Finally

Remember two years back when I redid my kitchen?

I still have projects. 

Paint over the red,

redo the fixtures,

fix the air vent above the stove, 

and etc. etc. 

Well I FINALLY did something!

Here is the oven hood before....

Super Ug, I know.

But after some black paint and a clear coat of lacquer finish it is looking soooo much better!

Old, dingy, and wretched to New, fab, and gorg!

 One more project down, a gazillion more to go!

See you next week with my wrapping post!

xoxo

Bon

Old Book Page Wrapping

Super easy wrapping.  Using Old book pages (Or new book pages inked up.)  Our favorite place to go to find inexpensive old books is Deseret Industries.  (click link to see our cool D.I. blog) 

start with empty boxes - croutons have a ziplock top, the rest have lids or easy open/close tops.

There are several ways you can wrap.  Be creative and come up with your own!!! I like using a glue runner (like for scrapbooking) as my adhesive.

#1: lay book pages out straight.  Don't worry about overlap. You don't need to cut it, you can either tuck it under, or let page you glue down on other side line up with the overlap! 

I keep old tags from jeans we buy.  simply cover with a book page, and cut around the outside for a perfect fit (Or wrap page all the way around the tag.)

Ink the edges/middle.  Use Hole punch to attach the tag. Add an inked christmas tree and VOILA!  Crouton bag done! 

#2: you can crumple a book page & then after you uncrumple, ink the creases.

It will look like this when it's inked.

Add to surface

and I like layering some packages with pages in different directions!

Spray paint lid to christmas color of your choice!

#3: strips of paper.

Ink each strip before gluing down to surface.

#4: Full pages.  don't ink until after they've been glued down.  Only ink the creases of the box!

And now a little Book Page Christmas Bow Tutorial.  Super easy.  I'm going to make a lot of these!!!

Strips of paper.  Inked and folded from both ends into the middle.  Staple. and repeat.

do as many layers as you'd like.

Once you reach the top, start folding to make loops stand up!

If making it a permanent part of your gift.  curl two strips of paper and staple to top of box.

staple finished bow on top of your curled ribbons. and you're done!!!

Finished Products!!!!  (although I think I am going to add more bows to the rest of them!) 

The Great thing about the packages I chose is I can re-use them EVERY YEAR!!!  Stay tuned later this week for an Inexpensive Christmas Present Idea using book pages!!! Happy Wrapping!!!

Christmas in November

Get ready for

XOXO,

The Drab to Fab Sisters

Book Wreaths

Saw these on Pinterest and had to tweak it and make our own.

Things you will need:

Foam Pipe Cover

Duct Tape

An Old book (Or new book & ink the edges)

Hot Glue Gun - I found out the hard way, get a LOW TEMP gun.  A high temp glue gun will burn through your foam!!!

Foam Pipe Covers.  INEXPENSIVE way to do a wreath. $2.95 for a pack of 4 at Walmart!  Bend into a cirle, and Duct Tape ends together.

Fold page into an S.  Glue one end to foam. Do not crease the folds, (Unless you want a zigzag look instead of a flowing look.)

First layer of pages. Hot glue to foam.  The more overlap, the closer your pages, the fuller your wreath.

Flip the wreath over.  Your first layer becomes the BACK of your wreath (so it will lay flat against the wall)

After first layer, you can fold the ends to make pages stick out in the direction you want.  

Keep going layer by layer until you are satisfied.

as you near the final layers, your foam will become covered up (You could also hot glue a ribbon along the inside to hide the foam.

You don't have to add anything to the wreath, they are gorgeous by themselves.  But I wanted to hang something in the middle of mine.  Since it is going above my bed, I decided the word LOVE printed on an extra page of the book would be great in a frame.

center your book page on a regular sheet of paper and put in your printer!

spray paint a frame to the color of your choice.  I simply glued my frame to the wreath itself, but you could get fancy and hang it with a ribbon!

Finished product on an old door for decor

Finished product on an old window & frame added to middle!

Outdoor Craft Bench

I have this GORGEOUS old bench in the front of my house. unfortunately, it is about the same color as the brick of my home, so it gets lost. I've been meaning to paint it for sometime, but finally got around to it!

Step 1: Sand! I only gave it a very light sanding. I wanted the red & worn to show through once I scuffed the final coat of paint. Clean up is a lot easier if you lay down a drop cloth under the piece of furniture you are sanding (My favorite drop cloth is this old black shower curtain)

Step 2: Paint- I actually chose a high gloss black paint for 3 reasons. #1- my sister had a small bucket of it, so I didn't have to spend any money. #2- It will be harder for the weather to wear it down, and #3- I liked the end product of a little bit of gloss, but still scuffed.

This is the 1st coat. I could have left it there and let the red really show through, but decided to do a second coat.

The second coat still shows a little bit of red, and I wasn't too worried about getting a thick covering coat.

I did not paint the underside. Hopefully people won't be laying down under my bench to see if I painted the whole thing.

You know how I mentioned putting down a drop cloth? Make sure you shake the drop cloth out after sanding so when you paint, little flakes don't stick... like this! Oops!!!

Step 3: Sand again! Scuff it up as much or as little as you would like!

And Viola!!!

Add crafts or keep empty for a cute little addition to the front of your home.

Free AFTER SCHOOL Print Out

So I am on CrAZy TiME...theses past few weeks. I am sure all us moms know what that is! Anywho I needed a little something for my kids to know what's expected after school, but fun. So I saw "something like this" on a blog last year and thought I'd tweek to my own "likes."

I put mine on the fridge and bought the 5X7 Magnet frames at Walmart 2 for $2.50  All they need is a Dry Earse marker and they can keep on top of what's excpected daily! :O)

(That's the plan....anyways)

Here are a Boy/Girl Template for you! Hope you Enjoy!

Kid's Art Frames: my first D to the F!

Okay, it's not the first time I've bought something old and fixed it up and used it for household decoration . . . it's just my first time posting here on Drab to Fab about it.  I'll be bringing back "Tasty Tuesdays" when I have more time . . . my cooking these days (at 37 weeks pregnant) is completely for eating only.  Not for photography or florid descriptions . . .

Moving on . . .

I bought these frames for $2 apiece at Deseret Industries thrift store (I thought briefly about hanging them up "as is" to go with my quilted hunting lodge decor, but decided to branch out and try something else).

Kidding . . . these framed fabric prints are hideous.

First thing to do was to remove the offensive fowl.

Already looking better . . .

Next, four coats of high-gloss white Krylon.  Oh yeah.  (I already had this spray paint on hand, but I think the can was around four bucks).

I love how the wood-colored scrollwork still shows through.

Then, a 4-pack of corkboard purchased at Wal-Mart for $5.

Finally, hot glue to attach the corkboard inside each frame.

Hello, I am jealous of myself, and have inspired my kids to new creative heights.  They have been busy making art since I hung the frames up in my short blue hallway.  My six-year-old son said, "I know why there's four cork boards.  So when the baby is born we can teach it how to do art . . . wait, do you have another frame?"  I wish I did have another frame (hello, where's the mallard duck print?), but three will have to do for now, until "it" learns to "do art."