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.

Pumpkin ideas

Cool pumpkin decorating kits from Target. All kits were $3 except for the last one and that was $5.

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.

Upcycle - Chalk Fridge

So we got our house 3 years ago and the kitchen is ok, but could definitely use an revamp.  My only problem is I hate wasting money on things. What I mean is even though the fridge & oven are cream they work perfectly. So why go spend $3000+ on a LG french door fridge if I don't need to right now.

The problem is that I really do hate the color. So I figured with my left over chalkboard paint from another DIY project I would paint the fridge. If it turned out awesome, if it didn't that would be my clue to buy new appliances.

Well, guess what!?  It worked and looks adorable in the kitchen! I absolutely love it and I'm sad I didn't think of it sooner.

Things you'll need:
-Chalk board paint (any color)
-Small grain sandpaper
-Small detail paint brush
-Door and cabinet roller kit
-Painters tape
-Rag
-Chalk

The how-to is really simple:

Wipe down the fridge, when its dry lightly sand it and then wipe down again.

Tape off any sections you don't want painted. I did the detail work first and then used the roller. Do one section at a time. I didn't completely follow the directions, after 30 minutes I applied another coat and in 8 hours did another. I waited 48 hours to wipe it down and then use it as a chalk board.

I've been using it daily. An eraser (ebay has good deals on erasers) will remove the chalk, however a lightly damp rag will remove all traces of previous drawing/lettering. Purchase a metal locker pen holder and use it to store your eraser and chalk.

NOTE- I got my black paint at Home Depot, but the bottom image is from Lowes.


The Hubby, Wee P and our friends who have been over love the revamp!

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)

Raspberry Thyme Moscato pops

Yes the title says thyme as in the herb, but don't let that scare you. These by far have been the popular pops at the BBQs.

Stuff you need:
-3 T Spenda (sugar will do)
-3 cups fresh raspberries
-3/4 cup pink moscato (or ginger ale)
-6 springs of fresh thyme
-6 herbal raspberry tea bags
-Ice Candy Bags (below post tells you where to get these)

In a bowl combine sugar, thyme and tea bags. Pour 2 cups of boiling water over them and let it set for 5-8 minutes. Remove the thyme and squeeze liquid out of tea bags.

Add raspberries to a blender and pour the liquid mixture over the fresh berries. Mix until smooth.

Strain the blended mixture thru a fine mesh colander or cheesecloth. This needs to be done so we can remove the seeds. Then add in moscato and stir mixture together.

Funnel into bags, tie off and freeze. I was able to make 5 large pops.


Trying out some new recipes and hopefully will be posting them soon. So ideas are messing around with are mango habanero and blackberry lemonade basil pops. YUMMY!