TUTORIAL: Anthropologie Inspired Mirror

Lately I have been playing around a lot on StumbleUpon and Pinterest (you can check out MY accounts by clicking on the corresponding "Sites I Frequent" links found to the right). I enjoy both of them for different reasons and have had lots of time to play on them lately. So anyways, there I was, searching for crafts on StumpleUpon and "Pinning" the ones I wanted to do later to Pinterest when I found this Anthropologie Inspired Mirror Tutorial and decided I wanted to give it a go. I do not need a decorated mirror since living at my parent's is a temporary deal, but I have been on the look out for a nice craft to make and donate to a fundraiser for a non-profit organization called Iowa Humane Alliance my friend is part of. Check out their facebook page to learn more about their mission to help control the pet population in Iowa! 

I really liked the idea of the above tutorial but decided to do things slightly differently to meet my needs. And so therefore I am now going to attempt my very first tutorial! Bare with me and make sure you add comments with any questions or suggestions to improve my tutorial writing skills! Warning: I am still getting used to taking photos of things for tutorial purposes, so some of them are a bit sketchy since it was hard NOT to get myself in the mirror :)

So here is a quick before and after photo of my mirror project:

Materials Needed:

• 1 mirror 
• I recommend finding one with a plastic or wooden frame that is wide enough so that you can see some of the pattern on the frame. I would recommend "roughing up" a plastic frame with sandpaper so that the fabric sticks better. 
• Enough fabric to cover the entire frame AND the back of the mirror
•  My mirror was a square 19" x 19" frame and I had TONS of fabric left over of from the 1.5 yard remnant I got on sale at the craft store for $1.79
• You can choose any kind of patterned fabric that you want. I think large floral is nice but anything will work.
• Any type of fabric will work, but a sheer fabric is not going to show up as well behind the mirror and a thick upholstery fabric will be more difficult to get stuck on the frame.

• Oven cleaner (the cheap, off-brand kind did me just fine!)
• Plastic dishwashing (or similar) gloves
• An old rag
• Modge Podge craft glue (I used the mat finish so it would not dry shiny)
• Wooden skewer or other small, pointy stick of sorts 
• Staple gun

I started off my searching town for a used thick wooden framed mirror. I could not for the life of me find one with a thick enough frame to showcase the fabric I bought so I eventually settled for this $10 frame from Wal-Mart. Also, I recommend one that is not overly ornate because that increases the difficulty of covering it with the fabric. If you are up for the challenge and are using a thinner fabric then you will probably be fine to pick an ornate frame. 

Take the frame apart and lay it on a surface you do not care about ruining. SAVE THE CARDBOARD BACKING! I chose the dead grass in my front yard. Put on your plastic gloves as the oven spray will burn your skin. Spray the oven cleaner on backside edges of the frame, allowing it to vary in thickness and design. Let it sit until the oven cleaner is almost dry, out of the reach of any child hands or animal paws. Wash your hands, this stuff can be harmful to your health! Mine sat in the sun for probably 6 or 8 minutes while I gathered the rest of my materials. 

Gently rub off the oven cleaner with a rag. I DID NOT scrub like the original tutorial said to because I wanted some of the uneven pattern to stay on the mirror, with spots that are completely see through and some that remain opaque.
**Edit: after additional tries at this part of the project I have decided that whether or not you need to scrub depends on the quality of mirror you buy. Newer mirrors tend to have cheaper silver backing and you therefore WILL NOT want to scrub if you want your mirror opaque. If it is an older or more expensive mirror then scrubbing will be needed regardless of opaqueness wanted**

Let the mirror dry completely before washing it off gently with soap and water. I made the mistake of trying one of those mirror wipes and it took off some of the silver from the back of the mirror that I intentionally had left on. Carefully set the mirror aside for later. Don't cut yourself on the edge of the mirror when handling it!

Iron all the creases out of your fabric. The glue we use later will not be enough to get them out, and then it will buckle when it dries, not looking as professional and nice. Cut 4 strips of fabric that are about 2 inches wider and longer on each end then you need in order to cover the front of the frame.

Cover the entire front of the frame (including all of the little nooks and crannies) in Modge Podge craft glue. Lay the fabric on top of the glue and cover in more glue. Use the skewer (or other fine pointed object) to poke the fabric down into the grooves of the frame.

Once secured, flip the frame over and secure the inside edge of the fabric. I cut a small slit in the fabric so it would fold over nicely. Secure the fabric edge with glue. This part does not have to look pretty because it will be covered later by the mirror backing. 

Secure the corners with glue. I used a thicker fabric so I also attached mine with a staple gun, just for added security. If you use a thinner fabric then lots of glue should suffice. Corners are the hardest part for me, so be sure to check as you go that the from the front it looks nice. The back won't be seen so just making it secure is imporant over looking pretty.

 

I intentionally overlapped the edge of the fabric past the crease point of the frame where to edges meet so that I ensured full frame coverage later. Notice that I did cut the straight edge off of the fabric once it was dry (making the edge diagonal and parallel with where the edges meet) to avoid fabric bulk when covering the adjacent side of frame.

Repeat this for the additional sides. I found that it worked best to complete opposite sides first (so the left and right edge of from before moving to the top and bottom edges). I DID NOT do the corners for the last two edges until the very end. I glued the inside and outside edges but then waited until it was dry to complete -- leaving the overhang on the last two edges until the rest of it was mostly dry. 

Here is a shot, from the front, of the the slit I was talking about making in order to secure the inside edge of the fabric.

Once dry, I then folded the overhang  back and very carefully cut a straight, diagonal edge down the seam (where the two edges of the frame meet). Discard this extra fabric, or go green and save it for a future crafting project :)

Apply lots of glue on both the underneath and on top of the seam you are creating. To secure it nice and tight, use more glue than you think you will need.

Set the frame aside to dry completely....and take a second to admire your nice work in progress!

Take the cardboard backing and cover it in the fabric, using the same technique as earlier - cover in Modge Podge, lay down fabric, cover fabric in a coat of Modge Podge and smooth out.

Fold the corners over to the reverse side and glue the heck out of them! 

I placed something heavy on the corners to get them to stay. This also worked for a duel purpose, because with the corners weighed down the cardboard would not curl. Leave for about 10-12 minutes, until semi dry.

Carefully flip the covered cardboard backing over and weigh it down. I decided to add this step in because I did not want the fabric side to get glued to my work surface and risk messing up the design. Let dry completely.

Once dry, reassemble the mirror by gently putting it into the frame and stapling the covered cardboard backing into place.  For an extra store bought look, you can cover the entire back in a sheet of packing paper and secure it with glue along the edge and a staple gun. For this specific mirror I also added some large, loose glitter to the covered cardboard with spray adhesive for a little extra flare.

Ta-Da! You now have your own, personalized, Anthropologie inspired mirror! These suckers go for almost $500! I made mine for (drum roll please) $11.79 AND got to customize it how I wanted! Can't get better than that! 

Enjoy crafting and feel free to let me know of any changes/improvements you make!

Back to Blogging, Back in Iowa

So it has absolutely been ages since I have posted anything. It is typical of me - I do not like to blog when I am really upset for a long period of time because (A) I tend to be repetitive (B) it cannot be interesting for people to read, and (C) I usually just don't feel up to putting forth the effort.

Recap and catch up:

• I am back in Iowa, living with my parents.
• Alex was here in the states for 1 month in order to look for a job and just be with me a bit longer. He had to return due to having no more time he could take off for work.
• I did not find a job in England.
• I do not have a job in the states. 
• I have been devastated for the past 13 days since he has left.

Well I have done a lot of thinking over these past (almost) two weeks. I have decided that if I have to do long-distance with him than I will. I have been trying to keep myself very busy with things. Mostly job hunting and crafting. I applied for 45 jobs last week. Have had 2 interviews since I have gotten back. I did not get one of the jobs, the other is still interviewing people. I also read a lot.

Having all of that time to do nothing of major importance has helped me to put a different and more positive spin on things. Although I still feel like I cannot catch a break right now and that I am doing nothing of notable importance or to make myself feel useful, I think my new out look is helping. I still get grumpy and sad....a lot...about my current circumstances. But I am trying and that is what matters.

I have decided that there just must be something left for us to do in our own countries before everything is out of the way and we can be happy together. Perhaps we both need to get some  job experience in our own countries before opportunities will open for one of us in the other's country. Maybe we still have personal growth to achieve before we will be able to handle taking the other from everything they know (yes, it is an emo and dramatic outlook on thing, but essentially that is what we will have to do some day, right?). There could be a million reasons and I could drive myself crazy with listing them all. So I will stop at those two because I am sure people get the point.

I have also decided that I am going to make the best out of the time we have to be apart. I am never as happy as I could be when he is not around. That is just my reality. I do need my time to be sad and mourn and be am eme mess before I can just get over it and move on. That is just how I function. I have had that time now. I still am very sad but have realized that stressing out over the situation and being sad is not helping me any. I can still miss him and do something with purpose while I wait for the next chapter in my life to open up. The sadness and stress is not going to change the situation at all, so keeping it to what is absolutely necessary is the best I can hope for. 

I am still holding out for a few plans that are in progress. I have 100% avoided planning them out. They are just options we are exploring to see if they might work out. I am carrying on with things and focused on finding a job here and opening that next door for myself. 

Most of the jobs I have been applying for have been in the crisis realm. I have applied for jobs all over the US (and a few in England as well) doing different types of crisis related jobs. From telephone work that I have done before to helping respond to victims of homicide to working in DC with legislature to creating suicide programming for military individuals and their families. I have also applied for more traditional residential and out patient therapist positions. I am hoping something comes my way soon....my jobs applied for since I have been back sits somewhere in the 50's. My next job is out there somewhere. I just hope it comes to me soon!

As always, I struggle with being patient with the big things I cannot control. I am still working on that and probably will never be able to fully have control over it....but one can hope that with lots of work I will keep improving!

All in all I am hanging in there and trying to get back to a regular type schedule so keep my sanity. I am going to try and keep a regular blogging schedule as well. There is no reason I cannot be using this transition time to work on all of my goals for the year, right? 

I am not sure how much longer Alex and i will have to endure long-distance, but for all of you haters and doubters out there --YES! I KNOW THAT THIS IS WORTH IT. I have no doubt at all. I do not want to be with anyone else and certainly not without him. So I will wait. For however long it takes. I just figure that I am paying for things up front. Which is better than having something nice and getting it taken away. and now that I have a fancy phone for the first time in my life it is not quite as hard. He does not always get to skype me with video all the time dur to his camera not working....but we can text one another for free (including photos and videos and voice messages) on our phones thanks to this free app called What's App. It is really nice because I can tell that the message at least gets to his phone. Not that he has read it, but at least that it got there. This is so very nice because when we would text most of the time it would never get to the other person or would be delayed by hours or days. This way I know he gets it right away....and we can have much more conversation throughout the day this way! Its a blessing for sure. 

So that's all for now. I promise I will keep this thingy updated again!