May 26, 2011

Trash to Treasure

I am so excited to share this post.  I have been working very hard on this project mainly because it took a lot of measuring and trial and error to get things to fit. 

I have never been dumpster diving before.  The other morning my neighbors around the corner had put this big clock in the trash.  I ran home to tell my husband to please go back to their trash and take it out before the trash truck got there, no matter what condition it was in.  He did it.  Here is what it looked like.






It was an outside clock so the sun had dried out the paper so much, it was cracking and just crumbled when I touched it.  The frame is metal and was so rusty I wondered it I could save it at all.  I looked at it for two days trying to decide what to do.  I took it all apart and used Lime Away and sand paper to remove layers of rust.  It cleaned up really nice.

I love thehouseofsmiths blog.  If you haven't seen it go look at it.  A few posts ago, Shelley made a large subway art address board and I loved it.  I have been wanting to make some kind of subway art for awhile.  This would work.  Thank you Shelley for the inspiration.

I took a piece of bead board and cut a 17 inch circle and sanded, painted, and sanded some more until I got the look I wanted.  Then I spray painted the frame and sanded it just a little.  Not to much.  I worked all day trying to fit words, and think of things that represented our family.  I had to cut and re cut to make things fit, plus I'm new at the Cricut.  Here is what I came up with.






I love it.  I mod podged the words to the bead board and put it all back together.  My first SUBWAY art and it cost $0.00 dollars.  I don't know if I should tell my neighbors or not!  These words represent something about each person in our family and what we are about. 


Linking to:                        mysimplehomelife
                                        commonground
                                        chiconashoestringdecorating
                                        romantichome
                                        pinkpostcard
                                        bystephanielynn
                                        iheartnaptime
                                       debbie-debbiedoos



15 comments:

Jill @ JunkyVagabond said...

YAY! Dumpster diving! (and a husband that will do it for you LOL)

This is awesome Lanell - I love how creative you got with it and made it just for your family.

PAINTORDIG.blogspot.com said...

Looks great! I love the distressed look of it.My husband would think I had lost my mind if I asked him to dumpster dive!LOL!

Elaine Hewitt said...

Lanell,

I am really impressed by your creativity. I would love to see your house one of these days.

The clock looks fabulous. Good for you!

Anonymous said...

Love, Love, love it!!! Nice job, now I want to copy you.
- DeLyn

Sue@creativetryals.blogspot.com said...

Beautiful!
Visiting you from Sunday Showcase.

Marie said...

That is awesome - really nice!

Rosemary@villabarnes said...

Fantastic transformation. Clever, well done, and a dumpster find, LOVE IT!

Unknown said...

Hi Lanell~

Your clock makeover is beyond awesome!! I so love the bead board background, very creative. I am thrilled to be a new follower of your blog & I happily invite you to link to my K.I.S.S. Blog Bash. :)

~Christina~

Drop By The Tattered Tag

Mallory said...

Great job Lanell! Awesome transformation!

Debra@CommonGround said...

Hi Lanell, just a wonderful project! Great save, and thanks for linking up with VIF! xo Debra

LBB said...

You are AWESOME!!! I really love how this turned out :D

Terri @ A Creative Princess said...

Absolutely beautiful! You are amazing! I would love for you to link up tomorrow at "It's a Party"!
www.acreativeprincess.blogspot.com

Debbiedoos said...

WOW..that is what I call thinking outside the box. Thanks for sharing your creative project with my newbie party.

My Sparrows Nest said...

Love the clock! Our town has junk days twice a year. I have found some awesome junk. I just put on my dark sunglasses and nobody is the wiser! Free is always a good deal! Hugs and Tweets to you!

Antonella said...

This is perfect!!! I love this idea - definitely want to give this a try! I'm glad I followed you here from the Sundae Scoop Link Party, I'm also linking.
Hugs, antonella :-)
http://quilling.blogspot.com/2011/05/wacky-wednesday-hug-card.html