Book Page Wreaths

My sister asked me to make a book page wreath for her for Christmas.  Sadly, I just got around to it -- she knew I was not going to have it done in time for the holidays with all the stuff I had going on but I still feel a little bad.

I have seen these all over the internet especially while cruising around Pinterest, the most addicting site ever.  I ended up kind of following this tutorial from Living with Lindsay.  I have to say it was super easy and only cost me $1.50 since I used a foam plumbing tube from Home Depot as the base instead of a store bought styrofoam wreath and I had the book and hot glue on hand.   The plumbing tube was obviously a lot cheaper and you can customize it to whatever size you want.  I am shocked that people sell these for $40 or more and that people actually buy them for that much.  I think I'd rather spend an hour making one instead of spending that much money.

The finished wreath. 

 I ended up making one for myself too to hang over my fireplace.  Still need to figure out the arrangement on my mantle (and eventually make a nice mantle slipcover out of wood so it looks better) but for now, it will do. Think I have to make at least one more of these as my mom saw the photo and said she had to have one too!  Good thing they are cheap and don't take too long to do.

Up Next: Dollhouse

Next big project is the one I have been talking about for awhile.  Just now getting to it.  My sister's old dollhouse.  Here is the front of the house before...you can see it is falling apart.  I plan on removing all the dirty old windows and shutters and giving this baby a complete overhaul.  We shall see how long it takes me.  My grandfather built this so I plan on keeping the overall structure the same but will try to modernize it a little.  Once I actually assemble the house, I'll take more pictures but I plan on painting it before I assemble so wanted to have some kind of before photo.

Here's hoping I can knock this out in a month or two.

Finished!

I know. I know.  It's been awhile since my last post...I'm always full of excuses but in all fairness Sept through Dec are always busy!

Anyways, if you remember my last post about the media center, I am now finished with it!  Woo hoo!

Here is the before again:

And the after!  I painted it a tealish kind of color and then used a brown glaze over it.   Very different, right?  I personally am loving it!

I used all the original hardware and just spray painted them with an oiled bronze paint.

 And because I thought the original screens were a bit out dated, I went ahead and replaced it with some aluminum screen sheeting in a much more modern pattern. It also provided a little more coverage so you can't see what is in the cabinet as much.  Still open but less so.  I also spray painted the new screens in the bronze paint.

The before:

 And the after (sorry for such bright lighting!)

 And here it is in the house with the new TV on it.  We actually have the TV centered now since we were able to put the satellite box in it once we drilled holes but as usual I'm too lazy to get a good pic.  Maybe once the whole living room is complete (more artwork, hopefully new floors in a few months), I'll take a better pic.