stickers – HOME ON THE CORNER

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I found some outdated hardcover books at a thrift store.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

We are in the last week of July, and I am finally getting around to posting a Christmas in July post! I have a huge collection of glass jars, so this was a perfect way to use them. In fact, I didn’t have to buy anything for this particular project, I had it all on hand. That’s the way I like it!

*For my co-workers who follow me here on the blog, you might want to stop reading. These are going to be your Christmas presents. You can decide if you want to know now or not!*

I went through my jars and found 10 that were approximately the same size. I made sure they all had a lid that would fit. As you can see, these jars are from all different sorts of food items. I also picked out 3 different colors of spray paint and found some small wooden beads.

I spray painted the lids using the 3 colors and then had to figure out a way to paint the beads while getting good coverage, and not just on my fingers! I finally (it probably took me 10 minutes to figure this out!) found a long screw that would fit into the end of the bead. This way I could hold the end of the screw and spray the paint all around the bead.

Once everything was dry, I took it all inside to assemble. I had these tacks left over from my chair makeover so used them to cover the hole in the top of the bead. I used Gorilla Glue to attach everything. I squeezed out some glue onto a paper to form a little puddle and then I was able to dip the tack into the glue and place it into the hole. I did the same for the other end of the bead. I dipped it into the glue and then placed it on the top of the lid.

Here is everything all attached.

I sorted through my stash of scrapbooking paper and found pieces that would go well with my lids. There are so many different varieties of paper in the store. I’m sure you can find something you like! Even though these are Christmas gifts, I decided not to use Christmassy paper. I wanted my co-workers to be able to use these in there homes or classroom whenever they wanted, not just at Christmas.

I cut each of my pieces 2 1/2 inches wide and long enough to fit around each jar. I made sure there was enough to overlap a bit, so I would have somewhere to glue.

I also made coordinating tags. I used a 2 inch white square and then another 2 inch piece of printed paper which I attached at an angle. I also added a gold sparkly sticker with the recipients initial. These were all attached with a bit of colored string.

I plan on filling them with some candy when I give them as gifts, but since there is no Christmas candy out quite yet, they are still empty!

I love all the pretty colors and prints!

Of course, turquoise is my favorite!

Now I am all set and won’t have to think about something at the last minute! This would make a great gift for a teacher, a co-worker or a friend. Start saving those jars and you will be on your way!