How to Make Spooky Books for Halloween

September 20, 2021September 16, 2021Leave a comment

Good morning friends! Can you believe we are in September? Are you ready for fall? We will have some time to go here before it gets cool. It doesn’t get cool here until about Halloween. But, I have a wedding to plan and it will a traditional wedding, but then a gothic pirate themed reception. So this is the time of year to find the perfect items to decorate with. It’s also fun to find different things I can make ahead of time. Today I am showing you how to make spooky books!

Item List:

Hardcover books
Plastic bin that the books will fit into
Tea
Paper towels
Mod Podge and brush
Bleach and water
Stickers, wood decorations, any other decorations you want to use
Black, gold, and silver paint and foam bruss

I found some outdated hardcover books at a thrift store. It doesn’t matter how new or old they look. Just find the size you like. Next, make yourself some tea! Not to drink though! I made some sun tea and then poured it into a plastic bin. Now, dip your book in! I just did the pages, not the covers. You could also use a brush if that is easier. I dipped in all the sides, letting them soak for about 5 minutes. Then I set them out on a towel to dry.

If you don’t think they are dark enough, go ahead dip them again. The pages get a little wrinkly, but that’s ok. It gives it an older look!

Now that the books are dry, you can move on to the next step. Take your pieces of paper towels and trim them to fit the book. I cut the top and bottom of the paper towels the same size as the books, but I folded in the ends. The books won’t be opened after I am done.

Fill a spray bottle with water and spray down the paper towels on the books. Crinkle them up a bit once they are wet. This is going to give you the old weathered look you want in the end.

Once you have the paper towels the way you want, brush on the Mod Podge. I poured some onto the book and then used a foam brush to spread it all over the book on all sides and edges. Let the books dry. I let them dry overnight.

Now you get to decorate the book! I am making these for the wedding, not just Halloween. I found the scrolly piece and wood piece at a thrift store. So I laid them out the way I thought they would go. I also added stickers. My stickers go along with the wedding theme and last name initial. It won’t matter the colors you use because you are going to paint over it all. Once you have your pieces how you want them, glue them on. I even glued on the stickers so they wouldn’t fall off later.

Once your glue is dry, paint the book. I used black spray paint, but you could also paint the books with acrylic paint. Make sure to get in all the nooks and crevices. Now you can see how the paper towels give it that old look.

Just the black looks kind of boring, but now you get to add the finishing touches! I used a silver paint and lightly went over the raised areas of the book. I used a little gold paint as well. You don’t want too much gold or silver, just some slight touches.

I also bought a strap to keep the book closed. I found it in the fabric department at Hobby Lobby. I glued it on the front and back of the book.

Here are the stickers once they are painted. Looks good, right? Since I didn’t want the books to open, I used some rope, also tea dyed, to tie two of the books together.

I placed the books on my mantle along with some other black and spooky items. Some of them I have also made over.

I love how they turned out! I’m just waiting for a date to be set so I can put it on the third book.

So what do you think? Would you do this to a book? I’m so glad I gave it a try!

Easy St. Patrick’s Day Art

March 15, 2021Leave a comment

Good morning! I was hoping to have this out earlier today, but that just didn’t happen! But this is such an easy project, you can definitely finish it in time for St. Patrick’s Day! Also, it could easily be changed for other holidays, like Easter, which is just around the corner!

I started out with an old canvas I had. This actually had a picture on it and I painted it, but picking one up from the store is super easy. I also had some burlap squares on hand.

I cut the burlap a little larger than the canvas so that I had enough burlap to wrap around the sides. I did iron my piece too. 🙂

I used Elmer’s Craft Bond, which is a spray to attach my burlap. I sprayed it on the front and sides of the canvas and then laid the burlap on top and smoothed it out.

I folded in the corners as tight as I could and used hot glue to secure them.

Now I have nice smooth surface!

I dug through my fabric and found two green ones I thought would work. You could also use scrapbook paper or a thick wrapping paper.

I printed out two different sizes of shamrocks I found on a Google search. Then I cut them out and laid them on the burlap until I found the way the right layout.

I used chalk to trace around the shamrock onto the fabric and then cut it out with fabric scissors.

I used the spray glue to attach the shamrocks and then pulled out my buttons to add some accents to my shamrocks. I played around with them a bit, starting with green and gold, then some yellow and finally decided it needed a little bit of black to really stand out. If the button is the type with a shank on the back, I cut it off with wire cutters.

I used tacky glue to attach the buttons, layering some on top of each other and setting others into little groups.

I placed it on my mantle with a few other spring items.

What do you think? Pretty easy, right? I might even make a few more for other holidays, I hope you have a great week!

Make Your Own Coasters Plus a Printable!

October 28, 2019October 27, 20194 Comments

Good morning! Are you ready for a new week? it’s hard to believe that October is almost over! Crazy! Are you starting to think of Christmas yet? I have been. In fact, this project is a gift for Christmas, that is, if my daughter doesn’t see this blog post first! 🙂

I have lots of scrap pieces of wood around and this was the perfect project to use a little bit of it. I had my husband cut 4 pieces of wood into squares and then sand the edges to smooth them.

I painted 2 coats of black acrylic paint on all sides. I had these skulls in my stash, so they were perfect for Haley’s love of skulls. I used Mod Podge to attach them to the wood.

I brushed Mod Podge all over the top of the wood block.

I centered the skull on top and then brushed more Mod Podge over the whole thing.

Once everything was dry, I sprayed each block with clear gloss. I gave each one 2 coats, since these will be used as coasters and have wet glasses on them.

I also attached rubber feet on the bottom so they won’t scratch any surfaces.

They are ready for a cup of something cool or hot!

Isn’t this printable great? Lauren made this just for all of you! I want to sing the song every time I look at it. You can get this printable by clicking here. Just scroll to the bottom of the page once you get there. There is another one to choose from too.

As you can see, we have quite a few skulls to go along with the coasters.

I tied them up with orange bakers twine so they are all ready to give as a gift. I’m excited to give these to Haley!

Hope you all have a great week!

Here are some other posts you might like:

fall 2018 back patio coffee table pumpkins

Valentine’s Day ‘I Love You’ Wooden Blocks

January 21, 2019January 18, 20195 Comments

I know Valentine’s Day is still a month away, but I thought I would repost these wooden blocks in case you were ready to get started on your decorations!

Good morning! Are you ready for February and lots of pink and glitter? My classroom is full of glitter and sparkles right now. Lol! But I want to keep things a little more simple at home.

I have had these blocks for too many years, circa 1990’s. They spelled out our last name. I wasn’t going to use them for the original purpose, but I kept thinking they were such nice wooden blocks, there had to be something I could do with them. I finally came up with something.

The pictures I took of each step, turned out blurry, but the steps were pretty simple. I painted the sides and back of the block white. Then I used painters tape and to block off the front of the block because I wanted it to stay white. I used scissors to cut straight edges. I went over the sides and a little bit on the front edge with black.

Here is how they turned out. I like the little black edge on the front. I found some black chipboard letters and made a heart out of scrapbooking paper.

Since I only had 5 blocks, I decided on i, u, x, o and a heart.

I layered a soft pink paper over scripted paper to make the heart.

I think it’s the perfect little Valentine’s Day touch!

I’m glad I finally found a use for something else I already had and I love how they turned out! So simple and just the perfect little Valentine touch to my mantel!

What Do You Buy At The After Christmas Sales?

January 1, 2019December 31, 20181 Comment

Happy New Year! Wow! It’s 2019! That just seems so strange! Do you have big plans in this new year? Travel someplace new, moving, trying something different? I would love to hear about it. We will have Haley’s college graduation this year, which is pretty exciting! I’m so proud of both my girls.

So, do you do after Christmas shopping? What kind of things do you look for? My items to buy are Christmas wrapping paper, ribbon and tags. I usually find some other little things too, but this is what I hunt for.

I had some of the brown Kraft paper with gold polka-dots this past Christmas, and I fell in love with it. It looked so nice under the tree. I decided that is what I wanted for next year and I would combine it with white and gold with a few black touches.

In my opinion, Target has some of the best paper! It is nice and thick, comes in big rolls, and has lines on the back for cutting :). I headed out late morning the day after Christmas and there was still plenty to choose from. I found the Kraft paper with gold dots and some pretty white with gold too. Do you see the skull design in the back? Haley had found that before Christmas, so I bought one roll and wrapped all her presents in it. I was fortunate enough to find one more roll after Christmas too!

I also stock up on wired ribbon. You really can’t make a mistake tying bows or just knots with this ribbon. Most of the time, I just wrap it around the gift, tie a knot and then fluff up the tails. Done! And it looks good. It’s amazing what a little ribbon can do for a package.

I try to find coordinating tags too. I found these lovely white ones with gold glittery polka-dots and the black and gold too. I happened to find the perfect tissue paper too.

I know not everyone coordinates everything this way, but I really like how it all looks under the tree at Christmas. It makes my heart happy!

Thank you so much for following along here. Some of you have stuck around even when I haven’t been here. I really appreciate all of you! I hope you have a blessed 2019!