Easy Gift Idea under $10

I have a wonderful friend, Amanda. She is cute, creative, crafty, and loves to get ideas on Pinterest!

So what to get the girl who can make anything for her birthday? Especially when I'm on a budget?

Well, she just became a sales consultant for Stella and Dot. Yes, that's a live link. You can show Amanda your love by clicking it. The accessories and jewelry are actually all high quality. But, I have to admit that most of it is above my budget.

At one of her "trunk shows", she apologized for the single hand-mirror she had for those trying on jewelry and viewing it.

Instantly the gears began whirring in my mind! I had two months to make Amanda some amazing mirrors to use for her business!

Please ignore the items in the background. I'm a real person who writes for a hobby and I don't spend my time doctoring all my photos. I collect peanut butter jars for my second grader when her teacher asks me to.

This part of the project actually terrified me! An instance where vandalism was not vandalism, but it still felt like I was breaking a rule somehow by using a permanent marker to "color".

I started with a Google search and quickly determined that making my own silver paint and finding some glass would be a non-budget project. (not to mention that some of the chemicals seemed, well, best suited to a chemistry lab rather than my kitchen counter)

I had thought, from the beginning, that I would use inexpensive photo frames to make these mirrors for her. That way, they could be propped up by the piece on the back and stand alone, or be picked up for better viewing.

I visited our local Dollar Tree and found not only the frames, but also mirrors that were intended for candles to be placed on them! Perfect!

Candle-base mirror
(they had square and octagonal varieties, but I chose 4x4 squares)

 

These frames are deep and not only can hold the mirror against the original glass, but the backing still fits into the frame!

Note the way the backing locks over the top of the mirror?
The frame below with tabs simply wouldn't clasp over anything thicker than a photograph!

 I ran into a problem with my third frame: it was too shallow to hold a mirror and still clasp the backing against the original glass.

We've all had these tab frames before, right?
The small metal triangle piece you see here became a problem later.

I simply took the backing off the frame, measured it to adhere to the small mirror so it would stand on its own, and glued it to the back after cutting it.

I embellished the frame with a silver sharpie and some hot-glued "jewels"

Be sure that you account for the "kickstand" when measuring your cut.

I also ran into a small problem with the 5x7 photo frames. Though they accommodated the mirrors nicely, there was a 2 1/2 to 3 inch gap at the bottom of the "picture" that had to be covered.
In the silver frame, I used some white felt, in the gold frame, I used remnant of the backing cardboard I had cut for the other mirror.
The black did not go well with the silver, nor the white with the gold, so that is what determined my choices.

If you look closely at the gold frame, you will see a small "blemish" in the black cardboard. Remember that metal triangle piece? I had to remove it and then color the cardboard with a black sharpie and even glue a tiny piece behind that to make it all seem black.

Again, I embellished with a silver sharpie and the front of the frames with more hot glue and "jewels".

 Though I cleaned the glass thoroughly, there is a quality issue with glass sold at the Dollar Tree, and these frames have a slight set of lines running along the glass that do not wipe off.

see the striping?

If you're not looking for the stripes, though, they won't show.

End of story? This project was well worth the time and effort, and it was well received! The best part about putting the mirrors in frames, is that people will grab and handle the frame, but the actual mirror and glass won't get all the fingerprints that the non-framed mirror will get.

I chose to do one of each color as the viewer may be choosing silver or gold jewelry and I wanted to complement her choices with the frame.

Remember, anything worth doing is worth trying.
Tammy