How To: Using Old Book Pages As Drawer Liners

I fell in love with old book leaves (as wallpaper) at Notes From A Cottage Industry. Then they appeared on furniture a la Miss Mustard Seed. I was itching to give this look a try; fortuitously a neglected sewing cabinet and a sheaf of vintage hymnals came my way. The yellowed music would disguise the ugly drawer bottoms quickly and easily. I know it's not exactly brain surgery--but as I finished up the little cabinet I noticed that each drawer looked just a little better than the previous one I lined. Trial and error is a pretty good teacher, but I thought I'd write a little tutorial to save you some of the "error".

You'll need a blank canvas.

 

And some old books: dictionaries, music books, textbooks, whatever.

 

** No books were harmed in the making of this tutorial. I couldn't bring myself to tear pages from a good book--you can see mine are beyond redemption.

I chose a variety of tones--from pale ivory pages to peanut brittle-color paper (and oh, was it ever brittle!).

 

Of course you'll need some glue (Modge Podge is great, so is plain old white glue, and then there's that old standby, liquid starch). Start by papering the corners first.

 

I overlaid the corners with the leaves, then I scored the paper with a straight pin and peeled off the extra.

 

Work from the outside edges inwards.

 

I precut this piece for the front edge.

 

Hmmm, now that you mention it that does look like a silhouette of Nevada!

Here it is in place.

 

I had so many choices I was able to pick and choose my favorite pieces.

 

This corner has a song that reminds me of my Aunt Bonnie as well as a Keats poem (I just loved the movie Bright Star and have been a Keats fan ever since). I've also used some seasonal or romantic song titles.

The very last pieces should be whole pages. Um, whole page fail here. Oh, how I wish I could go back and make sure the entire page of A Song of Autumn was front and center!

 

Like I said, it's trial and error and sometimes taking a photo really shows what can be improved.

I still have the inside lid to foofify--I'm looking for a sewing-related page to feature there.

Then I'll slap a coat or two of water-based polycrylic over the music so it'll wear well.

Sometime soon I'll have a before-and-after on this sewing cabinet. It was pathetically ugly, grimy and unloved to start with.  Meanwhile, I'm mulling over the pros and cons of hitting the edges with the sander and shabbying it up--what do you think?

My Guideposts - Week36

When the power of love

overcomes the love of power,

the world will know peace.

~Jimi Hendrix

My Peace rose blossomed just as I found the Jimi Hendrix quote--and both are whispering quietly to my heart and changing my outlook as I ponder and reflect.



Joining the quote party at Notes From A Cottage Industry

Dogs Rock (and Roll)

Just a quick post with a link to Kharma's new favorite video--a link because I can't figure out how to get the entire YouTube screen onto our blog. Anyone else having that difficulty? Anyone solved it yet????

I think it's her favorite because of the border collies. It's mine because I love anything that show how smart dogs are.

Enjoy--

Bonjour, L'Automne

Because it sounds so much nicer en Francais. Heck, anything sounds better in French, doesn't it?!


And it's officially turning from summer into fall right NOW as I type.  I'm thinking of pumpkins, fresh crisp apples from the orchard, hay bales, scarecrows, purple mini lights, pom-pom bats.  And being happy to use the oven and heat up the kitchen.

I'm trying not to think of shorter days, storms, and waking up to darkness instead of sunshine. Instead I'll think about the cottonwoods hereabouts.

 

And walking through crunchy fallen leaves.  And hiking while a gale blows the leaves tumbling around me while my hair dances around my face.  And I'll look forward to watching Kharma happily give some exercise to the lazy Canada geese that refuse to migrate south.

Oh, there's lots to enjoy this season!

Our Cottage Potager--Beginning/Ending/Beginning

I'm ecstatic to report that we will begin harvesting French filet beans this week.

Our very first beans of the season. Uh, this is one crop I can't blame on our late frosts; this mixup is all my fault. I planted beans seeds three times before they germinated; twice with seeds that were ten years old (yikes!) before I realized my mistake and planted fresh beans that promptly sprouted and grew.  Lesson learned:  either share my seeds with family and friends, check the "packed for" season date before decanting, or throw out old seed packets pronto instead of hoarding them like they'll appreciate in value.

I woke up early on Sunday and decided to dig potatoes so that I could plant a winter crop in their place.  Let's see, here are the seed potatoes being chitted (sprouted) last spring.

I planted half whole and half I cut up and callused before planting.

My harvest.

Sad. I think I had more last year when I planted in containers. I amended my soil with sand and peat and planted in ground this spring.  I'm not giving up, I'm just learning.  I plan to profit from some local success stories before I plant next spring.  For the record, the whole potatoes produced more than the cut-ups did.

Let's move on and check out the butternut squash.

 

My lone baby is growing daily and I'm hoping for late frosts. The Queen Mother's isn't doing a whole lot better--maybe this just wasn't a good year for them. I plan to start seeds inside next spring for an earlier start. Yep, time to plan ahead for Harvest 2011!

In the former potato hills, I have snap peas started (from nice fresh seed, thank you very much).  In between the bean rows, I've sown leaf lettuce and I'm trying to figure out if there's enough light coming through the golden zucchini to start some beets and carrots.

Come join other gardeners as they blog their successes and failures here at the

Tickled By A Fiesta Ware Memory

What do you think of when you remember "Fiesta Ware?" Most of us immediately begin contemplating the gorgeous colors--indigo, butter yellow, turquoise, red--every color of the rainbow and then some. 

If you don't own some, I'd guess that your grandma or mom did or your best friend chose some for her bridal registry recently. Fiesta Ware is just one of those great ideas that never really go out of style. Maybe it's because there's a color for everyone or maybe it's because who could hate a dish named after a party?

My associations with Fiesta Ware are linked with cousinly expeditions underneath our grandma's ranch house.  (Turn a group of kids loose on a ranch without supervision while their moms visit and you don't have to worry about them until it's time to leave for home.)  Our great-grandparents built the ranch house, but our grandparents moved in a couple of years later and raised seven hellions of both sexes there.  Which may explain the interesting things we'd find on those occasions when the almost-inaudible meows of newborn kittens would lure us into the cool and spooky depths of a foundation carved into the California hillside.

Crawling past ancient spider webs, we'd eventually find a mommy barn cat smart enough to know that our grandma dished out cold leftover oatmeal conveniently near the icehouse and a nest of spitfire feral kittens who never appreciated our best intentions.

Along with new kittens, we'd also unearth old silverware and discarded Fiesta Ware.  Us girl cousins would start dragging out staples for a tea party in the apple orchard, but would get distracted by the boys, chickens, dogs, kittens, calves, flowers, lunch, uncles and/or peacocks.  Over time, the forks, spoons and dishes got closer and closer to our crawl hole entrance.

I treasure the things kept from that ranch house: 

one piece of indigo Fiesta Ware and a daisy-encrusted sugar spoon...along with a thousand sweet memories.

My Guideposts - Week35

Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary? 

~James Matthew Barrie

Off to get my Weekly Words of Wisdom fix,