Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Splitcoast Tutorial: Faux Book Stack

This week's tutorial over on Splitcoast is a Faux Book Stack - this is a sweet take on the popular farmhouse decor item, but without books! The tutorial sample is done with a mini crate, but they were sold out at my Dollar Tree, so I improvised with a few household items instead. 

I wanted my box to be 6" long, 3" deep and 3" high, and by coincidence the Cheerios box we had was 3" on the side, so I used that for my base, and some of the score lines were already done for me! The larger piece here is 9"x12" scored at 3" on each side, and the little lid is 5" x 8", scored at 1" on each side. 
Here's the box before I glued it all together - the ends are triple thick and very sturdy! My son was home from school, so I had him saw my little craft sticks to size - these are 1" wide and 8" long, and he cut 3 of them to 6" lengths for the book spines, and then cut six 3" lengths for the sides.
I glued the wood pieces to the front and sides of the box. 
There were some gaps where the wood pieces met, so I used modeling paste to fill in and shape the corners there, sanding lightly before I went ahead with the painting. This picture was taken mid-process - I added more and smoothed around the corner before it dried.
Here's a closer look at the finished painting - I used solid colors for each book, then did a little one-stroke painting using brown and a floating medium to do the edging. (One stroke painting loads 2 colors onto the brush - Donna Dewberry does beautiful work with this technique, and I used to enjoy her books years ago!)
I thinned some paint and did a little dry brushing on the "pages". I wasn't sure how the modeling paste would do since it was a little rough, but it ended up looking like shelf-worn book covers. Win! I don't remember the source of the alphabet stamps - I think they came from Michaels many years ago. I stamped from right to left, so at one point the stamping said "create inspire eat". Not a bad idea either.
I pulled together a little faux greenery, some retired paintbrushes, and a matching pencil for the top! That ribbon is from Walmart and I bought it to wrap boho beads, but I haven't quite gotten that down yet, and it worked so well here. The gold border stickers are leftover from my DT days at Flower Soft - they're a fun little accent.

I am so happy with how this turned out! If you can find the little crates at the Dollar Tree do try those, but if not - grab a Cheerios box!

Thanks for stopping by!





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3 comments:

  1. BEAUTIFUL WORK, Dina! AND the rougher edges on the books, just make it look like well worn books! ;) AND I should say too, I LOVE Cheerio's Boxes for SO MANY THINGS like this! LOL I SAVE Cheerio's boxes-- slice them open on the edges & keep them flat for future use! ;) A SUPER TUTORIAL & A SUPER PROJECT!!! LOVE!!! ;)<3

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  2. My goodness, your faux book stack is gorgeous! A true work of art and how creative you were with the alternate supplies you opted to use. I’m amazed at how beautiful it turned out.

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    1. Still one of my favorite things that I've made!

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