Today's Shoebox contained several clever crafting ideas from our viewers, and a very varied assortment they were.
The first was from Veronica (Ronnie) Nescot of Fairport, N.Y. Ronnie had the challenge that many of us have . . . a collection of things that she liked and wanted to have on display so she could see and enjoy them, but she had no place to put them. To solve her dilemma, Ronnie purchased some 1" x 4" pine boards and had the length cut to fit the top of her windows. She used a router on one side, stained the edges and sealed the boards then put them up over the tops of the windows. The result was an instant display area but out of the way, taking up no valuable wall space.
Ronnie also went to work in her bathrooms to give them a new look, and though this was a little trickier to show and explain. Basically what she did was remove the medicine cabinet doors and replace each one with a frame that she rubber stamped. For one bathroom, she stamped leaves in different colors. Inside the frames, she put a mirror . . . but since the mirrors she got were not quite as large as the frames, she filled the space in between with a mat board. She then rubber stamped on the mat board to coordinate everything and backed them with corrugated cardboard. She not only has new cabinet doors, but a whole new look.
Also in the Shoebox today was a very pretty and very cleverly painted birdhouse made from a gourd that was sent in by Maria Braiy of Raleigh, N.C. Maria sounds as if she may be relatively new to decorative painting because she wrote, "Since I saw Priscilla Hauser on your show I've been hooked." From the looks of things, Priscilla is not only a wonderful teacher (but then we all knew that) but Maria was an outstanding student because the birdhouse was beautiful! Priscilla would have been proud!
From Naomi Berton of Asheville, N.C., came an idea to use what she called "furnace tape" for making stickers. I think it's called different names . . . duct tape, aluminum tape, furnace tape, etc., but whatever you call it, it is easy to find in the tape department of your hardware or home improvement store. It is the width of duct tape but it is shiny and looks like aluminum. It also has a peel-off backing that reveals a very sticky side. At any rate, Naomi used it to emboss using a ballpoint pen or a stylus. She embossed on the shiny side, I preferred to emboss on the back side so the design stands out in relief. Because it is paper-backed, it is very easy . . . draw, cut out, peel and stick. Naomi also used permanent ink markers to color in the designs--time consuming, but rather fun. I also tried running the tape through crimpers and punching out designs. Everything worked.
