Poster Transformation

My husband has had this Beatles poster for as long as I can remember.  If you ask anyone who knows him they will tell you he is obsessed with the Beatles and their music. 

 

I found a poster at the thrift store for a couple of dollars that had nothing to do with the Beatles, it was an Anne Geddes, but it was the same style as this one.  They are made from chipboard and have the picture glued to the front and a glossy coat added to the top. You know the kind I'm talking about. The Beatles one is 24" x 36" and the one I found was 12" x 36".

My first attempt at this was a total fail.  I sanded the top of the picture thinking it would help give it some tooth.  Once I had the primer on the whole thing started to peel.  The shiny surface on these posters is really a plastic coating.  Tip: do not sand the plastic coating. 

In hind sight the DIY chalky paint I use as a primer probably would have stuck to it just fine.
Oh well, not one to be deterred I just flipped the board over and filled the little slot at the top for hanging with some wood filler and sanded it smooth.

A coat of primer, and a coat of white paint gave me a nice clean surface for the lettering.  For this project I printed it out from the  computer and transferred them to the board. Just cover the back of the  printed pages with pencil, flip them back over and then trace them onto your project.  Then using a small brush, fill the letters in with black paint.

Once dry I had to give it three coats of sealer to get a shine similar to the Beatles poster.  I think they make a good pairing, and hubby was pleased with what I made for him.  These are going to look great in his music room/office. 
Now that I know  these old posters will make a great surface for other projects like this, I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for them. woo hoo

Rolling Pins display

I love rolling pins.  I didn't start out trying to collect them on purpose, but rather found myself in possession of a nice half dozen.  One belonged to my mom and one to my grandmother.  One belonged to the mother of a dear friend and one is mine.  I picked the other two up at a thrift store just because they seemed abandoned to me.  Rolling pins are infused with the memories of endless family dinners, fabulous desserts,  successes and failures. Birthdays and holidays, weddings and wakes. It breaks my heart to see them tossed away.

So where do you keep a half dozen rolling pins?  I've seen them displayed in wine racks, and in vintage sap buckets.  I've also seen them filling a large wooden crate.  However;  six rolling pins is not really a collection....yet.  I do think  they deserve a place of honour, so I hope they enjoy the special spot I created for them.

This project doesn't need a drawn out tutorial. I just painted a board, distressed it a bit and added some appropriate text by hand. The little hooks are perfect for this use.

 

















Some of the rolling pins had a little hole at one end so I drilled one in the others as well.  A little loop tied with a piece of jute twine and it all just goes together.  Easy peasy, and I love how they look on my kitchen wall. 

It might not be a huge collection but it just might be the beginning of a collecting habit.

Create Book Storage... that's both functional and a piece of art.

This is an idea that I came up with, while trying to create a cozy place to read to my kidlets, when I was still doing my home daycare .

All I did was use one side of a crib.  I used some two inch square blocks and screwed the crib rail directly to the wall. By placing the blocks between the rail and the wall as spacers this left just enough room to hang the books over the rungs so the covers showed, like a giant book collage.  You could even use some thread spools as spacers if you had them.  All done. Easy peasy. 


The addition of a big arm chair creates a perfect cuddle up and read spot.

Our favorite Dr Seuss quote and "Oh... The Places You'll Go"


 
 


























The kidlets could choose their favorite books with just a glance.





















This is such an easy upcycle project and would look great in any child's room.  It takes up no room if you are looking to reserve floor space for other activities.   A few pillows on the floor would be a great addition if there isn't room for a big chair.  Plus, I didn't even paint mine as hardly any of the rail shows when it's loaded up with books. Of course it would only take a short time to give your crib rail a coordinating colour.  
 I love the cover art on children's books and this is a really great way to store your favorite stories close at hand and add some art to your child's room at the same time.


I didn't even paint mine because not a lot of the rack shows, but you could do a room co-ordinating colour if you choose

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Tile and twine Wall Art.

I always have a huge stock of tiles. Different colours and sizes. Sometimes I have ceramic or porcelain and sometimes slate or marble ones. That's because my dear hubby is an installer and sometimes there are a few left over from a job.  I hate tossing things so I make him bring them home to me.  They are good for a lot of different things, and I like to stencil on some of them to make a little wall art.  Krylon makes a ton of different spray paints  and there is  one that is a paint and primer in one.  I have found that it will adhere to almost anything, and it works great on these tiles.  So here is a little project I did with a few porcelain tiles and some jute twine.

I'm not going to give a big tutorial here because this was way to simple for that.  All I did was place a store bought stencil on each tile using a little spray adhesive to keep them form sliding around and gave them a spray with some black paint. I used three very light coats and let it dry about half an hour between sprays.  This keeps the paint from bleeding under the stencils like it will if you use one heavy coat.  These tiles are about 8x12" and make a nice bit of wall art.
To hang them I used  some jute twine wrapped around each end, leaving a little across the top to use for a hanger.
Like I said , it was almost too easy.

I like stenciled  tiles.  Here are a few larger 12x12" ones I've done .

These ones are a bit on the heavy side so I like to display them in a stand.  I usually  display  one or two on my kitchen counter, just leaned against the backsplash,  and because the tiles are so durable they can be used as trivets to protect the counters from hot pans. So I guess it's usable art.  Love it.
What do you think, could you use a few in your kitchen?

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what you think of todays post.