Pumpkin Decorating Contest - Movable Cinderella Carriage

We had a pumpkin decorating contest at work and I decided to make the carriage from Cinderella.

We had to use little pumpkins for the contest so I started out with a typical little orange guy. I would be better if you used a white pumpkin because you could skip the step of painting.
 

 What you need:
A pumpkin
Newspaper 

Paints (I used white, gold, yellow, and blue)

Paint brushes

Fine tip puffy paint (Black)
4 Bottle caps
Clay (not required)
Glue (I used a combo of tacky craft glue and hot glue)
A Hot Wheels toy (one with a flat top, I used a van)
A My Little Pony toy (or any small horse toy)
and Thin twine

Lay down your news paper before you start anything. I painted the pumpkin white overall and added the designs in the grooves of the pumpkin, for the window, and some filigree with just acrylic paints and the fine tip squeezable puffy paint in black for outlining.

 

While the paint was drying I molded some clay to go around the bottle caps, this step is not necessary but I thought it looked a little better than just a naked bottle cap. Wrap strips of not too thinly rolled clay around the cap, and secure with some glue. I painted the clay and bottle caps in white as well as painted on some spokes and use a little glittery gold paint between what would be the wheel and the tire haha.

Then take your Hot Wheels, and it is very important that it has a somewhat flat top so that the pumpkin doesn't wobble off and is stable, and you want to paint this as well. I painted it a pale blue for contrast against the white pumpkin and wheels, but you can do white if you don't want to reveal too much that there's a car under there.

I wasn't too worried about the looks of the car, because I didn't figure that would be scrutinized too much.

The next step after everything has had some time to dry is to start gluing. Attach the pumpkin to the painted Hot Wheels and wait for that to dry before continuing.

Then glue the wheels to the pumpkin at its base and to the Hot Wheels car if you can. The clay on the wheels should be only very slightly touching the "ground" or table surface. When that is completely dry make sure that everything is secure and add some hot glue where needed.

I then molded the clay a little so that it wasn't touching the "ground" anymore so that there was no friction and the Hot Wheels could roll freely.

If you are happy with your result take out your My Little Pony, or horse toy.

Then take a piece of the thin twine and wrap it around the neck of the horse, and tie a bow with the ends around the stem of your pumpkin.

And Viola! You have an adorable pumpkin carriage inspired by Cinderella!

I will update with winners of the competition and whether I place or not!
(I WON! - I mean of course...duh!)

This is always a big deal in our office for the Halloween party.

DIY Wall Mounted Jewelry Organizer

For Post and Dangle Earrings, Necklaces and More!

 

What you need:

A frame
Spray paint (I used white but any color you want will work of course)
A small dowel rod long enough to fit the frame's width twice
2 Cork board squares (I got mine (4 squares) from AC Moore for under $3)
Cutters
Hot glue gun and glue
Thumb tacks

 

Before you start make sure that you are working with the mount of the frame facing the direction that you want to hang it up.

1. Spray paint the frame and backing one color. I painted right over the glass, mostly because the backing was stapled onto my frame. But you can paint on the glass or not its up to you. I also spray painted the dowel rod at first to test if I would like it better in white or leave it brown to match the cork. I determined I liked it to match the cork better, but again its up to you.

2. Glue on the cork boards in whatever position you like. I did it in the corners because then I would have room to hang dangle earrings on each rod to cover the empty space. Cut the dowel rods to fit the frame. Then glue on the dowel rods. It doesn't matter if they aren't flush with the edge of the frame, I think it looks a littler more rustic to have it hang over the edge a bit.

Important to make sure you do the cork boards first because they would be hard to get on straight if you had to stick them under the rods.

3. Put thumb tacks in the bottom corners of the frame so you can hand necklaces, you can skip this step if you want to make it just an earring holder. I just stuck the tack into the crease between the sides of the frame, if you do this make sure that you put some hot glue along the frame's edges to keep them from coming apart.

4. Hang on your wall and put on your jewelry! You can stick the posts directly into the cork without taking out the backs! The dangle earrings go on the dowel rods.

5. I hung a nail next to the frame for extra long necklaces so they are all in one place. I also had the thought of putting a mirror in the empty space if your frame was large enough for it.

ENJOY A MORE ORGANIZED WAY TO DISPLAY YOUR JEWELRY!

2013 PSU Relay Event Shirt!

It was made in white on purple and black t-shirts! They sold so well and everyone loved them. So I was so excited that it went so well! I can't believe that Relay For Life of Penn State is over for the year and my part in in is over. But I am looking forward to the future.

MY T-Shirt Design for Next Month's New Event! 2013

This seems like its going to be a good pairing for our new event! I have some more ideas if I had more time. Maybe rounding out the pins to make it some depth. But since they needed this pretty soon to get it to the printer I was a little limited on time. Hopefully all goes well!

Relay pairs with Zeta, and Penn State Pink Zone for Mr. Think Pink! 2013

Relay has another event coming up what I created a logo for. Penn State Pink Zone supports breast cancer at all of our sports games and they are a beloved part of the philanthropic world at Penn State (which is a big deal!) We are pairing with them for an event this March and this is the logo I came up with that will be going on all social media, the ticket stubs, flyers, and who knows what else. But I can't wait to see it printed!

Lung Cancer Month T-shirt Design 2013

This is the design I put together for a promotion we had in November celebrating Lung Cancer Awareness month. I loved the idea that the overall committee came up with to incorporate some text into a ribbon. I think I took it to another level and I love how it looks!

My first design to be printed of the semester 2013

This is logo I created for the Penn State chapter of Relay For Life. This is what will be on all of the shirts worn by committees, captains, and event overalls during Relay weekend at Medlar Field this April! It was an honor to be selected for the position of Design Lead as a Merchandise Captain for Relay 2013, and I can't want to be challenged with more design projects.