Repurpose

The Broken Chair Challenge Part 2: Chair Back Photo Frame

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It all started when I purchased a lovely (but very abused) chair from Goodwill for $3.99.  I loved the design qualities of this chair and thought it would make a lovely restyle. I especially loved the is.  Which means “ Lily flower” in French.  I removed the chair seat, only to discover it broken beyond repair. I was not willing to let this chair go, and  I was determined to find a replacement seat.  My husband and I kept our eyes open for any broken chairs on the side of the road that we could use to salvage a seat.

For months, this chair sat and I resisted the temptation of buying a chair to salvage.  Then one day, my patience paid off.  My sister and I went thrift shopping one weekend and in front of the store they had free furniture.  I was ecstatic!  Their it was the perfect candidate, a chair missing the arms, but with a perfectly usable seat.  I confirmed with the store manager that this chair was indeed “free” and loaded it into the car with the biggest smile planted on my face. I immediately removed the seat when I got the chair home and it was a perfect fit.

Upcycled Black and White Damask Chair

To read more about this project see The Broken Chair Challenge: Upcycled Black and White Damask Chair.

Now, I was left with the remnants of another chair, and did not want the all the parts of this chair to end up in the trash.  It had a lovely seat back, and I had seen some lovely upcycling of chair backs into picture frames on Pinterest. I decided to give it a try.  One great example of this can be found at All Things Thrifty.com

Old Chair Back

The finish on this was extremely worn. If it had not been in such poor shape, I don’t think I would have opted to paint it. By far,  the most difficult and challenging aspect of this project was sawing the legs off the chair back.  I used a hacksaw, but it was quite tough to do!  An electric or battery operated hand saw would have worked better, but on the bright side it was at least a 500 calorie burner! Rarely can you say you burn calories crafting!  Once this was completed, I sanded the area that was cut.  I took the chair back outside and spray painted it black, using about two coats.  I allowed the piece to dry overnight.

The next day, I chose a large photo from one of my daughter’s previous Picture People photo sessions.  I measured the area and trimmed the photograph to sit inside the middle of the chair back.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere the photo to the wood.  I had a few craft jewels and roses that I added to the chair back to make it “pop”  I originally glued a large rose to the bottom of the chair back, but decided to remove it later as you will see in the photos below.  One of the smaller roses, I carefully glued to her hand in the photo, It creates an illusion that she is actually holding a rose in the photo.  I think it gives the photo a bit of an extra dimension.  A nice little “touch” to the project.

Hand Holding Rose

I decided to hang this in our bedroom which is black, white with grey wall.  It was very difficult to snap an adequate photo as the flash kept reflecting off the shiny surface , but it is lovely and I am so glad I tried this!

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Think of all the possibilities before you toss that old chair!

Materials:

Hot Glue Gun

Spray Paint (If you choose to paint)

Old Chair Back

Scissors

Saw (If needed)

Screw driver (if needed)

Sandpaper

An old chair back re-purposed into a Picture frame

Tangled No More: Upcycled Wooden Shaker Peg Rack

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I have a confession.  I am horrible when it comes to keeping my jewelry together and organized. I am always losing earrings,  and I constantly tangle my necklaces together.  When I picked up this Shaker Peg Rack at a thrift shop, I planned on using it to hang “crafty”things in my crafting area. I decided against it when I realized it was more urgently needed in our bedroom for jewelry.    I reached my breaking point this weekend, when I went to change my necklace only to discover a tangled mess!

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I decided I would use the fabric featured on Upcycled Spaghetti Jar Lamp.  I tried removing the pegs, but needed some of the hubby’s strength to remove them. He was able to loosen them and I was able to finally pop them out. My plan was to glue the pegs back on later. After pulling them out, they still fit snuggly which was great.  Removing the pegs would make it easier when covering the rack with fabric, and it would appear seamless.   I traced the rack surface onto the fabric with a black marker.

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I cut the fabric outline with a pair of scissors.  I placed the fabric aside.  I applied Mod Podge to the wooden rack with a foam craft brush, I carefully applied the cut fabric to the wooden surface smoothing it out on the surface with my hands.  I marked off the spot on the fabric, where the peg holes were.  This way, when dry I could pierce the holes with a scissor tip without making the fabric shift and move. I placed this piece aside to dry and painted the pegs with black acrylic paint.  I painted any areas not covered with fabric black.  Once the paint was completely dry, I covered all the painted and fabric covered areas with another layer of Mod Podge, and glued the wooden pegs back into the holes.  I used two long black screws to mount the jewelry holder to the wall.

This fabric and style looks great in our grey/neutral bedroom. You can use any fabric or color scheme you like and unfinished Shaker Peg Racks can easily be picked up at yard sales and thrift shops for a couple bucks. The perfect upcycle!

Upcycled Shaker Peg Rack Made with fabric, Paint and Mod Podge

Upcycled Decorative Jar Lamp: Take Three

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Upcycled Decorative Jar Lamp

 

It all started with a spaghetti Jar, a broken lamp and a upcycle idea.  I found myself making a third decorative fabric covered glass jar lamp tonight.  (See Decorative Lamp # 1 and #2 to read tutorials on how I make these jar lamps.) I enjoy making these because each one turns out unique and the style possibilities are endless when it comes to the different fabrics you can use.

I also had the chance to work on a few smaller projects and organizing my craft space.  I decided to use the same sheet  I used for Cloth Covered Galvanized Bucket.  The Lamp is being displayed in a built-in vanity in our hallway that displays a special family blue vase.  The light this lamp omits illuminates the vase nicely and it is pleasing to the eye as you walk up our stairs.  Upon further inspection today, on a trip up to our attic, I stumbled across more of these “nightlight bulb lights”  These certainly will come in handy for future luminary crafts!

Upcycled Decorative Jar Lamp Reflection

 

 

The Green Crafts Lifestyle (and their special promotion starting this Friday . . . and a new call for submissions!)

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Thanks again to Katherine at Pillows ALA Mode.  Today, I feature her blog  to help spread the word about green crafting.  Be sure and check out this amazing free e-book! The Green Crafts Lifestyle FREE TO DOWNLOAD 8/16 thru 8/18 on Amazon! CLICK HERE! To download your copy!

This book Features “On The Upcycle” projects, along with other amazing crafts from upcycling artists from around the world. Don’t miss out!

Pillows A-La-Mode's avatarPILLOWS A-LA-MODE

Book CoverIn June, I wrote in this post about our crafty upcycling friend Mahe (aka MZ) that included a call for submissions for her new upcycled craft book. The Green CraftsLifestyle is now out, and it’s amazing! It includes sections on paper, plastic, wood, metal, and fabric and has projects from 20 artists around the world, including four of my bloggy friends:

Along with 35 projects detailed on nearly 200 pages of photographs and step-by-step directions, you’ll find author bios and photos with links to their blogs, websites, and other online contacts.

Now for the promotion! To provide all crafters with a chance to learn from these techniques, Mahe’s Altered Upcycling business will provide unlimited…

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Epic Fail or Tiny Triumph: Upcycled Decoupage Cigar Box

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I found this great cigar box during a quick walk through of a local Goodwill store. I considered it a win because I was able to get my Goodwill customer rewards card stamped (10 stamps and you save 20% off your total purchase and I only managed to spend $1.06 (with tax)  I had made a previous attempt to upcycle another cigar box and the whole project went terribly wrong!   I liked this box because unlike the failed project box, it was made only from wood.  The other cigar box was made from wood also; However it was coated in paper.  The Mod Podge adhered to areas like the lid creases and not realizing it also adhered to this “paper.” When I tried to open the lid it was glued to the box! Upon attempting to open it, the lid tore away from the box. Ouch!  That’s what I’d call an Epic Fail! I swore this cigar box upcycle would be different!  After all, decoupage boxes are usually fun and easy to make.

Wooden Cigar BoxFor the lid cover, I chose the John Waterhouse painting The Lady of Shalott.  My plan was to line the inside of the box with Ivory Damask scrapbook paper I had on hand.  First, I traced the box lid onto the back of the art print.  I then traced the bottom of the box, and inside lid onto the back of the scrapbook paper.  I then cut them out with scissors.  I applied Mod Podge with a foam brush to the lid and carefully adhered the print to the top of the box carefully, smoothing it out with my hands.  I allowed the box to dry, and repeated this process on the inside of the box using the scrapbook paper.

Once it was completely dry, I applied Mod Podge to the top and inside of the box.  I decided to leave the exposed natural wood on the edges inside.  I really love this box and as I always say “Now…. what shall I put in it?”

Decoupage Wooden Cigar Box Inside

The Lady of Shalott 1888Upcycle Cigar Box

The Lady of Shalott
1888 Upcycled Cigar Box

Materials:

Art Print to Decoupage

1 Sheet of Scrapbook paper

Mod Podge

Fine tip marker

Scissors

Foam Craft Brush

Upcycled Pickle Jar Decorative Lamp- Part Two

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It all began with three broken lamps up in our attic, and a spaghetti jar.  I had an idea jump into my head one day, to upcycle these broken lamps with glass jars. I decided to produce the first of what I was hoping would be three cloth-covered decorative lamps.  I was very happy with how  Upcycled Spaghetti Jar Decorative Lamp turned out so I decided to move forward with lamp # 2.  This time I wanted to use brightly colored fabric on the glass.  I had this great pickle jar that was slightly larger than the spaghetti jar I used previously.  I also had some left over fabric from a previous project called Upcycled Wooden Pedestal Bowl, and Restyled Side Table  that  was orange, red, yellow and black.

I cut a large piece of fabric, enough to wrap around the sides of the jar.  I traced the bottom of the jar, (which would be the top of the lamp) onto the fabric with a sharpie marker, and cut it out with scissors. I applied Mod Podge to the outside of the jar, and applied the fabric carefully around it.  I used twine to tie the fabric at the bottom.  This actually looked great and allowed the fabric to touch the base.  I then glued the rest of the fabric to the top of the lamp.  I allowed this to dry and then I applied the Mod Podge over the fabric.

Upcycled Pickle Jar Decorative lamp

I love the red hue the light gives off.  It was very difficult to get a picture of what the lamp actually looks like.  I had to play around quite a bit with the camera settings.  I have this on the fireplace mantel in our living room.  Stay tuned for lamp # 3!

Pickle Jar Lamp pictured with Upcycle Wooden Ped bowl

Upcycled Pickle Jar Lamp Pictured with Upcycled wooden Pedestal bowl.  Love this fabric!

“On The Upcycle” Featured In A New Book~”The Green Crafts Lifestyle”

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I am excited to announce the arrival today of the new Amazon book for Kindle by the very talented Mahe Zehra Husain known by her fans as MZ.  She has an amazing green crafting company and website called Altered Upcycling.  Make sure and check it out!   “The Green Crafts Lifestyle”  is now available for download on Amazon for only $4.99!  I have been privileged enough to take a peek inside and it has some amazing green crafts, and features upcycling artists from around the world.  It also features artist bios and my very first step by step photo tutorial.  You can buy it here: 

Altered Upcycle Available on Amazon

Tomorrow’s blog will feature my “Secret Americana Project” An Upcycled, American classic, Windsor back chair.  A project that is debuted in the book. I was unable to share it with my readers…Until now!

When I started this blog back in April, I couldn’t have imagined having a oppurtunity such as this!  I am featured with some of the most talented and amazing artists, and quite frankly, I am not sure that I am even close to being in their league!  I feel very honored and grateful.

I would like to send out a special Thank You to Katherine from Pillows A-La Mode who encouraged me to “throw my hat into the ring” with this project. Make sure and visit her craft blog.  She is an amazing talent! It is an exciting first for me, just a simple working mom from NJ who loves to create!  Thanks also to all my readers for your support,  It means more than you know!

Upcycled Tile Coasters Made With Mod Podge

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The word has gotten out: I am a certified decoupage addict! The nice thing about this being public is people have brought me things out of the goodness of their heart for me to use for decoupage: scrapbook paper, fabric you name it!   I always appreciate when someone takes the time to pass something along they can’t use to someone else, as is the case with these really neat bird paper cut outs a friend at work passed along to me.

Avian paper cut outs

 

There were three just like this, and I couldn’t wait to use them.  They were very pretty, but very delicate and I was nervous handling them outside their plastic sleeves.

I had some left over tiles from my DIY Kitchen Backsplash, and thought they would make great coasters.  I also had some packing foam material, that came with a package that would work great when attached to the bottom of the coasters.

Materials

 

I placed the tiles on the foam and cut the foam to fit the bottom on the tile,  I applied Mod Podge to the bottom of the tile and adhered the foam to prevent scraping and skidding while using the coasters.  You can also use felt if you have it handy.  I applied the Mod Podge to the top of the tile.  I used outdoor Mod Podge, so it would be tougher if exposed to moisture from a sweaty drink. This is where things started to go terribly wrong.  The cut outs were very delicate and I had to be extra careful when placing on the tile.  I tried to apply the Mod Podge  carefully with a soft brush.  Despite this, the cut out’s ink ran and smudged the entire first tile, which could not be saved. Crafting is like life, it is unpredictable at times and does not always go according to plan.

And then there were two…

Now, I was really nervous! Looking back, It would have been better to use a spray adhesive instead, which Mod Podge makes.  I didn’t have this handy, so I tried very gently, and quickly to apply the Mod Podge.  Despite a slight change in the color, it didn’t smear this time and neither did tile # 3.  Phew!!  Once it was dry, I applied another coat, and no smeared color this time!  I was so glad these turned out and I was able to salvage this project.  I would have been disappointed if I didn’t get to upcycle these tiles!

upcycled tile coasters

 

 

Upcycled Spaghetti Jar Decorative Lamp

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I was upstairs in the attic last night searching for a lost box of crafting materials, when I came across a box of light bases that were at one time,  miniature decorative table lamps. The glassware that was originally attached to them had broken.  I had forgotten I had kept these items.  I am sure at the time, I was thinking I may be able to utilize them in the future in some way. and then I thought to myself, the future is now!

One in particular caught my eye.  It was a black, metal, pedestal light base that utilized a night-light bulb. My initial idea was to utilize a glass jar to replace the broken glass. but several different glass items could be modified to use for this project. Ball jars, glass vases from the dollar store etc.  I just happened to have an old Spaghetti sauce jar in the recycle bin.  I happily removed it cleaning it with hot soapy water.  I placed it in a bucket of hot water to remove the jar label.

Broken Lamp and Glass Jar

Materials:

Mod Podge

Light Base

Fabric

Foam Craft Brush, Scissors

fine tipped marker

I had some great fabric left over from Ugly Accent Table Makeover.  If you are looking for something more colorful you can try holding  different fabrics up to the light.  That way, you can tell what the finished lamp will look like when the light illuminates it.  I took the fabric, and wrapped it around the glass jar so I knew how much fabric I would need.  I measured and cut and placed aside.  I wanted to also add fabric to the “bottom” of the jar, which would be the “top” of the lamp. I traced the jar onto the back of the fabric and carefully cut it out with scissors.  I cut inside the tracing to factor in the edges of the glass, so the fabric would not hang over.    I then applied  Mod Podge with a foam craft brush to the glass.  I applied and smoothed out the fabric, adhering it to the glass.  I applied another coat of Mod Podge over the top of the fabric.  In this case I applied a total of two coats allowing to dry throughly in between.  I couldn’t be more happy with the result!  A true upcycle and a great decorative lamp for a fraction of the cost!

Upcycled Spaghetti Jar Decorative Lamp

Spaghetti Jar Lamp Made with fabric and Mod Podge

Inexpensive Storage Ideas: Repurposed Wooden Boxes

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I am always on a mission to organize our family home, but with an active 2 year-old it is usually easier said then done.  When I come across wooden boxes, and any items I can upcycle into storage containers,  I jump at the chance to buy them.  Thrift Stores, or even items you already have in your home can be  altered to fit any style and repurposed into inexpensive storage containers.  Today, I chose to upcycle an ex Melissa and Doug Toy Box.  I believe at one time it housed an elaborate wooden puzzle, and somehow ended up a simple, empty,  wooden box on a thrift store shelf.  Our biggest storage issues at the moment are kids toys and books.  I decided to repurpose this into a kid’s toy storage/book box.  I had purchased this lettered scrapbook paper for a previous project, but decided not to use it. It was a perfect fit for this project.

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Materials:

Scrapbook paper

Box

Mod Podge

Scissors

Foam craft brush

Pink Acrylic paint/Brush

pen or pencil

I traced the bottom of the box onto the back of the scrapbook paper cutting it out with scissors.  I applied Mod Podge with a foam brush and glued the scrapbook paper to the wood. while it dried, I painted the remainder of the box pink. Once the piece is completely dry,  A final coat of Mod Podge is all that is needed to seal the entire piece

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Colorful and Bright storage options at a fraction of the cost!