Thrift Store Dictionary and a $1 Cabinet

Let me start by saying that I LOVE books.

I have seven bookcases FULL in my home right now.

That said, I also love to use aged books

 in my projects and this outdated, trashed

 dictionary is no exception.

Upcycling an old book and restyling a cabinet? It's a match 

made in book and furniture recycling heaven.

This is one of my favorite projects!

Insanely Clever Christy is very methodical with the dictionary pages. I am more of a "tear it into random shapes" kind of gal. We knew this dictionary would be perfect for this project.

We found this solid wood cabinet for $1.

ONE DOLLAR! A SINGLE BUCK!

Ahem.

Finds like this are my number one reason for Thrift Store shopping.

After a thorough cleaning and two coats of Country White latex paint, the door panels get the book page treatment.

A bit of edge sanding give them a vintage vibe. 

Black spray paint updates the knobs and then creative wrapping 

of hemp twine  and hot glue for the edges and around the pulls

 gives it just the right touch!

Wow! I LOVE the way this came out!!

Clear acrylic sealer finished her up and now she is in our guest bathroom. 

She is a classy addition!

Best of all? The entire project cost us less than $5 total.

The old dictionary was $1.

The cabinet was $1.

The Mod Podge came from my stash.

The clear acrylic sealer was on clearance at $2.89.

Time invested....maybe four hours.

I call this one a win win!

And one of the best parts is that we still have most

 of this dictionary for MORE book page projects!

An old illustrated dictionary and a $1 thrift store cabinet. 

One of my most favorite projects EVER.

What's not to love? 

Use Your Imagination, Not $$$$ To Decorate for Fall

I am just as dazzled as the next gal by all the beautiful bling and glittery decor in the stores this time of year. I want to buy it all! BUT, reality and our budget intrude and I have to pull back. Way back. What do I do when I want beautiful decor without spending any ducats? I use my imagination and what I have on hand.

I start out with some twiggy branches from our yard. Florist foam anchors them in a painted black planter and then I start adding....stuff.

 Fake leaves and pumpkins from my stash plus different containers and candlesticks got me going. Then I made the pumpkins from fabric scraps, string and stuffing with cinnamon sticks for stems. Easy and FREE.

Here's the same display area fixed up, on the cheap, for Halloween.

I used crepe paper for the fluttery bats and the rosettes on the wreath. The Halloween balls are recycled Christmas balls and mod podged tissue paper. Black spray paint made the plastic ferns appropriately Octoberish. I gathered together some other spooky elements plus my very own silver button blingy decor ball and it all came together nicely for no money.

I hot glued the leaves to the black branches and also used them on a twig wreath that had seen better days. I added some book page leaves for contrast and then painted a banner for the middle of the wreath saying, "Thankful." Painting the muslin with country white paint gave it enough body to curve and hold it's shape when I glued it in place. Simple, easy and again, free! A colorful spray of silk leaves is in the white vase now instead of the black ferns.

I've found that with a good pair of craft scissors you can cut 8 layers of paper at a time, so very quickly you can have LOTS of maple and oak leaves cut from book pages for your autumn decor. They are very versatile, I use them alot every year.

With just a bit of tweaking and more glossy black spray paint, the three candle holders got a face lift. The old candles were up cycled with jute twine, hot glue and little black bows. How beautiful! I love the way this display came together. It was fun to do and didn't cost me anything. I call that a win win!

 I'll be posting to the parties in my sidebar since they are so much fun. Come check them out, the creativity out in blogland is amazing.