Show Off What You Made- Blog Hop #5

 Friday Blog Hop (Link Party)

It's my 5th Blog Hop MckLinky Party and this week, I'm widening the guidelines to include any thrifty craft or project in addition to your trash to treasure makeovers and yard sale finds.


This week, my theme has been recycling wallpaper and I featured these 2 projects:

I can't wait to see what you made and what you found!

Blog Hop guidelines:

1-Add a permalink to your specific post not the home page of your blog. Be sure to check that the link works after you post.

2-Add a short title for your post. This could be your name or blog name if you'd like.

3- Link back to this post from your blog, or send a link to your tweeps on Twitter (mention @trash2treas).

4-Check out the links and leave some comments on the sites you enjoy.

That's all there is to it! I can't wait to see your links and ideas. Never used MckLinky? It's super easy. You don't need an account or any software. Just click on "you are next" below and type a title for the post (or your name) and add a link to the location on the web. It's that simple!

Metal Cabinet Makeover With Wallpaper

I decided to continue with the theme of projects that use up leftover wallpaper from Tuesday.

My friend who also did the fabulous faux finish of her floor let me take pictures of this cabinet that she made over. It's an antique metal cabinet and I'm not sure if it was a laundry cabinet, medicine cabinet, or something else originally (please let me know if you know what to call it!). It has a towel bar on the bottom, so it naturally lent itself to a bathroom piece. Sorry, I don't have a before picture, since I discovered this in her bathroom while visiting and it was already done.

She painted the metal to prevent it from rusting and then she applied wallpaper to the cabinet front and sides. Her wallpaper had little vignettes all over so it was easy to choose and cut a picture from it. I like how she framed it out with contrasting paint.

  

The sides were the perfect width for leftover pieces of border.

If you have a similar piece and you're looking for a reasonably priced makeover, why not look for wallpaper scraps? Or you could try using decoupage and wrapping paper or other printed paper. Just remember, if it's in a high-moisture area like the bathroom with a shower, give it some coats of decoupage for a clear coat or some Polycrylic finish. 

Be sure to stop by on Friday and leave a link to whatever you've created this week for the Follow Friday Blog Hop. 

I'm linking up this post to:

The Thrifty Home's Penny Pinching Party 

Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage 

Recycled Art With Door Knobs

I came up with this project when I was looking through some odds and ends stored in my craft supply closet. I had a 2-foot section of wallpaper left from my kitchen. (Yes, I know, it’s really country. Don’t tune out now if you hate country. You can use whatever wallpaper fits your taste.) I don’t have the step-by-step assembly, but I did take it apart again so that you could see all of the elements.
 
In my supply stash, I had a box of door knobs that were taken from my grandparents’ house when it they were tearing it down. For sentimental reasons, my sister scavenged them all for us.
Among the goodies, I found a rustic barn frame that I had purchased for something else and never used. An idea began to take shape and I looked through my stack of matt board (all free from Hobby Lobby’s scrap pile).

First, I had my husband help me attach the door knobs to the bottom front of the picture frame. Then cut the matt board to size and I wrapped the scrap of leftover wallpaper around the piece of matt board. You can affix it with rubber cement, wallpaper paste or glue stick. Or you can just pull it tight and tape it on the back.   Then I slid the matt board with the wallpaper into the frame. If you have multiple pieces of matt board and leftover wallpaper, you could make seasonal pictures and change them out periodically.

As you can see, in my hurry to get it reassembled and back on the wall. I may have missed a tack in the upper right corner that holds the matt board in. But you get the idea.

I’m linking up this week on some of my favorite sites and some newly discovered sites:

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

Trash to Treasure Tuesday at Reinvented

Talented Tuesday at My Frugal Family

Get Your Craft On at Today’s Creative Blog

 Look What I Made Day at Creations by Kara 

Prayers for Haiti

I've been thinking about Haiti this week and the aftershock mentioned on the news this morning brings the people to mind again. So I'm taking a brief break from trash to treasure decorating ideas for a few days because I want to keep my mind aware of the great need over there. I started typing a decorating idea, but then it felt superficial and not so important in light of what I see on the news. I'm not judging others, just responding to my own conviction.

So, I'm opening up the blog for a few days for you to enter your prayers for Haiti and prayers for your own loved ones who are affected by this tragedy. Using the MckLinky tool below, enter your title, your prayer (250 words or less) and if you'd like, enter a link to your own blog.

I'm encouraged by the news that they are still pulling people alive out of the rubble today. And I'm praying that God continues to work miracles...Praising Him too that some children have been allowed to come to the US to meet their adoptive families!

Photo from New York Times

Follow Friday Blog Hop - Link Up!

It's been a while since I hosted a blog roll! Now that I have a few more readers, I thought it would be fun to see how many trash to treasure bloggers are out there. Trash to Treasure Decorating turns 4 months old today! It's been a fun 4 months of blogging and net-surfing and blogging about my surfing, then surfing some more because of your inspiration!

Blog hops, or link parties as some bloggers call them, are a fun way to see what everyone else has made and what they're writing about. For example, I saw this great idea on a site I discovered through a link party.

Laurie Anne from Tinker's Piggies took this picture of a headboard she made from an old door.

And then there's this cool magnetic board that Kathy from Creative Home Expressions made from an old cookie sheet. Isn't that cool?

Photo from Creative Home Expressions

I can't wait to see what trash you've turned into treasures this week!

Blog Hop guidelines:

1-Add a permalink to your specific post or the main page of your blog if you aren't showcasing a specific project. Be sure to check that the link works after you post.

2-Add a short title for your post. This could be your name or blog name if you'd like.

3- Link back to this post from your blog, or send a link to your facebook friends or tweeps (mention @trash2treas).

4-Check out the links and leave some comments on the sites you enjoy.

That's all there is to it! I can't wait to see your links and ideas. Never used MckLinky? It's super easy. You don't need an account or any software. Just click on "you are next" below and type a title for the post (or your name) and add a link to the location on the web. It's that simple!

Inspiration From Other Bloggers

I just have to share some of the cool projects that I saw this week on the "I Did it Without My Hubby" blog tour at Shanty 2 Chic. Check out the blogs to see full descriptions and tutorials of these great trash to treasure projects.

Gail at My Repurposed Life turned old windows into these awesome cabinets.

Photo belongs to Gail

Traci at Beneath My Heart made a clever towel rack for her bathroom from an old headboard.

Photo belongs to Traci

Over on Junk Fest, they've turned an old radiator into a classy beverage bar. Who knew?

Check out the process on the blog. 

Picture from Junk Fest

And who could pass up this amazing painted floor at The DIY Show-off. She'll show you step by step how to create your own custom floor. 

Photo from the DIY Showoff

I just know I'll see tons more great posts this week, so I'll share them next time. Thanks to all the great bloggers out there for the inspiration!

Michelle

 

French Door Project

I saw this project on one of the link parties I posted on last week and just had to share the link with you. Emily at Four Flowers took an old French door and turned it into a fabulous mirror. On the blog, Emily shares step by step how she refinished and repurposed. She used a spray paint product that I hadn't heard of for the mirror...you'll want to check out her brand new blog to see what it was.

See the project HERE - Emily's French Door Project

She went from this:

To this:

Both photos linked from Emily's blog

Faux Fireplace

I had always wanted a fireplace, but never owned a house with one. I’d also considered just putting up a mantel for ambience, and had seen mantels at salvage shops that were really cool, but none ever fit my budget. So, I decided to build one out of scrap lumber.
I happen to like power tools. A lot. So one evening, I went down in my workshop and scavenged through my scraps. Among the treasures I had stored away for future use (packrats triumph sometimes) I found a large old picture frame. It was the perfect size for the opening to a mantel.  Using that as my guide for size, I designed my mantel around it. Since it wasn’t going to be a functioning fireplace, thought it would be much more functional to make shelves on either side of the opening to display tchotchkes.
I insisted on building it without any help from my husband, which means it isn’t perfectly square, plumb, or whatever precision is called. But that’s okay. I like it!
When we moved, I took my “fireplace” with me, the benefit of a faux fireplace.
I left the top unfastened and created a secret compartment inside the top which is perfect for hiding seasonal candles. For the finish, I painted it black, then painted a winter white over it allowing the black to streak through. I added some beige dry-brushing and let it all dry. Then I sanded the edges and random places to allow more black to show through. I used the router on the edges before assembling in order to give it more interest.
I stenciled on the front to look like carving. I painted the inside of the opening black and use a piece of uncut matting board (for picture framing) as the backing. After the black dried inside, I roughly painted a fire grate on the inside.
  I have a couple of jars with tealights inside for when I want it to look like the fire is lit. The only way to make it safe is to have the tealights in tall jars! Finally, I added two pieces of marble that just stand freely on the floor in front of the mantel (purchased from building supply store). This makes it look more authentic too.
For a long time, I searched for the right thing to hang over my mantel. Then I found this antique beveled mirror at a garage sale for less than $20. It’s HEAVY. I had to anchor it into the studs and it hangs by a heavy chain, but it was just the right thing. And even through the cherry color of the frame doesn’t match the mantel, it ties in with the built-in cabinets in the room. I topped off the mirror with a garland of berries and rusty stars.   I love projects that cost almost nothing, but give years of priceless enjoyment! By the way, my greatest compliment about this project was when our landlord stopped by for a routine inspection and suddenly his eyes widened. “When did you install a fireplace?” Lest he have a heart attack or evict us, I quickly reassured him that it was a free-standing piece of art. Hee, hee~


   
This post is on tour at these places on the web:

Today's Creative Blog - Get Your Craft On  

A Soft Place to Land DIY Day


Shanty 2 Chic

Let it Snow- Recycled Snowflakes

Snowflakes from Recycled Dryer Sheets

I received my Quilting Daily e-mail newsletter that had a trash to treasure project that I just had to share today. Using used dryer sheets, Quilting Arts contributor, Natalya Aikens has created these snowflakes. Check out the full post on the Quilting Arts website for a step by step tutorial to recycle your own fabric softener sheets.

 Photo linked from Quilting Arts website

This would be a fun project for both children and adults. And even if you don't create the whole recycled paper tube display, these snowflakes would look pretty in any winter display, or hanging from fish line. 

You'll find links at the end of the post for other recycling ideas too. Let it snow!