Thrift Store Makeover Challenge

Welcome to  Ten on the 10th!

This month we transformed thrift store finds with the usual ten dollar budget.

A big thank you to Katie@Let's Add Sprinkles for organizing this hop.

While window shopping online,  I've admired stamped bundles of vintage books for sale in various places.  I've come pretty close to pressing the "buy" button.

The hesitation:  making a set of my own would be cheaper and open endless possibilities of word combinations.

It's pretty easy to find old hardback books at thrift shops and garage sales.  The covers won't matter, since they are headed for the trash can.

The picture below shows how the inner binding can be pulled out from the hard outer cover. 

Pretty technical, I know.

I used a scissors to make a clean break.  I also saved a blank page to go on the top of my finished book stack.

The only thing I purchased for this project (other than the 50 cent books) was this Mixed Media black ink pad.  The ink is much heavier than traditional ink pads.  This is needed to cover the texture of the binding.  This ink pad was $7 at Michaels before deducting a 40% coupon.

I already owned the alphabet stamps.

Of course I practiced on paper before stamping on the actual books.

A Sharpee was perfect for a few touch ups before bundling the books with twine.

And here they are on my latest favorite Etsy purchase.  This adorable pleated linen slipcover was made to my measurements by Sunny Family Style.  It is covering an old fabric storage cube.  Now it offers a perfect spot to put up my feet and enjoy a good book. ***

Be sure to visit all this month's great Ten on the 10th posts:

French Ethereal

Homeroad 

My Heart Lives Here(me)

At Home With Jemma

Decor To Adore

Patina and Paint

Chasing Quaintness

County Road 407

The Apple Street Cottage

Let's Add Sprinkles

Pandora's Box

Bluesky at Home 

Exquisitely Unremarkable 

Blessings,
Joining:
The Scoop

When You Care Enough

Welcome. It's the very first Ten on the 10th of 2019!  

Our Christmas tree is put away.  (Well, barely.  I love Christmas and keep it up until the Epiphany on January 6th.)

Now it's time to start thinking about making people feel treasured on Valentine's Day.

For less than the price of a Valentine's Day card, you can give the special people in your life a unique, personalized, painted canvas.  Even a non-artist like me can paint a heart!

For my first attempt, I brushed on a heart, let it dry, added the foam sticker letters, then dabbed some paint on the letters to incorporate them.

The supplies are very inexpensive and easily obtained.  I found little canvases at Target and Michael's priced between $1.49 and $2.00 each.  I purchased the gold foam alphabet stickers ($3.99) and gold acrylic paint ($2.49) in the craft aisle at Target.  This project was actually inspired by the quirky style of these foam sticker letters.  

Originally, I thought I might do a heart with my husband's and my initials (EM + DM), but oops, there was only one uppercase M.  

So... I came up with some other ideas.  Word to the wise,  if you want to do initials, and you're married to your sweetheart.... you may want to buy two sets of alphabet stickers.

For my second effort, I glued the letters on first and then painted the heart over and around them with more of a dabbing technique. 

I purchased these little bling dots at Michael's (2.51 after 40% coupon).

They were supposed to be "stickers," but I found they only stuck to the package they came in.

So, I pulled out my trusty clear glue, an old tweezer, and had fun blinging out the heart below.

If you have time and patience, you could do a lot with these little blings.

Okay, I just noticed the missing H in the watermark above.  Turns out that it's kind of a fun pun, so it stays the way it is.

Remembering a special date is also an option.  I found these gold number stickers at Michael's and used the bling dots between them.

I hope this has inspired you to pull out a paint brush and create a little "masterpiece" for someone special.

Please be sure to visit all today's great Ten on the 10th posts!

Ann at Apple Street Cottage 

Benita at Chasing Quaintness

Carol at BlueskyatHome

Cindy at CountyRoad407

Eilis at My Heart Lives Here (me)

Kim at Exquisitely Unremarkable 

Katie at Let’s Add Sprinkles 

Laura at Decor to Adore 

Susan at Homeroad 

Tammy at Patina and Paint 

Barbara at French Ethereal

Patti at Pandora's Box

Creating a Cozy Christmas Blog Tour

Welcome!

I'm so happy to have you visit our home on the

Creating a Cozy Christmas Blog Tour.

Thank you Katie at Let's Add Sprinkles for hosting. 

Wasn't the last stop at French Etherial adorable?  

Honestly, I use a lot of my Christmas decorations year after year.  There is a magic in seeing beloved ornaments come out of their boxes after hiding away for eleven months.

But, there were two that I took down last January, knowing I didn't really want to use them again.

The swags for the front doors had been an impulsive and expensive purchase the year we bought this house.  They checked the box for a matching pair, but they weren't really my taste.

Five years later, I decided to make replacements for them.

This way I could create two of exactly what I wanted and keep them affordable.

Each swag was made out of a 48 inch garland from Hobby Lobby and embellished with Christmas picks and wired ribbon.

First, I cut off about a foot of the garland and made space to wire the short piece in the middle of the long piece (by bending the garland stems outward).  This gave a fullness and "teardrop" appearance to the swag.   

It still needed a little plumping and I wanted to incorporate some Magnolia and Eucalyptus. The spray on the right came from the floral department (not the seasonal department).  I cut it into pieces and wired them in place.

The bow was made from both striped and solid wired ribbon because the striped turned out to be too flimsy by itself.  I attached it with florist wire, but also used a hot glue gun on spots of the long tails.

Next on today's tour is Blue Sky at Home.  Carol has something very special planned for you!

Let's Add Sprinkles

County Road 403

My Thrift Store Addiction

Hyacinths for the Soul

 Follow The Yellow Brick Home

Sweet Nothings

Decor To Adore

Chasing Quaintness

French Ethereal

My Heart Lives Here

Bluesky At Home

Merry Christmas! Joining: The Scoop Grace at Home

Gift Giving Under Ten

Oh. My. Goodness. It's Ten on the 10th of NOVEMBER!

It's so much better to put together thoughtful gifts now than to scramble for presents in the days before Christmas.  Shopping for gifts at the last minute is so stressful and often results in budget blowing purchases under time pressure. Taking my own advice, I've started picking up some gifts while I'm out running errands. Here are a couple of goodies I found recently: DVD movies from the $5 display bin at Walmart:

This one actually has eight movies in one.  They are classics like Evan Almighty, Flipper, Beethoven's 5th, and Babe: Pig in the City.  I put it in a cute bag ($1) with a bag of microwave popcorn, a drink, and few leftover Halloween candies.

What kid wouldn't love to receive this bag of goodies?

There were also many other movies to select from for teens and adults.

I found this retro style tin recipe box with adorable card, tabs, etc. included in the scrapbook department at Hobby Lobby.  It was priced at 14.99, but 50% off. The cards are 4 x 6 with lines on the back. What a pretty way to pass on family favorites to a daughter. (I'd probably pick a different style of box and cards if doing this for a son!) There is just something special about a handwritten recipe of a family favorite.     The recipe box would also be great for a bridal shower.  With a little planning, each guest could contribute a recipe.   I can't wait to see all the gift ideas my Ten on the 10th friends have come up with! Pandora's Box  Let's Add Sprinkles Exquisitely Unremarkable Poofing the Pillows The Purple Hydrangea My Heart Lives Here Patina and Paint Bluesky at Home The Boondocks Blog