The one where I ruin a dress, a pair of shoes, and almost do something horrible to a wooden chicken.

A few weeks ago I was in the One Month To Win It  crafting contest.  There were only 3 of us left in the final round.  The challenge?  Re-purpose an article of clothing or an accessory.

Oh Crap.   I had all sorts of wacky ideas for the challenge. Unfortunately all of my ideas were outside the scope of my particular skill set.   I did manage to learn something about myself in the process:  If I try to do something based on how I think someone else would do it... it doesn't work.

 I learned that my real creativity doesn't really kick in until I am trying to solve a problem.

And I created lots of problems....
#1) I took a perfectly good dress, hacked off the bottom third, then cut it up the middle, thinking I would make it into a short sleeve cardigan or add cute embellishments or something. FAIL.
#2 and #3) I took a perfectly good pair of shoes, drew cheetah patterns on them with Sharpies and planned to glue tiny beads all over them. EPIC FAIL.
#4) I took an innocent wooden chicken and had plans to glue an argyle sweater all over him. (Fortunately my husband came home and saved the chicken. And the sweater.)
#5) I found a broken hair clip I had been meaning to try to fix.
#6) I found a tiny frame that had been floating around in my craft supplies.
(Not shown: The necklace I ruined while trying to cannibalize it in order to make a new necklace.)

I surveyed the damage and realized all I had to show for my time was a pile of dress fabric, a ruined pair of shoes, a tangle of jewelry ...and a traumatized chicken.

Then it hit me: a way to use the dress and the broken hair clip, and to organize the jewelry.**
I made a jewelry organizer/wall art.
I took the little frame and painted it black, then put a silver wash over it. Then I tucked some of the black dress fabric into it. I did the same thing for tall frame that had held a photo collage. I took the cardboard from the back and wrapped it in the rest of the dress fabric.
I hot glued the flower from the broken hair clip into the little frame, then secured the little frame inside the big frame with floral pins. I used the floral pins to hang some of my favorite turquoise silver costume jewelry pieces. Because it's color coordinated, it doesn't look chaotic to my eye.

In the end I came in third.  (Or as I like to think of it: Last in Round 4)  However, I am still liking the jewelery holder and it is still hanging in my bathroom.
(**  By the way - the shoes are headed for the trash, and the chicken is currently in therapy.)