Monday, October 7, 2013

Pier 1 Knockoff

Happy Monday!  Today I am going to show you a project I did over the weekend to use at my niece's rehearsal dinner in a couple of weeks.

Since she is having a fall wedding pumpkins always look cute and festive with a fall arrangement of fresh flowers. I didn't want to use a plain pumpkin since my niece is a fan of bling and all things shiny.  I visited my local Pier 1 store looking for ideas since they obviously love bling too.  I found this,



Pier 1 had the cutest display of fall ornaments, and I fell in love with this pumpkin for 6.95. WHAT? 6.95 ?  and I need 10?  Oh no...that is 69.50 and some tax!  Hmm...I need to make these...  

Take a close look to get the details in order to buy the right materials for the piece being copied or knocked-off.



  
Check out all those fun beads, sequins and glitter.  Yeah, I love and hate glitter, but on this pumpkin glitter is a must. Michael's and Walmart are my go to places for craft items so
I was off to make these jeweled pumpkins.  


I purchased 10 small faux pumpkins in orange and green at WalMart for .97 each, and two boxes of glass beads for 1.50 each. At Michael's I bought a 3 oz. package of glass beads, (that I didn't use since I had plenty in the tubes) one package of mixed brown, black, silver and gold sequins, one tube of coppery-orange glitter, florist wire and brown floral tape. 

First, gather everything on a lined cookie sheet to keep the beads from rolling away and the glitter too; that stuff has a mind of its own and lands everywhere, (be sure to check your bra and teeth for glitter before going anywhere) but the cookie sheet does help and is a great work surface.

Second, start making the curly pumpkin vines by cutting 10 pieces of floral wire about 6 or 7 inches long and wrap them with brown floral tape. 


Pull the tape when wrapping around the wire. Using less tape keeps the stem from looking bulky. Next wrap the taped wire around a pencil or pen, mine is wrapped around a lipstick brush that I found in the pen and pencil cup?? Go figure... Anyway, wrap the taped wire to make the perfect curled stem for the pumpkin.


Once all of the curly stems are complete hot glue them as close the pumpkin stem as possible. 

Before hot gluing I stretched the curly stem out a little so it didn't look too much like a mattress spring.

Now this the fun and a little bit messy part, but it will be worth it! Use Elmer's All Multi Purpose Glue and make a small puddle of glue near the stem and let it run down the sides of the pumpkin, just a little.  Then start shaking out the glass beads, sequins and last the glitter. Check the pumpkin to be sure the glue is covered add more beads, glitter and sequins if necessary.

Here you can see where some of the glue is still running, just add more glitter, beads or sequins.  

The pumpkins don't look exactly alike, but that is what makes them fun and interesting. They will be placed on different tables at the rehearsal dinner. 

Cost of this project:
10 faux pumpkins  9.70
2 boxes of glass beads  3.00
Brown Floral Tape 1.99
Sequins 3.49 + 40% off coupon from Michael's=2.09
Glitter Tube .79
Floral Wire 2.00

Total is $19.54 plus tax, so around $20.00, and I still have materials left over.   *I did not add the leaves like the inspiration ornament and I only used one curly stem per pumpkin






Are you making anything for fall? If you try this project I'd love to hear from you!



Mary