Printing on old book paper

When printing on book paper you first want to know how your printer prints. I marked a piece of paper to see where it would come. according to my “X” it comes out upside down. I also used this as an opportunity to print off my letters to see where they would come out on the page.

Next I laid my book paper down on a piece of printer paper and taped it on the spot that I wanted. Practicing will help you so you can then know where to lay the book paper. I put the paper in position and then taped it into place. I actually used 3 different pieces of paper in order to assure my spacing and positioning was correct.

Then feed your papers through your printer and there ya have it! Next I took the book page off of my printer paper and cut out my letters.

Sprucing up the front porch

I found this idea on Pinterest for a “welcome” sign on your front porch and I loved it. I was lucky enough to have a hitching post (which my husband said looks like a bird feeder) and was able to use that instead of having to make my own. Although with a few pieces of wood for sides, a top and a bottom, you could easily make your own! 

I spray painted it with Black Satin Rust-Oleum indoor/outdoor paint and I bought a hook from Lowes for $4 and screwed it on.

Next I added a sign that I had painted white and attached 2 mug hanger hooks to the top of  it. Then I added some jute to hang it and wrote, with sharpie marker, “welcome.” I haven’t sealed it yet but I probably should before the next rain storm hits otherwise my letters will fade away.

And here it is! I love it 🙂 I hope people feel welcome!

A Way With Canvases

Here are just a few things, around my house, that I have done with canvases…

Charger Plates

This is what we will be making today.

For this Project you will need: charger plates, Mod Podge, a paint brush, paper (from an old book, newspaper or sheets of music) and clear spray paint.

I bought 6 of these charger plates at Bed Bath and Beyond for really cheap and they had packaged them with packing tape so when I went to take the tape off this is what happened…

I decided to take my crafting skills and put them to work. I saw a picture on Pinterest where someone had taken music sheets and covered her charger plates for Christmas and I thought to myself “I could totally do that!”

So here is what you do…

Take enough book pages so that they completely cover your plate.

Then take them off and take your first sheet and paint the back of it with Mod Podge (you will end up painting the top too at the end so don’t worry if you get Mod Podge everywhere).

Place the piece of paper (sticky side down) onto the charger plate and press from the middle out. Make sure to get all the bubbles and ripples out. On my plates I had a pattern around the edge that I wanted to show through the paper so I made sure to press the paper real tight around the edges so it would show.

Next, you are going to continue this process until the whole plate is covered.

I had some smaller pieces and some parts where the paper ripped so I decided to take a few smaller pieces of paper and place them randomly around the plate.

Now its time to flip your plate over. You’re going to paint the edges of the paper and fold them onto the back of the plate.

After you have finished the back you are going to turn the plate back over to the front side and Mod Podge the front to seal in the paper.

I let mine dry over night before I sprayed them, but Mod Podge really doesn’t take that long to dry so just let your plates sit for a little bit (an hour or two) and then come back to spray them with the clear coat.

I use a clear coat just to seal and protect everything. You can use a glossy finish or a matte finish depending on the look that you are going for. I used a matte.

Once you are done, you will be ready to use them!

Thank you for reading my tutorial on charger plates. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Weathered Letters

I made this Initial letter for a friend of mine who is getting married this week! 

Materials:

– Wooden letter (I bought mine from Michaels for about $3) 

– Craft Paint

– Paint brushes

– Water

– Paper towels

I started off with a white letter and I painted it with brown paint.

This is what it looked like with only 1 coat, so I waited till it was dry and painted it again.

Before you add a second coat, it needs to be completely dry otherwise you will take off the paint that you did the first time. 

After my second coat, I got a paper towel and dipped into a small bowl of water. Then I rubbed that on the letter in order to take some of the paint off. 

After I rubbed the letter, I took it outside, propped it up on two milk lids and let it dry.

 

 

Something to remember- craft paint is washable so whenever you use it, you need to spray a clear coat over it in order to make it permanent, otherwise it will eventually rub or wash off.

So once my letter dried, I sprayed it with a matte, clear coat and voila! 

Can’t wait to give this to my friend! 

 

Any questions or having trouble, feel free to ask!

Clever Storage

I bought this box for $2 at a garage sale and it fit perfectly in my bathroom. I think it looks great!

Rustic to Chic Lamps

Taking an old lamp and giving it a new life:

My dining room is black and white and over the past few months I have been collecting Milk Glass for my corner hutch and I came across these lamps at a garage sale and bought them for $3. They just needed a little bit of cleaning, sprucing up and some new shades.

First I cleaned them with soap, water and a toothbrush.

Once I cleaned my lamps, I took them a part so that I could paint the metal pieces that had lost their shine. Taking a lamp a part is usually pretty easy. It will either twist off at the top or underneath where the cord goes into the lamp itself. Just twist it off and the lamp should easily come apart. This is as far as I could get with mine, but it worked for me because the parts just needed to be separated in order to paint them.

I used black craft paint because the areas I was painting was very small. But, you need to remember that craft paint will scratch off or wash off after a while so either use some other kind of paint that will be permanent or just remember to seal it with a clear coat paint.

My second lamp I could not get a part at all so I decided to just tape it off and paint.

These are my lamps cleaned and painted.

The next thing that I did was wrap them in plastic in order to spray the pieces with clear coat because I wanted the black to last a while and I was not a fan of the matte look.

Here is what they look like now.

Now all they need is a black lamp shade and they will be complete and on display in my dinning room!