Upcycling

Memories of Paris: Upcycled Drink Coaster Wall Hanging

3 Comments

Since my upcycle adventures started last April, the word has gotten out to family and friends.  I am on a upcycling mission!  The best part of all is that others are starting to see ordinary items normally discarded or not used in a different light.  The original purpose of an item can be changed and restyled.  Instead of discarding something that can no longer be used, it can be modified so that it may have a new useful new purpose in your life.

Such is with the case of this project I am about to share with you.  My sister brought me a set of coasters she purchased during a trip to France.

DSC_1506

They are lovely and feature famous scenes and landmarks, but she felt the beauty of these coasters was wasted, and she never used them for their original intended purpose. It seemed a total waste not to display these in some way.  She asked me if I would I be able to do “something” with them. I love a challenge so I accepted the task, although at the time I really had no idea what the project plan would be, but luckily she was OK with that!

I held on to the coasters for a while, and kicked around a few ideas in my head.  Then one night I was lying in bed unable to sleep when I remembered this little wooden wall plaque.

DSC_1504

It was an item I had picked up at Goodwill a few months back.  When I purchased it for a dollar, I had no idea how I would use it.  Then it hit me!  It would be great to create a vertical wall hanging featuring the tile-like coasters.  She has a pink and brown french themed bedroom that I thought this would look perfect in.  I created my first chair upcycle for her.  A ladder back chair in pink and brown colors, known as  The Pillow Case Makeover.

I cleaned and primed the piece with a while latex primer.  Once dry, I painted the face of the plaque chocolate-brown.  The edges I painted pink.

DSC_1511

I applied Mod Podge matte finish to the painted areas. Once the Mod Podge was dry and clear, I used a high temperature hot glue gun to attach the coasters to the wood lining them up and allowing the same amount of space between them. I applied the hot glue generously and adhered them carefully one by one.

My sister seemed happy with the end result.  I have never been to France, but have a feeling I would love it there.  Everywhere you look is inspired by art, and hopefully looking at these images will bring back all the great memories of her trip!

DSC_1551

DSC_1547

The Toilet Paper Roll Experiment: Part Two

6 Comments

Just think of all the toilet paper rolls that are discarded each day!  They serve their purpose and are tossed in the trash can without a thought. When I walked into the bathroom at work, I noticed a few sitting there waiting to be discarded.  Since my upcycling mission started, I tend to look at things a bit different.  I especially love to take something that most certainly would end up in the garbage and give it a second life. I snatched a roll and went home to craft The Spare a Square Project.

DSC_1122

The initial project was a success, and I realized these card board rolls can be used in organizing my craft room items.  There are many upcycle ideas on the web when it comes to cardboard rolls. One amazing example, can be found here.  Word got out around the office that I was starting to save these rolls from the trash for a project to be determined later.  Suddenly, they started appearing on my desk and before I knew it, I had quite a few of them thanks to my recycling and equally curious friends.  I think they were curious to see what exactly I planned to do with them!

DSC_1508

I was sitting in craft room pondering the idea and I decided to create craft supply wall storage. Initially, I was not sure what I would store inside them, that idea would come to me later.

First, I painted the inside of the tubes white with acrylic paint.

DSC_1509

Next, I looked through the fabric that I had available and decided on a “fun” colorful pattern to decoupage. I cut pieces of fabric that would be enough to cover the outside of the roll.  I applied Mod Podge to the it with a foam craft brush, and placed it on to the fabric.

DSC_1513

Once the Mod Podge was applied I “rolled” the toilet paper roll on the fabric, and it adhered nicely.

DSC_1514

I trimmed away any excess fabric with a pair of scissors.

DSC_1515

I repeated this process with all of them.  Once they were done, I used a high temp hot glue to glue them together. I arranged them in rows. Three at the bottom, then two then one. Like this:

DSC_1521

I touched up the white paint in spots particularly around the edges, and once dry, added a Mod Podge finish to the entire project.

DSC_1533

Now that the project was complete, I had to figure out what to store in it!  It didn’t take me long to come up with the idea of storing my smaller containers of paint, and it created easy access to any color I need.

And…I decided to hang it like this:

DSC_1540

Who needs a square, when you can have the whole roll?

Materials:

Six Large toilet paper rolls

Mod Podge

Fabric

Hi Temp Hot Glue Gun

White Acrylic Paint

Scissors/Foam Craft Brush, and a Paint Brush.

Rescued Vinyl And The Magic of Mod Podge

2 Comments

With the holidays officially over and the New Year off to a rather frigid start, I share with you the last project on my Christmas list this year.  Late last month, I posted a tutorial for Sports Inspired TV Trays which have turned out to be a popular item among family and friends. The beauty of restyling these tables are the limitless possibilities.

TV Tray before

These tables are neutral and relatively easy to work with.  One of my upcycled gift recipients is not big on sports, so I thought she might like to have a TV table, but with an alternate theme.  A while back, I created a table from an old record, and a plant stand. I used Aerosmith’s greatest hits record.  The record was not in playable shape, so I decided to recycle the LP and use it for a upcycle project. The family member receiving the gift is a huge Aerosmith fan, and I decided to use the album cover and decoupage it to the table top. Upon further inspection, the cover was in pretty rough shape, so in the end I decided not to use it.  The liner notes; however were in great shape, and a colorful purple with the Aerosmith winged symbol in the middle.

DSC_1270

This seemed perfect for decoupage while incorporating something she and I hold close to our hearts~ records.  I have a collection too, mostly stocked through bargain bins.  It is not always easy to tell if a record is playable before purchase, and every so often you wind up purchasing a damaged record.  Not only can you reuse the record itself, but the artwork is perfect for decoupage.  Another example of this can be seen here from a previous post. Long live the LP!

DSC_1269

For a full tutorial and some examples of TV tray table redesigns click here and here.

Vintage Wooden Wall Shelf Redesigned

6 Comments

Most of my recent trips to the thrift stores have been utterly disappointing.  It would seem that spring cleaning is the last thing on anyone’s mind.  It’s bitterly cold outside, yard sale season is long over, and the streets are blanketed in snow from our most recent weather event Hercules (Since when did we start naming snow storms??) Everyone seems to be walking around with a post holiday hangover causing many (myself included) to limp into the New Year. Luckily, I still have a few projects up my extremely bundled and layered sleeve to share with you.

Although most of my thrift store trips have been uneventful, Every once in a while I still manage to find something unique.  I came across a really lovely and unique vintage wall shelf with a drawer.  I especially loved the curved sides and the drawer for storage.  It was in rough shape, but that didn’t deter me from placing it inside my cart.

Vintage Wooden Wall Shelf

When I originally purchased the shelf I had every intention of keeping it.  A blunder made during another project intended as a Christmas gift changed that and I had shift the original intention of this piece.

I lightly sanded the item with sand paper, and used a white latex primer to cover the piece.  I left the inside of the drawer alone as it was still in very good condition.  I decided to paint the piece black. This shelf has the potential to be hung in any room, so I wanted the color to go with any decor, and black is neutral. I painted all of the piece except for the drawer and shelf.  I planned to decoupage these areas later and didn’t want the dark color to bleed through the fabric. I used two coats of black acrylic paint and once it was completely dry added a layer of Mod Podge over top to seal it. I had some left over black and white damask fabric from a previous project.  I applied Mod Podge to the front of the door and shelf with a foam craft brush, I cut the fabric to fit as best I could as I would trim away any excess fabric later.  I made sure to line up the fabric design so that the piece would appear symmetrical.  I applied Mod Podge over top of the fabric allowing my nail to work the fabric into any grooves and once it was dry, carefully trimmed any excess fabric with a box cutter knife.

Black and White Damask Decorative Wall Shelf

Decoupage Black and White Damask Wall Shelf with drawer

I love damask designs and this was a tough piece to part with. My favorite project is draped in damask and this would match it beautifully. In the end I was happy to gift it to my sister to go with the chair I made for her in her bedroom, or perhaps it will go in her kitchen?  We shall see, as I offered my services free of charge to help her hang it!

DIY Decoupage Novelty Candles and Tea Light Holder

7 Comments

Looking for a great “personalized” gift that will keep you within your shopping budget? The holiday’s, and birthday’s can be tough, and it is more important than ever to get the most out of every penny. At the same time, It is also important to let those close to you know that they are appreciated throughout the year. I try to keep my ears and eyes open as to what matters to friends and family, by soaking in all of their interests and hobbies. I file these ideas away, and when I am trying to come up with gift ideas, I refer back to them.

As our extended families and circle of friends continue to grow, and the holiday’s become more and more about the children (As it should be, of course) It has become at times, a challenge to come up with gifts for friends and the adults in the family. This year, I decided to make personalized candles for some of those on my Christmas list. You can purchase candles anywhere, and they are reasonably priced. This year, I had many music lovers on my list, so I decided to decoupage some candles featuring the recipients favorite musical artists.   The possibilities are truly endless.  You can personalize and create any type of candle that you want.  For the non-music lovers on my list, I refashioned the candles with fabric, or with a family photo.  Making these is a simple process. I applied Mod Podge to the outside of the candle with a foam craft brush. I searched the internet for the images I planned to use and printed them out on my printer (the size of the images I used was 4×6) I trimmed the images to fit, and carefully applied them to the candles, smoothing any wrinkles. You can add Mod Podge over top of the image, but it is not needed. If you are looking for a shinier finish, you will need to complete this step. Once dry they are ready to be gifted!

Decoupage Candles

Rock N’ Roll Inspired Candles

\Grateful Dead tea light holder

Repurposed Candle made into a Tea Light Holder

Decoupage Sports Fan TV Trays Revisited

11 Comments

This holiday season,  I decided to craft some gifts not only to save money, but simply for the sake of doing something different.  When people stop by our house for a visit, they notice all the upcycled furniture and home decor items.  One of those items in particular, our Decoupaged  Philadelphia Phillies TV tray gets a good deal of attention. For this reason, I thought tables such as these would make great gifts.  Most folks have a set of these boring wooden TV trays at home.

TV Tray before

Despite the lack of design qualities these trays are very functional and often times serve an important purpose.  Who hasn’t sat in front of the TV, and used one of these little trays to devour a late night snack, or simply use as a laptop computer table?

I was in the thrift store and happened across four for sale.  I snatched them up and was glad that I did!  For three of these tables, I decided to use sports team themes, (the recipients are all sports fans, I will save what I did to the fourth table for a future post.)  I found sports images online and printed them out on my printer. If you do not have an available printer, you can use decals, fabric, baseball cards, you name it!

First, be sure and clean the table thoroughly.  Once the table is clean and dry apply a white latex primer.  To speed up this process, I purchased a spray on primer.  I took the tables outside and applied two coats to each table, allowing each table to dry thoroughly between coats.  Table number one was for a Washington Redskins fan.  I painted the table with acrylic paint in the Washington Redskins colors, gold and a deep dark red, almost burgundy color.  Once dry, I used Mod Podge to carefully apply the printed image to the table surface.   I then applied Mod Podge over top of the print and covered all the painted areas with Mod Podge to seal the table.  The Mod Podge on its own is enough to seal the table, but since I was giving these as gifts, I added a coat of a polyurethane clear coat sealer for added protection against moisture and heavy use.  Be sure to be mindful of the parts of the table that fold up. (“On the Upcycle” mistake alert!)  If any Mod Podge or Polyurethane drip into these areas and dry it can be problematic if you try to open the table and it “sticks”  This happened a little with the Washington Redskins table and caused the paint to “chip” a bit in the area that the legs were slightly “stuck” together.  Despite this minor flaw, the table turned out well!

Washington Redskins Decoupage TV Tray

sports tv tray

I repeated the same steps for table number two (New York Yankees Sports fan table)

Yankees Decoupage Sports TV Tray

and table number three (Philadelphia Eagles Sports fan table)

philadelphia eagles tv tray

Before giving the gifts, I inspected the tables carefully, touching up any areas that needed it.  They seemed to be a big hit with those who received one.  It also marked the first time I attempted to work on multiple projects at the same time.

TV Trays Before and After:

Decoupage Sports Themed TV Trays made with Mod Podge

 

I got a fever for Pringles Can Crafts!

Leave a comment

I saw on Pinterest  recently many uses for all those left over Pringles Chips cans. Through the magic of decoupage, these cans can be transformed from downright ugly to lovely!  They can be used to store various items and are a great way to gift Christmas cookies for the holidays.

Pringles-Gift-Box-Fun-Holiday-Crafts

Like these cookie containers from Cheap Crafting.Com

Today, I share with you a Pringle can kid’s craft.  My daughter loves to listen to music, but loves to make music even more!  I love to get her involved in the process and creating music together has been a wonderful Mother and Daughter bonding experience.  I cleaned out the can first.  You can fill the cans with dry pasta or dried beans.   I would fill the can up about half way.  To secure the lid, use a hot glue gun to adhere the lid permanently to the can.  Once the lid is secure, you can use either scrapbook paper or fabric and decoupage the outside of the can.  (This is necessary only if you want it to look “pretty”)  Apply the Mod Podge with a foam craft brush and wrap the fabric or scrapbook paper around the outside of the can.  This is also a great way to get use out of those old pieces of scrap fabric, that may be a bit small for other projects.  My daughter loves “shaking” her new percussion instruments. These “instruments” are a great way to encourage sensory development while at the same time encouraging fun!

DSC_1147

Kids instrument made from the smaller Pringles can.

Simple Fabric Decoupage Snowman Hand Soap Dispenser

2 Comments

As much as I love the holiday season, It has been a hectic few weeks decorating, attempting to make Christmas gifts and getting caught up in the everyday hustle and bustle of life.  Today, I experienced disappointment, after a mistake by yours truly turned into an epic craft fail. I now have to rethink an idea for an intended Christmas gift.  Not to mention most of the items I make between now and December 25th, I cannot share yet as it would ruin the surprise for those intended recipients.

I did manage to complete a simple craft today, I have been wanting to do for the upcoming Christmas holiday.  We like to decorate every room in our home including our bathroom.  I had an ordinary plastic soap dispenser that cost $.99 that is easily refilled.  I decided to decoupage some scrap snowman fabric left over from a previous project .

Image

I used outdoor Mod Podge previously used for a few summer projects.  The finish is a bit more durable when used in watery conditions. I carefully removed the label and I applied the Mod Podge with a foam craft brush to the outside if the bottle.  I wrapped the fabric around it, and smoothed out any wrinkles.  I trimmed any excess fabric and applied more Mod Podge over the fabric. I allowed it to dry for a few hours.  Once dry, it was ready to take its place along side the other decorative items and function as an inexpensive alternative to a fancy store-bought holiday soap dispenser.

Image

Holiday Decoupage Soap Disp

This idea can also be applied to hand lotion, and other gift basket items to add a holiday flare and personalize.  Choose a fabric suited to your holiday decor at Joann Fabrics.  Everything is better with decoupage!

Free Amazon Download starts TODAY! The Green Crafts Lifestyle: Christmas Edition!

2 Comments

The Green Crafts Lifestyle – Christmas Edition – Make Christmas Decor, Cards and Gifts!

1451464_674360959264580_1206827235_n

I have had the pleasure once again to be a part of the second installment of “The Green Craft Lifestyle”.  The new Christmas Edition is jam packed with green Christmas crafts from around the world.  The very talented Mahe Zehra Husain (MZ) is giving away free copies for download from the 30th of November to the 4th of December you can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GXE82S4 and http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GXE82S4. On Facebook?  Join the free event here. Don’t have a Kindle?  Download Kindle Cloud Reader for your Laptop!

I’ll be trying to tackle holiday decorating today…Thanks Mahe for the freebie!

Happy Crafting Holidays!

I am “Thankful” For My Readers: Decoupage Wooden Tray Giveaway: WINNER!

4 Comments

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving day with their family and friends.

Image

Thanksgiving “On The Upcycle” Style

Now that the hubby, daughter and I are recovered from eating all the great food we were very blessed to have on our table yesterday, I wanted to take the time once again to thank you all for your continued readership.  This year to celebrate our readers, “On The Upcycle” is  giving away a Victorian art inspired wooden decoupage tray to one lucky reader who commented and liked “On The Upcycle on facebook” That winner is:

Image

Patricia from DanielaJoe’s blog Congratulations!  Please e-mail me your full name and address to ontheupcycle@gmail.com and I will ship your prize out to you!

Thanks to all of those who entered the giveaway:

Upshabby

Being Zhenya

Pillows A-La Mode

Roof Top Creations

Please be sure and stop by these amazing blogs.  You will be very “thankful” that you did!