Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Altered Clothespin

 This is my latest altered clothespin. I just love altering these for holding notes, photos and RECIPES!

I've seen these clothespins at Joann's, Michael's and Hobby Lobby and they are only about a dollar! It is really fun to alter them, here's how I did this one.

I used some brown Maya Mist to tint the raw wood. Easy and fun but VERY MESSY! My fingertips were all brown by the end so now I know to wear gloves;)
I have also used paint and a brush to tint the wood, like I did on this one:

I had to wait about two days for the Maya Mist to dry...southern humidity is a little thick around here right now...

Next, I chose some adorable apple paper from Cookbookin' and then used my favorite measuring system to mark the paper for trimming. Y'all know how much I love to measure!

More messy fun here. I was wearing a nice BLACK shirt while I distressed the edges with Heidi Swapp's handy little tool. Now that I am writing this I realize I should have taken a photo of my shirt to include here for the "what not to do" section.

I adhere my paper strips with good old Mod Podge. Once I had adhered the papers I decided to switch the paper on one of the sides so I could kinda switch up the look:

Now, I used a solid strip of paper on this one so my clothespin sections don't really show but since I planned to cover much of the paper with embellishments, I didn't take the time. Sometimes I do use two strips of paper, totally personal preference.

Speaking of embellishments...I began by grabbing a Prima flower that I had already inked for another project (this beauty landed on the cutting room floor...). I used some red & white gingham ribbon to tie a bow and then I glued it on with my favorite glue for attaching fabrics:

I wasn't really sure where I was going to put the flower until I put on the bow. I wanted at least some of the chickens to show so I chose the center of the bow:

Next up I chose some Maya Road chipboard to cover with more Cookbookin' paper. I inked the backs as they will show for the opposite side.

I adhered the chipboard to the wrong side of the patterned paper. 

 Once the glue was good and dry I cut the excess paper off with a craft knife. What is your favorite craft knife? I am not sure if it is me or my craft knife but I am willing to try another brand...any suggestions?

Next I sanded the edges and inked them before gluing onto my clothespin.

I used some My Little Shoebox letters to label my clothespin with "My Recipe." Then I added the MR pins to the bow...it just needed a little more.

Time to turn the entire thing over!

I used the same ribbon but tied it simply with a piece of floss. Then I chose one of my favorite Cookbookin' sticker embellishments for the center, added a brown MR pin and a piece of inked ric rack finished off the bottom.

Cute, don't you think!