decided ok, I will just hammer the nail in and go from there.  I started at the bottom of our stairwell and worked my way up.  I hung four pictures and felt really accomplished when I took a step back and looked, they were evenly spaced, the frames were coordinating... the pitch in rising up the stairs was well placed... we had two pictures of my family and two of hubby's family.  Since that day, the stairwell has remained with the four photos.  I want to fill it up!  I decided I will, but I also wanted to add in bits of décor with it.  

We all know roses are my favorite and then I saw the roses on Walmart's site so I decided I would find a way to incorporate them in the hallway.  This is the plan, unfortunately, for today, the whole vision will not come together to share with you, but I will share it when I have it all in place.  I am still collecting frames and deciding what photos I want to hang.  

BUT... today, I am going to share with you how I put together the roses and plaques... it was a fun little project.  I worked on painting on my lunches this week and finished the roses late last night.  Can I tell you how calming painting can be?  A few days this week I really needed it during my breaks.  I was able to get back to a calmer self when I returned 30 minutes later, always a plus...

Here are the supplies I started with.

I began by painting the plaque white.

I did paint both sides, the wood was a bit rough on one side (what do I expect for $.97) so I decided to not use that side for display.

Here is a close up of the rose, see the detail that pops out of the rose?

I began by painting it black. 

And then the detail disappeared when I painted the entire thing black.  

No worries, it all comes back when I start adding the gold leaf Rub-n-Buff to the rose.  

Here, I have all of the petals covered in the gold leaf.  

I decided which side I would use for display and began using the gold leaf Rub N Buff to the white plaque.  

I did not make it perfect, I made it heavy in some areas, and lighter in others.  If you remember, I am not one for perfection when it comes to things like this, I like to add interest, perfectly imperfect.  

Sorry, I do not have a pic of me tying the bow, I am not a fan of bow tying... I stink at it LOL.  I do love the black with the gold polka dots... huge fan of that!  Then I decided where everything would sit on the plaque and hot glued the rose and bow in place.  One down, two more to go... I made an exact replica of this one and then I decided to change things up a bit...

I went with an oval plaque and began painting it black.  

Covered the entire plaque in black paint and let dry.

I then added Rub and Buff to the black plaque around the edges, again, not perfectly.

For the black plaque, I decided to go with a white rose.  I do love contrast... 

Here is the white rose completely painted white.  

I added the gold leaf rub-n-buff to the rose and placed on the oval plaque.  Then I tied another bow and added it to this piece too.  I still need to add hangers to the backs of the plaques before they will be ready.  I do think they will mix in nicely with our family photos going with the black, white, and gold theme...  

What do you think, does it look like a project that cost about $2.50 a piece total when you add in the ribbon for the plaques?  I thought it looked ok to fill in the wall with these pieces and roses are a great way to add that special something to the wall.  I like the layered look, it is how you can get away working with cheaper items... also, I love things in 3's or odd numbers...  

Check out below, do you see the earrings?  You can customize your own look, I wish I could wear earrings... this would be a fun project to do with family and friends.  How fun!  

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