Halloween Books

I wanted to have a witches area in my entry way this year and while I was searching for decorations I saw ceramic books that said "Spells. Hexes or Curses" but they looked horrible and they were about $15, $20 dollars.

So course I made my own. For book sales look at your local library or church thrift store. I got all of these for 25 cents each.

Things you'll need:
-Books in various sizes
-Glue
-Paint (gold metallic looks awesome)
-Paint stain
-Sponge brush
-Brushes
-Hot glue

This is an easy and fun project to do. Start by hot gluing the front and back covers together. Then using a paint brush glue your pages together.

If you have a stain mix it in with the glue and paint on the pages. You can see in picture #6 the effect the glue does on the pages. Pretty cool, right?

If you can't find the right color of books all you need to do is paint them the color you want. This will usually take 2-3 coats.

I decided to burn of the pages for a cool effect. You can do this before or after gluing the book, but the glue doesn't burn as well.  If you do it after when you're gluing the pages it can make a mess because the pages flake.  I did it it both ways, because I liked both effects.

The fun part for me and the hubs was coming up with book titles. I think we came up with some good one.

Enjoy and have fun with this project.

You'll see the final project and how I set-up up my display in another post.

Halloween Photos

I bought these changing Halloween pictures from the Dollar Store and got clearance frames from Michael's. You could also get the frames from the Dollar Store but I wanted some character in mine. Both frames totaled 5 bucks. SCORE!

You can easily peel the pictures from the frames that they came with. Place into the new frames and TADA, creepy new pictures with nice looking frames.

This is where you can get creative and make these your own. You could always spray paint the frames, but I was happy with the colors they were and it gave the images an antique look and feel. I added blood to the glass on one of my images, but you could sand up the frames to make them look older add some cobwebs. Just let your imagination run wild.

Upcycle - Book art

I picked up some books from our local library sale for 25 cents each.  HOLLA!!!

I folded the pages in different ways to give a 3D look and feel.

Depending on the art project you'll need a few books, thin birch plywood, hanging hooks and a hot glue gun.

It's a pretty basic project. You'll want to part the book in the middle and cut the birch wood a little less than the book width and hot glue in the middle of the binder.

Attach the hook in the middle. You will need to use a power tool for this, so go slow.

Hot glue the front page and back page down to the actual book cover. (picture 4)

Fold anyway you would like but make sure to count and divide your pages if you are doing different sections.

 

Upcycle - Wood tower

Found this at a thrift/antique store liquidating sale and it was $2, so I got it. Had no idea what to do with it, then I thought it would work as floor wine rack.
 
I wiped it down and sanded a couple of edges and used some spray paint I already had on hand.
 
I did 2 coats of metallic silver and let it air dry outside for a day. TADA!! New wine rack.

Upcycle - School desk

I came across this desk at a liquidating sale and it was 10 BUCKS!!!  I didn't know what I wanted to do with it yet, but I knew I had to have it.

I also picked up this little step stool ladder for $10 along with a few other things. In all I spent $42 and got 5 new projects to do. 

I decided I would use the school desk as a nightstand in our guest room. I found a retro lamp online at Target and picked up some old book classics at a thrift store. (The Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz and Where the Wild Things Are were already in our book collection)

Add a notebook and some pencils and you have some cheap and retro decor. The step stool was painted yellow and matches the lamp on the other side of the bed. I added a sleep mask for our guests.

Don't mind the missing base board, I hated the one in there and we decided to remove it. Now time to choose if we want a large or small one. Oh the choices we have at Lowe's and Home Depot.


 

Upcycle magazine racks

I found these 2 magazine racks at the Good Will and paid $1.99 each.  I took them home, wiped them down and did a couple of coats of spray paint on them.

I let them air out for a couple of days and then brought them upstairs into our living room and added some vinyl. They look awesome and we get lots of compliments and questions on where we got them.

Upcycle and recycle projects are always the funniest.

Garden Project

I've been saving up our empty wine bottles and have asked friends to save theirs as well and I soon had enough to made my rock garden wall. (Thank goodness our friends are alcoholics!!)

I was short a few wine bottles when I took this image, but that issue has now been corrected. I did 24 bottles each row. I cleaned all the bottles, removed the labels and then used the old corks and cut them into 2. I stuffed them back into the bottle because I don't want anyone making home inside my lovely bottles.

For the lights, I couldn't find any solar lights that I liked. I wanted some unique to go with my unique wine bottle border. When I was looking at the Good Will I came across these light globes and instantly knew I needed these for my garden. I went to Target picked up some color changing solar lights that also have an option of being a "clear/white" light.

When I got home I staked the lights into the ground and topped them off with the globes. TADA, instant solar lights!!! This took less then 5 minutes to do.  When we have friends over they keep asking where I got these and I love the fact I can say I did it myself. I also like knowing, no one else has these. :)

TIP- The light globes come in my shapes and sizes. Make sure the opening will fit over a solar light is my only suggestion. Otherwise go small, go BIG...endless possibilities.  I'm looking for some white colored globes now, because I want some in our backyard.

Cost for lights- $1.99 for each fixture (2) and the lights were on sale @ Target for a $1.50 each (2)

Fun mason jars

I love to drink tea and I thought to myself, why should tea be so boring?  So in my normal style I added some uniqueness and fun to my tea jars.

 

Things you'll need:

-12oz mason jars

-Small toys - I used dino and zoo animals

-Spray paint (various or one color)

-Gloss spray paint

-Painters tape

-Household Hogar by Goop (waterproof)

-Labels (optional)

 

Clean jars and let air dry. Add painters tape to the inside of the flat lid and the inside of the lid. Spray paint the items of your choice. I did my items in coordinating colors.  

 

Let dry overnight and then use the glue on the flat lid and apply in small amounts along the rim and attach to the lid. Set the paint side down and let dry for a couple of hours and than attach the animals. Once this is done, let dry for 24 hours.

 

I'm loving the new Ball dissolvable labels. They really do just wash off!

 

You can use large mason jars and larger toys for the top. They can store larger snacks, toys, craft items. There is endless possibilities.