Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Pinterest Challenge

The other day when I saw Katie and Sherry blog about the Pinterest Challenge I did a little happy dance in my chair! I love pinterest, I love a good challenge and I love, love, love making things. A match made in heaven!

Anyway, I searched back through my Pinterest boards and decided to make a star chandy light fixture for the bare bulb in Max's room.



Only I decided to take things one step further and make it a little more challenging. I decided that I wanted to do it for free, using only things that I had lying around the house.

Here's how it turned out!



I think I'm in love :)

Now if you're interested in the 'how to', the next 5 billion words and photographs will give you a run down. If not, skip to the end to get a sneak peak of the rest of Max's room.

How to DIY a star chandy for free:

First up I went searching through the dump that I call my garage looking for something that would work as the starting point for the project. I was actually looking for wire of some description, but when I spotted the cover for an old, broken pedestal fan I knew I had a winner. Not only was it free, it was also upcycling something old and broken into something new and beautiful. Win win!


I tried a few different methods for breaking through the spokes on the fan guard. Scissors, my mini handsaw and a combination of both. I wasn't having much luck though. Sean came along and suggested we give it a go with pair of pliers. Success!



It took about an hour, but eventually I had worked the cover back to a single wire circle.




Next up I grabbed a few different strands of ribbon that I had in my craft stash and wound the ribbon around the frame, hot gluing it every couple of inches.



It wasn't the neatest job, but I figured it would end up being covered by stars anyway.



The cutting out of the stars was by far the most time consuming thing of all. I didn't want to spend money buying a punch, so I printed out a star shape onto cardboard and then traced around it onto craft paper. Again I raided my stash for the different papers that I used. All up I ended up cutting out 133 stars. Yikes!



To get the nice strings of stars I used my poor mistreated sewing machine - it has sewn more paper crafts that any machine probably should! It was really simple though, I even managed to thread the bobbin without referring to the instruction manual! Another first!



Once I had fourteen strings of stars (7 with 9 stars, and 7 with 10 stars), I laid them out around the frame to get my spacing right. I also used paperclips, rubber bands, clips etc to bunch the stars up so that they were easier to work with.


Originally I was planning on tying the strings to the frame, but it was so fiddly that I gave up on that idea and hot glued the top star from each string to the frame. I used a cake stand and platter to elevate it up so that the stars didn't get bent.



Then I added some string to the top so that it could be hung from the ceiling.



Standing on a chair I can't quite reach the ceiling, so Sean stuck up some hooks for me and then hung the mobile/chandy.  As soon as it was up there I knew I loved it. After 6 hours of work it was definitely a relief to have it done!

 

Have you ever been inspired to make something that you've pinned?



28 comments

  1. Wow! I think this turned out amazing. Especially since you made it more challenging by only allowing yourself to use items you already had on hand. I love it!

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  2. That turned out awesome!!! I have been working up the nerve to sew paper, I really need to just take the plunge and go for it! :-)

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  3. This turned out beautifully and I absolutely love that you were determined not to spend anything. Those are the kind of projects I love! I am going to have to keep this idea in mind for when we have little ones! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  4. So adorable, made even better by your goal of not spending cash on it!

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  5. That turned out really cute! Love that you used stuff you had on hand. We are all about that. I'll definitely make a mobile of sorts for my next kiddo. So cute & easy! Thanks for stopping by our blog today!

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  6. Thanks for visiting my blog! I love your project, I also love that you used something you already had to do the ring...thrifty!

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  7. so cute! i almost did this one as well but ended up going with ribbon instead. and i love his little table set up. WAY too cute!

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  8. I love your chandy Tamsyn. It's really adorable, and I love that you did it for free. Those are definitely the best projects. We are actually posting about cleaning our garage tomorrow so I truly enjoy that you too call your garage a dump.

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  9. Hi Tamsyn, I love this...what a gorgeous idea.

    Off to have a peek around your blog now.

    xoxo

    Kellie.

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  10. Thanks everyone, your comments made me smile like a Cheshire cat :D

    Rachel - I'm planning a garage clean out post for later this week too. We'll have to compare dumps :)

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  11. Hi Tamsyn

    Wow you are amazing I love it, it looks like a designer made one it really sets off the room.
    Lucky Max I want one!! O no not the garage Tamsyn I cant even get the car in mine, I'll be back to get inspired now HELP!! LOL see you soon.

    Always Wendy

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  12. Love that! I bet my son would love one of those for his room. Thanks for posting the tutorial. I may have to tackle that project with another pinterest challenge!

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  13. This is so cute! And, what a great addition to your son's room! :)

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  14. it looks beautiful tamsyn! i love it with the light on. good work!

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  15. Oh wow - aren't you a talented Mummy. Well done.

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  16. Love your chandelier, how sweet is that! I could so imagine a butterfly version in Immy's room.

    P.S How much has Max grown! I haven't been around in a while and he has changed so, so much :)

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  17. Thanks girls, you are all too sweet :)

    Christie - he has, he's a little boy now rather than a bubba :)

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  18. Great job Tamsyn! Max's room is looking fabulous!

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  19. Thanks Cat, I'm looking forward to seeing you on the weekend xx

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  20. Just came through from the All Things Bright & Beautiful link party. Love this room, it's gorgeous and the star light is the perfect touch!

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  21. This is such a brilliant idea...I love the stars! PB kids sells one with butterflies but it is like a bajillion dollars! I'm so excited to try this! Thanks for linking up to Roomspiration!

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  22. I have been looking to do one for my sons room who has stars all over aswell. I just didnt even know where to start and now seeing this, I have an idea! I have seen PBkids have ones with trucks and airplanes, but nothingwith starts! So glad I came upon this! DIY Project.... start!!!

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    1. Thanks, I'm glad I could give you some inspiration :)

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  23. Wow! I've seen the DIY circle chandeliers, but I've never thought of using other shapes! What a darling idea for a child's room- or even over a party buffet! If you have a minute, I'd love for you to stop by and link up to Sweet Sharing Monday! http://saynotsweetanne.com/2012/sweet-sharing-monday-16/

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    1. Thank you! I think the original idea was actually a party decoration :)

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  24. Wow looks great !! Omg...those tiny Eames children chairs..I WANT !! :)

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    1. Thank you!! I just got them from replica furniture dot com. I really love them too :)

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