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 - Accelerated Aging

How perfectly appropriate for a "Rusty Rave"...making things rusty!

Last week I blogged about this die cast metal bird bath that I found at Goodwill. I forgot to take a before photo, but in your mind, just picture it plain white. Of course, I had to make it look rust-covered and aged, so I went online and found a rapid, and super easy process to do the job!

First, you will need to rough it up a bit with sandpaper to get through to the metal. A lot of people, I think, use salt water which takes forever on its own. You need an oxidizer to speed up the task, so, in order to achieve a uniform, thick rust quickly (seriously, like, 5 minutes or less), mix up a batch of the following:

half part hydrogen peroxide (drugstore grade is fine), half part vinegar, and a pinch of salt (I mixed it in a spray bottle and sprayed it on!)

The method is, uhm, rather fast, because of the chemical reaction that is created. It was suggested that you spray a coat of lacquer when it's dry, so I guess you could, but I didn't. I want it to look like it's been weathered and mistreated!

When I saw how well it worked, I "shabbied" up some other items in my home!

Pretty cool, huh? Painless evolution!!

Now go make your own "Rusty Raves"!

Cheers,

Plum Perfect Friday - Ongoing Master Bathroom Update

We have done without a towel bar and a hand towel hanger, for several weeks now, so it was high time that I completed the new mountings...SO, I did another Vintage Hook Shelf similar to the other one's that I have constructed in the past.

I have a thorough disdain for the cheap, basic, ugly fixtures that are put in tract homes these days...

truly "icky"!

This is a definite improvement, not only aesthetically, but adds ease in hanging. (The family SINCERELY dislikes the folding and hanging part!)...

...this way towels will have a better chance of actually getting hung.

Love it! A nice addition to my "frenchy vintage" theme.

After the large one was assembled, I had a portion cut off to make the hand towel version.

It is so-oo convenient!

Hope you all had a Plum Perfect holiday season!











Now, show off some of your functional ideas!

I linked up to the Graphics Fairy for Brag Monday!

*The Graphics Fairy*: Brag Monday - Dali Halloween Art + Paper Dolls

*The Graphics Fairy*: Free Vintage Clip Art - French Label

*The Graphics Fairy*: Free Vintage Clip Art - French Label

Here's a little project I put together today with an image from the Graphics Fairy! Fun, huh?~