Fall Pinterest Challenge

So, a couple of weeks ago when YHL and Bower Power announced the Fall Pinterest Challenge, I got all kinds of excited. 

Because like, oh, pretty much everybody, I’ve found that I’m really great at pinning, but notsomuch at doing.  Heck, who am I kidding -- even before Pinterest and pinning, I was really great at bookmarking…not so great at doing! 

So anyway, what to do, what do do??  Much like Sherry, I settled on a Christmas-related project.  Christmas is the one holiday I go a teensy weensy bit overboard with, plus we all know what a whirlwind November and December are, so I felt like it was a good chance to get a head start on preparations.

 My first thought was stamped clay gift tags I'd pinned from Come on, Ilene!

Image from Come On, Ilene! (obviously!)

I love creating custom tags when wrapping Christmas gifts, and felt ready to branch out from my usual stamped / paper-embellished creations.  Plus, I wanted some experience with stamping clay because visions of jewelry and buttons are dancing in my head…

Here’s what I came up with:

My favorites of the bunch. Ignore my uneven rolling, please, thankyouverymuch!

Last time I made a big Michael’s run (and thankfully for my wallet, that was some time ago), I wanted to pick up some white Model Magic “for the kids,” but could only find it in the big, expensive, multi-color packs.  So I brought home this instead:

It’s messy and a little hard to work with, and I couldn’t find the play-doh rolling pin or large circular cutting tool I wanted to use so I had to make do with other tools at my disposal, but I’m pretty ok with how this first run turned out.   I like the simplicity of the white clay, but some of those detailed initial stamps are crying out for paint and glaze.  And that’s where I hit a huge mental block.  Because for some reason, I just don’t feel “moved” to bust out the paint and glaze for these tiny little tags just yet.  Go fig?!  I’ll get there, though – hopefully I’ll get my mojo back once I get my Christmas stamps down from the attic this coming weekend!

The best part of the whole process was having a chance to use one of these:

OK, OK, so if you look closely you'll note that it was actually the "G" that I stamped on the clay.  I just couldn't find the "G" at picture taking time.  Just roll with it, mmmkay?

I picked up a big box of printers blocks at a yard sale for $10 over the summer, and my heart sings every time I look them, much less find a use for them!

So then, having WON my own personal Pinterest Challenge (because clearly, 1 almost-but-maybe-not-quite-completed project down and 1,000 to go is totally winning), I was on a roll!  What else could I knock off my Pinterest /Bookmark list (since I’m technically still migrating bookmarks to Pinterest)???

Well, during that same wallet-busting trip to Michael’s, I had also picked up some tubes of Rub n Buff in Silver Leaf, Grecian Gold, and Patina.  Right around that time I had seen a bunch of bloggers go wild about the stuff, and I really liked the look they were accomplishing with it.  Here’s one of my bookmarks that made the Pin transition -- Better After's Rub n Buffed Mirror:

Image from Better After

So I decided that (finally) trying out my Rub n Buff would be an easy way to knock out two pins with one challenge…sweet! 

First victim  recipient – cute beaded Christmas star that I picked up a good while back and planned to give to my Mom, who is SADLY lacking in the tree-topper department.  Every year I keep hoping to miraculously stumble across another kick-a$$ copper star tree topper like the one I bought at First Friday on the River our first married Christmas together, and sadly, that never happens.  (I suppose a really great daughter would just give mom her star, because it would go so great with her decor…unfortunately for Mom I guess I’ll just qualify as a barely adequate daughter because I am not about to part with it! Haha! Love you, Mom!!!)

Anyway, I totally fell for the star, but wasn’t so crazy about the brown discoloration on some of the beads.  Turns out the wire backing had rusted in a few spots and stained the beads. 

But a little silver Rub n Buff to the rescue and Voila!!

No more rust spots!!!

For Mom’s fairly rustic décor, I like the fact that the RnB toned down the sparkle a tad.  I used a toothbrush to get in all the crevices, and I was very impressed with the coverage.  It took a crazy-tiny amount to cover the star, and it was like magic the way it covered the tacky looking clear bead in the center. I hope she likes it – I plan to take her a big bag o’ Christmas stuff when we visit for Thanksgiving, since we traditionally decorate her tree that weekend, and in my opinion she just doesn’t have enough ornaments to satisfactorily fill her big honkin’ tree!

And then, anyone who’s tried Rub n’ Buff knows what happened next.  I caught the fever.  I ran around my house like a crazy woman, looking for stuff to Rub n’ Buff.  So far I’ve “only” managed to hit a brown hobnail votive and flameless candle with the Grecian Gold, and a vintage painted white mirror in our guest room with Patina…but I assure you, I am only just beginning.  Also, I just have to note, it’s freakin’ unbelievable the magic that Gold RnB worked on an ugly white plastic flameless votive from Dollar Tree! 

Too bad the battery of course died on me right after that, haha!  But that’s ok…I still have 3 practically full tubes of magic remaining…and I’m already plotting which colors to buy next!

So how about y’all?  Did anyone else take on the Pinterest Challenge?  If you did, please comment and let me know what # your link is…because as much as I love trolling linkys for more ideas to pin (!), I think they’re up to nearly 800 links at this point, and that’s too much linky awesomeness even for me to go through!

PS -- UPDATE -- because I am such a procrastinator, I sadly did not get my blog post finalized in time to make the deadline for the Pinterest Challenge linky party.  I guess Sherry and Katie will have to content themselves with their "measly" 800+ entries, haha!  I'm just glad for the kick in the butt I needed to cross a couple of things off my list, for sure!!