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Sunday, July 8, 2012

Seeking Sole Mates Missing Sock Holder




One of the first photos I pinned on Pinterest was this fun missing sock holder from Rambling as Usual
Source.
At that time, our new dream house was still in the dream stage, so I was happy to have found Pinterest to remember all the ideas I wanted to borrow. 

Since this was the week of projects, it was time to tackle my own take on the missing sock holder. I  wanted to try my own subway art, much like this, so I combined the two ideas.

(Updated to include a list of materials. Thanks to Pinaway for the idea).

Supply List:
  • large canvas 
  • leftover house paint (two colors)
  • paint or foam brush (whichever you prefer)
  • straight edge for lining up letters
  • vinyl letters (either pre-cut with a Silhouette or generic stickers)
  • nails or screws
  • wire or twine (personal preference)
  • clothes pins
I started out with a large canvas from Hobby Lobby. (I'm also found them on Amazon).

I used some of our leftover house paint. I wanted the letters to be the same grayish green as the laundry room walls. This is Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay.

Next, I painted the entire top of the canvas.


While the paint was drying, I cut out the vinyl letters (bought at Target) to spell the words, "Seeking Sole Mates." The former writer in me is proud of my wit.

Once the canvas was dry, I borrowed my son's art project to put my letters on a straight line.

I needed two lines, so I lined up "sole mates" with a right justification.

Letters done.

I don't know if it was the canvas or the vinyl, but it didn't stick as well as I would have liked.

Next, I used another paint color, in this case, Sherwin Williams Sensuous Gray, for the canvas color.

I started by very carefully painting over the letters. The paint sealed the letters down. 

As you can see, the vinyl wasn't fully stuck to the canvas, even after the paint.

Then I painted the rest of the canvas.


 When the paint was dry, I used a butter knife to carefully remove the letters.  

There's a little bleeding, but I like the overall look.

I didn't fully coat the canvas as thickly as I thought I did, but it provides some texture.

I considered gluing clothes pins to the canvas, but that didn't seem very strong, so I used wire instead. I put nails on either side of the back of the canvas and wrapped the wire around one nail.

 I wrapped the wire loosely across the front...

...then wrapped the wire around the second nail, the wrapped the wire loosely across the back for hanging and then wrapped the wire around the first nail again. 

I hung it up on the little wall by the window...

and washer and dryer.

I love practical art.

I still have a few ideas for the laundry room, but they will have to wait until we get our family photos back!

Updated: This is my far our most popular post. Feel free to use this tutorial to make your own, but please give credit where credit is due. Plus, if you link back, I can admire your work, too!

Linked on: Blissfully Ever AfterThrify Decor Chick, I Heart Naptime, Centsational Girl, CSI Project, Glitter, Glue & PaintMums Make Lists, Tuesday's Treasures, House of Hepworths, Miss Information, I'm an Organizing Junkie 

Visit thecsiproject.com Visit thecsiproject.comWhimsically Homemade


Featured on Buzzfeed, although, sadly, without a link back here.

17 comments:

  1. Oh, I LOVE this idea! Found you at thrifty decor chick and had to come ask if I can steal *cough*copy*errr*recreate this awesome idea at my house?

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    Replies
    1. lol, of course! Link back and let me know how yours turns out!

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  2. So cute and easy!! Found you over at CSI!

    Kelly @ The Creative Chickadee

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  3. Hey there! Just wanted to let you know we featured you in our Favorite Find Fridays post over at Whimsically Homemade. We used one of your pictures and linked back to you. If that's a problem let us know and we'll remove it immediately. Thanks for your great inspiration!

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    Replies
    1. No problem at all. Thank you for pinning from the original source. There's a few pirates out there. Arghhh!

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  4. This made me lol...I need this in my house! Janell

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  5. Cute! I just shove extra socks in a corner in a drawer until the pair shows up, but I like this idea much better! Thanks so much for sharing this at The CSI Project!

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  6. whats up with the pin being removed from pinterest?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was a site that pirated this project using my photos. I asked for those pins to be removed. You are welcome to pin this project (and any) from its original source. Let me know if you have any issues repinning.

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  7. This is such a clever project, Jen! I love the pun.

    How strange that your vinyl refused to stick to the canvas. I wonder if the Target brand was just not as sticky as Silhouette Premium vinyl.... Have you since used that vinyl and had success with it?

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    Replies
    1. I've been having too much fun with my sewing machine. But I AM bring my Silhouette on vacation next month! :-)

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  8. This is so adorable!!! I love this idea so much :) I wish I had a nice laundry room to do this, my laundry is in an unfinished basement!

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  9. Jen! This is so darn adorable. I just love it!! Thanks for linking up at Throwback Thursday!!

    xoxo
    Denyse

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  10. What a cute idea! When my kids were growing up, I would throw all the socks with their missing "sole mate" into a small laundry basket and every couple of weeks we would have a sock party!

    Thanks for sharing at Throwback Thursday!

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