Hi!
Ok, so I'm pretty new to the world of crafting. Really new to crafting and blogging. I am completely addicted though and check out a variety (a LOT) of crafting blogs DAILY to inspire me.
This project is the first one that I didn't get from anywhere else. I have never seen it done (ok, if it's "out there" somewhere, please don't show me or tell me!) and was so excited that I came up with it AND actually did it!
So, here it goes...
my one-of-a-kind SIGN MADE FROM A FAN!
Once you get into crafting nothing, i mean NOTHING, in your house is trash again! I WAS the queen of just giving things away when I was finished with them...well, I may never be "finished" with something again!
We took down an inexpensive fan that was in our guest room that we didn't care for anymore and were finally upgrading.
Normally my prior-to-crafting-addiction self would have put it out to the curb free for someone to take or saved for my next garage sale and tried to get a couple bucks for.
But NOW I saw potential.
That's WOOD (well, really just particle board I think...I did say it was an INexpensive fan) that could be used for SOMETHING!
an idea came to mind...
and I did it!
Here we go (for real this time)
I took the fan blades completely off the fan.
Gave them a light sanding. Just enough to rough it up to make painting more efficient.
Then I knew I'd have to do something about the holes. I thought about using them as part of the decoration...maybe running ribbons through them...decided not to. So I filled them with spackling.
(this is just the spackling I already had on hand..you can probably use a variety of things for this step!)Let that dry really well.
Then I painted them black with a mini-roller. (sorry no photos of this part..I'm new to this!) :0)
After painting them I knew I'd have to figure out how to get them to stick all together.... dum dum dum dum (trumpet blaring tune...maybe even a drum roll...!)... paint sticks! I am ALL about trying to use as many materials that I can get for FREE that I can. So I got a few paint stirrer sticks and glued them to the backs of the blades. (again, no photo BUT I can take one soon!) I used 4 sticks.
Once that dried (I used bricks to weigh them down and make sure they were stuck-fast!)
I set out to use my Silhouette to make the letters.
Here it is with the words all on it:
Don't you love what I decided to "write" on it?! I LOOOOOVE sweet tea and since this is for my guest room, I wanted to incorporate "family" and "friends" into the sign. :0) And what I "wrote" is TRUE for me too!
Here are close ups of some of the papers... the colors are really hard to tell...
then I knew it needed more so I made my first attempt at fabric rosettes. I've been seeing them all over blogworld so I gave them a try and they really were as easy as everyone says they are! YEA! I cut up some of my daughter's shirts and a pair of pants that she has outgrown (they were actually already bagged up in the garage to take to GoodWill!) . :0)
Then I needed a way to hang it. I used the little ruffle from the bottom of the same pair of my daughter's old pants! Just cut it off and hot glued it to the back of the top blade! WOOHOO!
The last step was to distress it a little to just rough it up a bit...so I lightly sanded the edges of everything. (please forgive my horrible photos...I had no idea how blurry these were until now!)
And here it is again:
BEFORE:
and AFTER:Thanks for looking!
I posted this on:
Oh, that is stinkin' cute!! I just love it (even if I drink my tea unsweetened)!!!
To think you came up with the idea and then carried through with it AND used all materials you had on hand. Way to go!
Really, it's just darling.
I just found your blog and I love it. This project is so clever and fun! You are one talented woman.
Thanks Sis, you're the greatest! :0)
Thanks so much Brandy, that's really sweet. I'm pretty new to crafting but I'm having a blast! Thanks for stopping by and thanks so much for commenting!
:0)
~robin
What a great idea! Just when we think there are no new crafty ideas left, God pops another one into a willing mind, doesn't He?
I found your beautiful blog through Skip to My Lou's "Made by You Monday," and have enjoyed my visit here very much!
Sherry @ A Happy Valentine
What a wonderful idea! Just when we think there are no new crafting ideas left, God pops one into a willing mind, doesn't He?
I found your beautiful blog through Skip to My Lou's "Made by You Monday," and have enjoyed my visit here very much!
Sherry @ A Happy Valentine
very cute! I wanna make one...as soon as I'm done with all my other crafting projects! LOL!!
Thanks Sherry! I am so happy you stopped by! :0) Have a great day!
Thanks (Planet)! :0) I know what you mean...I think I am going to make a list of projects I need to FINISH and only work on those. When they are finished then I'll start new ones..... hmmm....wonder if I can stick to that! :0)
thanks for the kind words and I hope you have a great day!
~robin
Love it! I need to find a ceiling fan now! lol Thanks for sharing, please stop by and say hi sometime.
Holy cow. What I love the most is that, after the whole project was over, you STILL had enough energy to blog the process...complete with pictures. How amazing are you??? Truly, awesome result...and I loved reading about how you went about it. Cheers to you and your next project.
Thanks Becka! :0) It was a lot of fun...sort of like a crafting scavenger hunt as I just kept going around my house, seeing what I could use for it. :0) It was a lot of fun and I'm happy with it.
Thanks again for the kind words. I look forward to my next creative project too (right now I'm working on redoing my kids' room and painting and putting up beadboard doesn't FEEL creative...)
:0)
What a great idea!! Who would have thought you could make something out of an old ceiling fan!!! That rocks!! I would love it if you would link this up at my party so I could feature it!! Have a great evening!
Tasha
www.dotdotdotthis.blogspot.com
Cool idea! and very creative. Great Job. Visiting from the party at Handy Man, Crafty woman.
This is really cute. I need to come up with a sign for my house.
How absolutely adorable! I never would have thought of making a sign from fan blades! So clever, and I love the saying...I'm a sweet tea fan too. :)
Amy
http://oneartmama.blogspot.com
That is so creative, I love it! thanks for linking up to Wicked Awesome Wed.
I'm so excited you linked up to Try it Tuesday at DotDotDot! Grab a feature button because I am featuring this genius project today!! Have a happy Monday!
Tasha
This is so smart and unique and turned out incredibly cute!
I would be thrilled if you would link this up at my second ever Feature Friday FREE-FOR-ALL...going on right now (we had almost 300 links last week...can you tell I'm excited??! : ))
http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/2012/01/feature-friday-free-for-all-2.html
Would love to have you by for a visit!
P.S. I'm a new follower. : )
~Abbie (www.fivedaysfiveways.com)