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I found some outdated hardcover books at a thrift store.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!

Coastal Buoy Christmas Wreath

November 22, 2019November 19, 201913 Comments

Good morning! We are back today with another idea for the Twelve Days of Christmas-Wreaths! Here is a link back to the original post where you can see all the other hosts and their ideas! Don’t forget the inlinkz and the giveaway at the end of this post!

I love the coastal look, which most of you know already, so I made a Coastal Buoy for my Christmas Wreath! This will go much better with my decor!

Here are the supplies you will need:

Green or white foam circle form
White paint (optional)
Strips of cotton or muslin fabric
Mod Podge
Brushes
Silver Duct Tape
White paint and whatever other color you want to use
Christmas greens, berries, pinecones, ect.

I bought enough supplies to make 2 wreaths, but you only have to buy enough for one. I found these green styrofoam wreath forms at the Dollar Tree. Because they were green, I painted them white first, but if you buy white ones, you can skip this step.

While the wreaths were drying, I cut strips of muslin to wrap around the wreath. I cut them about 1 inch wide, but they don’t have to all be perfect or the same.

I wrapped each strip around the wreath overlapping as I went. When one ended, I overlapped the next one and continued all the way around. Once I got to the end, I used a little bit of hot glue to keep it from coming undone.

I brushed Mod Podge over the whole thing. Since mine will be hanging outside on the door, this will protect it a little bit, plus it looks a little more finished.

When the Mod Podge was dry, I used painters tape to mark off 4 areas. I will be painting 2 areas turquoise and 2 white, so this will keep the paint from going into the other area. I will be covering the taped area later, so it won’t matter that it’s not painted.

I used a turquoise with some sparkle in it since it’s for the holidays.

Next I cut strips of duct tape and then cut each piece in half lengthwise. These pieces I wrapped around the wreath on the unpainted areas.

I found the perfect rope at The Dollar Tree too! I couldn’t believe they had this. It was even called Nautical!

I made some loose loops, 4 of them and then wrapped another piece of rope around the middle, securing it tightly.

I also tied knots at the end of the loose pieces so it wouldn’t fray.

I used a separate piece of rope to go around the outside of the wreath. I loosely wrapped it around the wreath and secured it with duct tape over the other duct tape. I matched up the ends and secured them too.

For the greenery, I used 2 pieces of greens with berries and a small one with the rope pieces. I placed 2 going up and one going down and I tied them together with twine.

I laid the greenery on the back of the wreath and hot glued it in various places until it was secure.

Once they were attached, I placed the rope bow on the inside of the wreath and tied it on with twine too. I also added a twine loop for the back. I hooked it around one of the bent stems.

I took it outside and hung it on my porch! It’s the perfect touch to my coastal home!

I also made one to go inside the house. I can’t wait to find the perfect spot for it!

I love how it turned out and is perfect for my front porch! What do you think? Let me see what wreaths you have made!

Don’t forget about the giveaway!

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Thank you for coming by today! Our next post will be a DIY Ornament. See you next time!

Ready for Spring! Simple DIY Flower Box

March 26, 2018March 21, 201815 Comments

Good morning! It’s time for spring break around here! Do you have plans for your break? I’m not sure what we will be doing. Haley will be home from school, so just being able to spend time with my girls is good for me. I’m sure we will plan one shopping trip to buy something for Easter, but otherwise we are free to do whatever might come up.

Today I have a simple flower box idea for spring. I found this box in my stash when I was unpacking. I believe I bought it at a thrift store, but I know they have similar ones at the craft stores. I also bought some styrofoam and flowers at the Dollar Tree. If you click on the Dollar Tree ad on the sidebar, Home on the Corner get a little compensation, but you spend no extra! I bought the rope awhile back for another project that never got done, so now I could use it for this!

I did give the box a light coat of white paint, so its just barely there. I decided I wanted the rope around the bottom to give it a little more texture. If it was around the top, it wouldn’t show because of the flowers. I like the little added touch of farmhouse or coastal the rope gives it. I added a line of hot glue and then placed the rope on top, gluing a little at a time. I ended up doing 3 rows.

I placed the styrofoam in the bottom of the box and used a little glue to keep it in place.

Lastly was the flowers. I didn’t have any moss, but it would probably be better to add it first, just to cover the styrofoam. I pushed some of the leaves towards the bottom of the stems to help cover it up. I placed the taller flowers first and then filled in around it.

I only used 6 stems, 2 of each kind. It’s just the perfect touch to add to my front porch!

My hall bathroom is complete, so hopefully I can get some pictures done and get it posted! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Here are some of the items I bought at the Dollar Tree. Click on the link below or on the ad on the sidebar to be taken to the website.

Easter Crafts, Supplies, and More At Dollar Tree!

2 Projects in 20 Minutes (ish)

April 22, 2016April 21, 20168 Comments

So, this week, I have 2 projects. I was going to split the into 2 separate blogs, but realized that they were too short and sweet to post separately. So they are here together! Because, as you know, sharing is caring.

The first thing on the docket is a Poshmark binder.

I was looking through my Poshmark sales (shameless plug: follow me on Poshmark @2smallofacloset), and even though I have a full spreadsheet on my computer of my sales and all the information, I wondered what would happen if my computer completely died. Like, blue screen of death, never turning back on died. How would I have all the information besides on the app?

Oh yeah, I have all the info on the app.

But what if something happens to my phone?????

Anyway, I decided that I wanted to print out all the information on separate pieces of paper to file in a binder. It would be easy for me to look through and find out my sales and what my items are selling for.

Here are my supplies: A pink binder (duh), a pink folder with a cute typewriter on the front, pink and purple glitter tape, pink and purple gel pens, and my sales paperwork. I also used a hole punch and scissors, which are not pictured.

The first thing I did was take the pink glitter tape and line the top and the bottom of the binder. I just used a long strip and went along the edge of the binder. I then took the purple tape to make a second strip on the binder. I finally added two small strips on the spine of the binder so I know which side is the top and the bottom.

The second thing I did was hole punch all of the paperwork. To make sure that they were all hole punched the same distance apart (because I don’t actually own a 3 hole punch), I placed one paper in the folder and hole punched it. Of course, I then took that paper and used it for the rest of the papers.

The third thing I did was write single sale or bundled sale on the paperwork. This is just for “office work” so I know if my bundled sales are working or not. I wrote single sale in pink and bundled sale in purple, and even added a glitter tab to each paper so they are easy to page through.

And this is the final product. I’m really happy that I got it to work and look this nice. It took me approximately 10 minutes to put it all together. It will take a little longer if you still have to type out all of your sales from Poshmark.

The second project I have is a nautical plaque. Mom and I found a blue piece of wood in our shed and I took it to figure out what I wanted to do with it.

Here are my supplies: a blue piece of wood, rope, design of your choice, and sparkly glitter glue. You can use paint if you want, but I found this glue at Michaels and had to buy it because of reasons.

The first thing I did was hot glue the rope to the board. When I got it around the edges, I cut the end and hot glued the end of the rope so it wouldn’t fray. I don’t know if it will help, but it worked for me.

The second thing I did was trace my design onto the board. I found this compass on Google images and decided to use it on the board. I covered the back of the piece of paper with pencil and then traced it onto the board. The only issue I had with this was that it was a little difficult to see the design on the board because it is blue.

The third thing I did was use the silver glitter glue to cover the pencil design. I really like how it turned out, but I do wish that it was a little thicker. I thought that it would be much brighter where you could see the design better. Oh well, I still like it.

And here is the final product.

I like how it turned out. It’s very simple and perfect to hang in a nautical themed room (maybe my living room when I move into a house?). I am happy with how it turned out and can’t wait to actually have it as a decoration.

So, I hope this gave you some inspiration for some easy projects. They took about 20 minutes to finish both of them all together. The Poshmark binder has already come in handy when looking at sales and the board will come in handy very soon. Thanks for stopping by and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow for the Corner News!