"Life Is Better" Recycled Book Art

It's been a while since my last post, but that's not due to a lack of projects. Quite the contrary! I have done so many projects that you are going to be hit with a lot of blog posts all at once! As I've said before, since I work in a school cafeteria, I have off all summer. And since I have off all summer, I don't get paid (which pretty much sucks). So, I've been upcycling and making over all summer. Nothing is safe. I have old frames sitting around taking up valuable storage space. And I have blank walls. So, I killed two birds with one stone and decided to make art with one of the empty frames. At least my version of art. It may never grace the Louvre, but I like it.

My first work of "art" celebrates my beautiful boy, Tazer. For me, life truly is better with a rottweiler. For you, life may be better with another breed,or a cat, or children, or a hobby. That's the beauty of this particular project. You can tailor it specifically to you. And it is EASY. And looks great. So here's how...

All you need for this project is a picture frame, a glue stick, something for your background and lettering. For my background, I chose to use a rottweiler book. We have quite a few. Whenever I'd take the kids to the bookstore, my daughter would choose a rottweiler book. Seriously. No Junie B. Jones or Babysitters Club for this kid. Anyway, I looked over all our books for one with black and white pages. I didn't want any color photographs distracting from the lettering. I carefully cut out my pages and chose some for my background. Then I arranged and re-arranged until I was satisfied with the way it looked, then I glued it down.

You don't have to use book pages for your background. You could use scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, candy wrappers, pretty much anything your imagination can come up with for the background. 

Next, I used letter stencils and traced out the lettering, using heavy scrapbook paper in red (of course). Then I painstakingly cut them out. This took a bit of time. And yes, I know this picture sucks. I think I'll ask Santa for a new camera for Christmas. I've been good ;)

You could also use a stencil to paint your letters or use stickers. I already had the letter stencils and the paper on hand and figured I wouldn't have to shell out any moolah. 'Cause I don't get paid all summer. 

So, after I rested my cramping fingers (seriously, it was a long, drawn out affair) I measured out where I wanted to place my letters. I did several dry runs before I got it figured out. 

Using my glue stick,  I glued down the letters along the left side first, using a piece of wood as my guide.

I then glued down the letters along the bottom using a ruler as my guide. After I finished that, I just slid my ruler up to the next row and glued it down, and then the next row and finally the last row. 

Now, I needed glass so I could put it in the frame and hang it! I was on my way to Lowe's to get a piece of glass, but I stopped at Salvation Army first and found a framed picture in the size I needed for $7.00. That's $3.00 cheaper than the glass alone at Lowe's! So, I snagged it. I figured I could use the frame for something else later.

And the more I looked at the frame, the more I thought I liked it better than the plain black frame I had. So I painted it black and put my art in the frame.

I did hang it, but I couldn't resist taking this picture of my inspiration with the finished project.  He is such a snuggle puppy :)

And I re-used both the Salvation Army picture and my original frame. I just flipped the picture over, sprayed the back with two coats of primer, then painted it with chalkboard paint, popped it in the frame and hung it. Now my son has a chalkboard above his desk. Which he can use when I get him some chalk. Which I will. Eventually. 

Until the next project, 

Chris :)