Upcycled Storeybook Vintage Spool Photo Holders

Hi guys! I hope you all had a beautiful holiday weekend! I always enjoy having an extra day off with my hubby! This week’s craft projects are dedicated to Martha Stewart’s new decoupage line. A few weeks ago I received a package of Martha’s decoupage goodies to play with. Every once in a while I get the opportunity to be part of a craft campaign from The Blueprint Social. I was very excited to be a part of this campaign! I am a big fan of Plaid’s Martha Stewart Craft line! All of the products I have used have been fantastic and now I use her brand of products whenever I can. I had such a great time with the mediums that I ended up doing a few projects. I have had these vintage spools lying around for a while waiting to be upcycled. I thought they would make great photo holders, but I wanted to do something a little extra with them too. So, I added a little flair with the help of some of my vintage children’s book pages.

Here’s What You Need:

*Vintage Industrial Spools

*Martha Stewart Paint

*Martha Stewart Decoupage All Surface Medium in Matte

*Vintage Children’s Book Illustrations

*Air Dry Clay

*Small Gage(16,18) Jewelry and Craft Wire

*E6000

*Jewelry Pliers

*Paint Brushes, scissors, ruler, etc…

Instructions:

The first thing you will want to do is paint your spools how you like them and then let them dry. Push a little air dry clay into the top hole of the spool and poke a hole in the clay with one end of your wire. Play around with the layout of your images. Use different sizes and wrap them around the spool to test the design and if it will be readable when the paper is decoupaged on. Once you have your layout like you like it, you are ready to decoupage. Paint a layer of decoupage medium onto the back side of your paper and on the spool where you will adhere the image. Carefully lay the image onto the spool and smooth it around keeping it straight. Paint a layer of medium onto the top of the image to seal it. Repeat with other images and spools. Next, when the clay has dried you can paint the clay to match a color in your spool. Now you are ready to make the wire holder. Cut a length of wire about 12-15″ long. About a third of the way down bend the wire over to make a right angle. Now, take the tip of the shorter wire end and grasp it in your rounded jewelry pliers. Twist the wire around the pliers to form a loop. Then continue looping the wire around loosely to make a spiral ending it at the bend you created earlier. Your wire should look like a spiral lollipop. Dip the end of the wire into a little E6000, and insert into the spool top where the hole in the clay is. You can play around with the heights of wire if you like by trimming the bottom of the wire before inserting it into the spool. Now add your pictures or cards and display them in your favorite spot.

I LOVE my little photo holders! Vintage children’s book illustrations are just the best! And I am a little crazy for anything with chickens on it. This project is such a blast to make and I love how customizable it is! You can decoupage anything you like onto your spools. Martha’s new line also includes decoupageable trims like lace. How cute would that be! So next time you come across a lot of industrial spools, don’t pass them by! They make fun photo holders and they are a great addition to add to your decor! I’ll be back on Thursday with my official Martha Stewart Decoupage project. Until then…

Happy Crafting!