Stash Buster Birthday Gift

"Never sacrifice what you want most for what you want right now."

This is a quote from this blog post by Frugal Babe.  I so wish I had this tattooed on my hand about 20 years ago. Anyway, her post is great and it's been resonating with me often lately. This quote is one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to take part in Dollar Store Craft's April Stash Busting Challenge. This quote and the challenge kept me on track when I wanted to go buy "just one more thing" so I could make my mother in law a Juice Glass Cloche. Not that the $1 juice glass would break my bank, but it's more the principal that I have enough. 

So, I stretched my imagination and scoured a bunch of crafty decor blogs and came up with a plan B.

Just for fun, tell your husbands that you are going to give their mother a moss covered monogram.

Cliff  just couldn't "get it." I showed him pictures of other moss covered monograms and he thought it was hilarious that we ladies thought moss was for decor. "What does moss have to do with letters?"

I told him that I was going to put it on my blog and that you all would back me up.

"Oh your critical readers! You get sooo many harsh comments there. When has anybody ever said they didn't like something on your blog?"  Good point. Thank you readers!

I went ahead and made it anyway...

Framed Moss Covered Monogram

Supplies I Used:

cardboard

small picture frame 

pretty paper

hot glue

moss

left over knob thing

paint for your frame

stain

green paint for the initial

scissors

decorative knob and hardware for it

ribbon scrap

Step 1- I painted the frame. I used heirloom white and then before it was dry enough I tried sanding it and giving it a once over with some stain I had on hand. The stain ate through the paint and cause it all to smear together. It was a mess and I was panicked. Fortunately, the end result was OK. Not the easy peasy distressing that those Shanty 2 Chic girls always do, but OK.

Step 2. Meanwhile I drew the Z  on some scrap cardboard. I also traced a small butterfly onto some pretty gold paper.

Step  3. I painted it with green craft paint to make sure the cardboard didn't show through.

Step 4. Next I glued gobs of moss onto the initial covering it well.

Step 5. I actually found the pretty paper in an old book I bought to cut up. I glued mine right on top of the glass.

Step 6. I trimmed the moss with kitchen scissors and added a bit more to cover some thin spots.

Step 7. Then I cut the cardboard scraps into small squares and glued them on the back of the initial.This made it pop off the background a bit.

Step 8- I used a knob thing I had so I needed to drill and screw it into the frame.

Step 9. Assemble paper and glass into frame and hot glue initial onto the frame. Add butterfly and a bow and hang!

Oh, and now Cliff likes the finished project, or at least he says he does.

I am going to link this to Transformation Thursday at Shabby Chic Cottage.