Monday, April 26, 2010

Not all good ideas turn out like you think…

When I received the latest PB catalog, I saw a project that I immediately knew I wanted to attempt. Shadowboxes with skeleton keys – easy, right? I loved the crisp simplicity of it.

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Last summer I purchased 3 skeleton keys at a garage sale for 50 cents. Our house was built in 1908 and it has three original doors with those old-school ivory doorknobs, so I thought it was cool to have 3 skeleton keys since the originals are who-knows-where.

Anyway, while shopping for the $5 Challenge at the Dollar Tree, I found 3 black shadowboxes – score!

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I figured I would just paint them, and cut out some paper to “frame” the key. So I did 3 coats of paint,

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cut my paper, and ended up with…

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THIS.

Yuck! You could see the black inside of the shadowbox, the paper cutting looked like it had been done by an 8 year old, and there were a few spots that the painter’s tape had been covering, leaving black gaps on the white paint.

The whole thing was a liiiiiitle too reminiscent of a summer-camp project.

So, I peeled the key back off the paper, found some ribbon from the stash, tied the three together, and hung it off my $3 Goodwill lamp (one of my fave finds EVER!).

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And you know what? I love it! It’s a tassel without the poof. :)

(The gorgeous curtain behind the lamp is from Kathy – thanks again, I love them!) It’s not the project I intended, but I have to say I’m happy with the addition to my lamp.

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I could have saved myself a lot of time if I’d just done this in the first place!

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Linking up to all my favorite parties:

Today’s Thrifty Treasures @ Southern Hospitality
DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land
Make it Yours Day @ My Backyard Eden
Show Us What You’re Workin’ With @ Me and My Bucket
Thrifty Thursday @ Tales from Bloggeritaville

6 comments:

  1. way to turn lemons into lemonade!!! i love it! i still don't think the shadow boxes looked that bad. but, the keys on the lamp looks perfect!

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  2. Hey! That key tassle is awesome! Love them hanging on the lamp. :)

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  3. I can't even begin to describe how many projects have had a few failed attempts. It is okay, we keep going.

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  4. I like the keys on the lamps much better!

    Thanks for sharing at My Backyard Eden!

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  5. I like the key tassel too! Sometimes you just gotta recognize that it wasn't meant to be....
    Way to go rethinking it and putting the keys to good use!
    Rose

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