Saturday, July 23, 2011

My tacky yard sale find

Remember...if you haven't entered my handmade bag giveaway yet, hop to it!  It ends on Wednesday. 

DH & I were, as is our custom, at a yard sale earlier this summer.  At this one sale, I kept seeing this sad little wooden cat. It was super-tacky.  (See exhibit A, below.)  I thought to myself, "who would buy that?" And I don't know why, but I kept thinking about it - where it would end up (Goodwill or the dumpster, I figured), or what kind of person would look at it and decide that they'd pay a quarter to have it in their house.

Exhibit A: The Tacky Wooden Cat, bless its heart
 And then, inexplicably, I picked it up.

What the heck, say you???  I honestly don't know!  I just think I thought, if I can make this stupid tacky thing look cute, I will be amazed, and declare myself the queen.  Queen of what, I don't know. 

So it sat for a while in my sewing room, staring at me with those sad, crooked little eyes.  As if to say, "don't make fun of me. I'm just a wooden cat."  I just needed it to sit there until I figured out what to do.  Well, when I don't know what to do with something, usually the spraypaint comes out.  Either that, or Mod Podge.  Well, this time, it was both.  A double dose!

First the spraypaint.

Ahh, better already!
Next, I just kind of had an idea of some sort of stylized design.  Vinyl, maybe.  It would have been glorious to have a Silhouette machine for just such an occasion, but alas. 

So I turned to the SCRAP BAG.  I have to type SCRAP BAG in all caps, because it is such a ridiculous bag of scraps.  Crammed full of fabric. 

Behold: the SCRAP BAG.
Sometimes when I'm feeling extra lazy, I'll stuff a piece of fabric in there that's probably too big to be considered a scrap.  That's why the bag has become a SCRAP BAG.

Yikes!
And then I turned on the TV and started cutting.  This was a perfect "TV craft" - the kind of craft that doesn't take too much brainpower.  I love those.  I usually like to knit while I'm watching TV, but in this heat (with no air conditioning), I'm not touching any kind of yarn.  Not with a 10 foot pole.

I cut the scraps into smaller scraps, then laid them out in some formation that didn't exactly look like what I envisioned, but it was pretty interesting nonetheless.


 Then I Mod Podged them all down...

that's my official Mod Podging finger. 
It was at this point that the second-guessing began. 
...and decided that I wanted to do a little more....so I just went with it.


You could say that this was an "organic" craft process.  Mainly because no pesticides or hormones were used.

So I present to you: The Wooden Cat That Used To Be Tacky But Is Now Kind Of Cool.




I'd like to put it to a vote, and you won't hurt my feelings...

Is this an improvement, or did I only make matters worse?
Would you have this in your home? (And the attic doesn't count)
Am I nuts?

Don't answer that last one.

 Personally, I'm loving it!

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14 comments:

  1. Okay, that turned out a lot cooler than I imagined! Looks great amongst the white dishes. Good for you! :)

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  2. I don't even like cats, but this look good. I, declare you QUEEN...lol.
    Tiff.

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  3. I wasn't so sure at first. It looked so big but that, obviously, was deceiving. I agree with Suzanne. He/she looks adorable with the white dishes. You picked the perfect spot for your colorful cat.

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  4. not a huge cat fan since I am allergic but I would have to say that you definitely made an improvement!

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  5. I like how it turned out. It looks good with your white dishes.

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  6. Wow! That looks so good! I never would have thought to do that!

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  7. I think it is cute. I would totally have it in my house. Of course, I collect cats so any cool cat I like. :)

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  8. haha you are THE queen! Love the fabric!

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  9. Thanks for following my blog! I am glad I came to check out your project - i LOVE it! You definitely gave that kitty new life! And just to validate that even more - a friend looked at my computer over my shoulder and said "oooo!" when she saw it!

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  10. You win at crafting! Lol

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  11. I'm so honored that you chose to join the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop. Thank you for adding this special masterpiece to rock my party :)

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  12. Oooo I love your scrap bag kitty and I'm so glad you saved him from a tacky (and sad looking) dumpster death!

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