Plum Perfect Friday - Crafted Characters or Significant Signs

 

 

I was inspired, by the following BHG photo, to make this vintage looking sign, so I went to our local Safeway to check the dumpster area for an old pallet.

The perfectly wonderful, shabby pallet.

 

An example of what my piece looked like before I painted it.  (Forgot to get a picture.)

 

 

 

After sanding the coat of paint.

I followed this easy tutorial from Homespun Happenings and printed my letters, then colored the back of the sheet of paper with charcoal pencils.

 

Traced them onto the board,

 

then began outlining,

 

and filling in the letters with a paint pen.

SO EASY...

 

...that I'm gonna make more!

 

After more sanding to shabby up the letters.

It only took a few hours to make!

 

Here is another one I whipped up last week for our house in Canada.  This one was made with vinyl lettering...still easy, but not near as CHEAP!

Have I ever written that I get a thrill from getting a bargain?   See ya next time...

Plum Perfect Friday - We're On the Same Page...

Just wanted to quickly show off my bookpage tree display! Love them, but they were extremely time consuming to construct...I won't be making more any time soon, but I'm glad that I now have them, and that they are DONE!

Have a great weekend!

Plum Perfect Friday - Pretty Publications, "Novel" Novels, OR Bodacious Books!

Here's a little project that I have had in mind for a while now...I saw these fabric covered, and coverless books at Restoration Hardware, and thought they were very cool!

Obviously the coverless paperbacks are easy to recreate, but here's my take on making the fabric covered ones, (I got a little help from the DIY Maven, if you want to check her tutorial out...)

I found 5 of the same book for a $1 at The Habitat for Humanity ReStore! First ya gotta cut the spine from the cover with an Exacto Knife. It was necessary to paint my books white because my fabric was fairly see-through, so I did the edges first.

(Sorry, Nathan...)

After they all dried, I painted on the Modge Podge,

centered it on the fabric,

turned it over, smoothed it out, then pushed in the creases on the spine.

Cut the corners.

More Modge Podge...

Glue the spine back in place,

More creasing and, then viola, your done!

It took me about an hour from start to finish, and I did 5 books. Pretty quick and easy...I WILL be making more of these, they are such good decorative embellishments for vinettes!

Here's to discounted design!

Rusty Rave Monday - Candleholder Revamp

Time to be amazed once again...I got my hands on this FABULOUS candleholder for $1 at a garage sale last Friday. It's astounding, I know! I love the base, but right away, I knew that I was going to dispense with the black "holder" on top!

Before I bought it, I checked to see if would unscrew easily. (However, I think I would have purchased it nonetheless...how can you go wrong with $1? I would have figured out a way to remove it, anyway!)

After I got it off, I thought it looked out of proportion, so I got the idea to add a small metal plate to the top. I had a gold, 5" diameter one on hand and just painted it, scuffed it up a bit, drilled a hole in the center...

then screwed it where the former mounting had been.

Done! I think it's much more attractive this way, and it was such an easy fix.

(I think I'm OBSESSED with searching for inexpensive objects to restyle...I really am!)

It's a great new addition to my anytime decor, but I especially like it with the Christmas trimmings...


...and it will unquestionably amuse me to discover what I can do with it after the holidays!

Now, please take the opportunity to post your raves!

Plum Perfect Friday - Fall Project

I just wanted to quickly show off a fun little project that I made for Something Special's fall basket swap to give to my partner.


I used some scrap pieces that I had left over from another project that I previously posted. [See: "Vintage Hook Shelf" in Awesome Assembly] I acquired a fabulous graphic from The Graphics Fairy, and found a cute knob at the Hobby Lobby! I think it turned out quite nice!


This is the completed basket to give away...such fun!

Hope you have a plum, perfect day! Cheers!

P.S. I linked up to Brag Monday at the Graphics Fairy http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/2010/10/brag-monday-dali-halloween-art-paper.html