Message Center
I love finding things at the thrift store that everyone thinks are junk. I think this was originally used in a bathroom. The hole in the center had a cardboard insert with a hole in it that appeared to be where a light came through. On either side there's a little shelf area.
After scrubbing it clean, it was absolutely filthy, I spray painted everything with a primer and then two coats of Heirloom white paint.
After the paint was dry, I antiqued everything with a little acrylic brown paint and water. This step gave it the aged look I was hoping for.
Next, I antiqued vintage music paper to place in the inset on each side. After the paper was dry, I used a stencil and black stencil paste to add a raised focal image to each side. After the paste was dry, I decoupaged the music paper to each side.
The last step was to fill the middle. I knew I wanted to make this a message center but wasn't quite sure what would fit and function in the center. I also knew I wanted to incorporate some burlap and an image from Graphics Fairy but to what end I wasn't sure.
Once I got a plan and decided on the image, I ironed my burlap to freezer paper and ran it through my inkjet printer. I then centered the burlap over a piece of foamcore board, stretched it around the back and hot glued it in place. I then stretched ribbon and glued each end to the back. Lastly, using a strong needle and thread, I sewed vintage buttons at each intersection of the ribbon. The buttons make it sturdy enough to slide papers into and hold them tight. I then covered the back and slid the whole thing carefully into the channel.
Since it's metal, I also made some fun magnets to use on each side. I'll show them next time.
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks for looking!
