Wednesday, August 17, 2011

$3 Thursday – faux leather bust makeover

You might remember this bust I found for only $3 at a garage sale.100_8028

I knew I was going to cover it up to give it a vintage look but at first I wasn’t sure what to cover it in.  I thought about newsprint, book pages, sheet music or paper bags.

I was pretty set on using some vintage sheet music but when I went to cover it I misplaced my vintage sheet music (Ok, time to clean and organize again) so I had to change ideas.

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I finally decided on a faux leather look so I grabbed some paper grocery bags and glue and started ripping and crumpling the paper.

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I watered down some good old Elmer’s school glue down and used that as my decoupage mixture.  I was a bit worried that so much of the grocery bag printing was showing while the glue was still wet but I decided to add some more pieces and let it dry to see how it looked.

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Here’s my newly covered bust.

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Once it was all dry I liked the results, only a bit of the print was showing through but I wanted it to be a bit darker so I grabbed my walnut ink.

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At first I watered down the walnut ink and covered the whole bust.  I watered it down a bit too much so I started spraying ink directly on my bust.

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I sprayed lots of ink to help get the dark color I was picturing.

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I didn’t want the blotches so I dabbed the ink and rubbed it into other parts of my bust.

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Ah, this is what I was going for.

Now to let it dry.

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It dried to the perfect color and texture, just perfect for a jewelry display.

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It took the place of a chalkboard globe that was on my dresser top.

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I love this display although I need to redo the potato sack memo board on the wall that I threw together a few weeks ago.

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The color and texture was just what I was looking for.

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I’m sure I’ll have fun changing out the necklace I put on display.

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Looking at this makes me want to recover my so called mannequin that I stated a few weeks ago.

Hmm, lots to think about.

 

Bust makeover supplies:

Bust         Garage sale find, $3

2 Paper bags               free

Glue              $.20

Total cost:   $3.20

 

I’m excited for my new bust.  I mean, $.20 cents for a new bust??? 

No surgery required.

Who wouldn’t love a newly madeover bust for only $.20?

I guess having a messy crafting area where a 2 inch pile of sheet music is misplaced was a good think. I can’t imagine my bust covered in music sheet now that it is done.


June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

9 comments:

  1. Ok, wow that looks amazing now! When I first saw the before I thought, how can that looks good? haha But wow, you made it totally great. Awesome makeover!

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  2. It's amazing that you did that with paper and glue! It looks so great.

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  3. Looks fantastic. You gave it such a nice vintage look.

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  4. That's beautiful! Thanks for letting us see how you did it.

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  5. Wow! What a bargain and it turned out great! I have been on the hunt for a bargain bust myself. I love your post and would love for you to link your post up at my Savvy HomeMade blog party at

    http://www.homesavvyatoz.com/blog-party-4

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  6. way cool! Love the darker color.
    catching you this week!
    gail

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