7 Vintage Inspired DIY Projects for Spring.

The April Maker's Box is a soft little nod to spring filled with vintage textures, timeless patterns, delicate florals, and all those layered details that make a project feel beautifully collected over time. So in today's video I'm diving into this month's box and we're creating seven different projects using the pieces inside. I found this little drawer at the Goodwill Bins and honestly you guys I had no idea what it originally came from but the minute I saw it I knew it had potential. This one ended up being such a simple little flip. I started by removing the knob and then I painted just the front white swan to create a soft clean base for the paper and for this project I used Petals and Stripes rice paper from Connie at The Painted Photographer and this pattern was absolutely perfect for a piece like this. One thing I love about this paper is that it does come up as a three up design so you can use it on multiple projects which makes it so versatile inside the box. I used the larger section here and then once that was in place I reattached the knob with just a little bit of Titebond and that was it. Such a simple project but the paper made such a big beautiful impact. For the next project I actually had this in my stash for quite a while. Originally it was intended for a different Maker's Box project but today I felt like it was time to finally give it some new life so I'm starting off by painting the entire piece Manor Green by Fusion and this is such a rich beautiful green it's honestly one of my favorites. Once that was dry I knew I wanted to address that missing area around that clock face so I pulled out the IOD Trimmings Molds 1, 2, and 3. I decided on Trimmings 2. I then pulled out my IOD Air Dry Clay added a little cornstarch to the mold and then pressed that clay in. I wrapped it right around that clock opening and it fit so perfectly. Once that was attached with Titebond and fully dried I did paint the entire piece again with Manor Green so everything blended together beautifully. Then to bring out all those beautiful details I came back in with Rub n Buff's Grecian Gold and lightly highlighted the molding right around that clock face. And to tie it all together I added a bit of the Emporium Gold Gilded Transfer to the two raised details on the front. I absolutely love this transfer you guys and really in the end this piece really didn't need a complicated transformation it just needed a little creativity and a second chance. For the third project I pulled out one of these wood crates that I've had for quite a while. Back when I used to have my shop I was right next door to a Mexican restaurant and they would get rid of these wood crates that they had vegetables delivered in. Anytime they were getting rid of them I would scoop them up because I just knew they could be repurposed into something beautiful. I had already painted a few of them in this soft creamy white and used them for displays over the years but this felt like the perfect time to give one of them a fresh new look. So for this project I used the Cottage Garden Plaid. It is a roycycled decoupage paper and I applied it to each one of the slats on the crate. I cut the paper down to size and I used DIY's Liquid Patina to adhere each of the sections and once everything was dry I came back with that thumb sander and I removed the excess. I love how this simple little change has created such a vintage worn look and has given that crate just a ton of charm. For this next project I actually started this piece on Alive quite a while ago and it was one of my very first times really experimenting with milk paint and let's just say I got a lot more chippy goodness than I was going for so it ended up back in my stash and I pulled it out today and I sanded the entire piece down, came back with extra bond. This is what we all call the Connie method so I applied extra bond to the entire piece and this helps the milk paint adhere better and it creates the most beautiful crackle goodness. Once that dried I mixed up sweet water, milk paint. I always like to mix about a 50-50 ratio of water to milk paint, whisk it really well and then let it sit for roughly 10 minutes to thicken up. Then I painted the entire piece two coats on the front and back. Once everything was fully dry I did lightly sand it back which gave me just a touch of that chippy texture that I wanted but a ton of the crackle goodness. If you guys look really close you can see how beautiful all that crackle is and to finish it off I did seal everything with Sweet Pickin's dark oil wax, give it a good shake and then what I like to do is just pour a little on, rub it all in, let it sit for roughly 10 minutes and then wipe it back and as you can see it just deepens that color and really highlights all that crackle goodness. For this next project I was digging through some of my inventory and came across this really beautiful frame. It had all those gorgeous details, the floral accents, the soft arch top but it was fully gold and I wanted to soften it just a little bit so I came in with Layered Chocolate which is a beautiful rich brown from DIY Paint and gave the entire frame two coats. Then I went back and did some wet distressing focusing mainly on those raised floral details. I wanted to just bring back a little bit of that original gold and that alone completely changed the look of this piece completely. Then I sealed everything with DIY's Big Top and we're going to add the finishing touches. To tie everything together I decided to pull out Emporium which is a gold gilded transfer from IOD. I wanted to add just a few little touches of gold to the painted photographer's rice paper called Spring Awakening. This is a beautiful beautiful transfer and I just added a little bit here and there over the front of the rice paper and once I put it in the frame it just pulled everything together. This was such a simple transformation but honestly it made this piece feel so much more layered and beautiful. For this next project I wanted to create something really simple using the napkin that comes inside the maker's box. I always include a napkin in each box and this one had such beautiful florals on it so I grabbed a frame out of my stash and I used just a small section of the napkin to create a quick little piece of art. This project was super simple and easy but I absolutely fell in love with it and what a reminder that even the smallest pieces in the box can really create such a huge impact. For this project I pulled something that's been sitting in my stash for a while and one of my goals lately has been to start finishing some of these half done pieces. This train case was originally blue you can see I painted it a soft tan. It was broken so I decided to lean into that and we are going to turn this into a decorative piece versus something functional. So I am grabbing Whispers of the Garden which is a Roy Cycle decoupage paper. It's one of her master boards and this paper is absolutely gorgeous. It has little hints of blue that I wanted to pull through in the rest of the piece so I started off by painting the very top white swan to make the paper pop and then the base I painted Prom Queen from DIY paint which like I said tied in perfectly with the tones of that paper. Then I grab Liquid Patina from DIY and this is definitely my go-to decoupage medium and what I do is I like to situate my paper, I pull a chunk of it back, apply a starter strip of Liquid Patina, mist my paper, smooth the paper out and then work my way down. A starter strip gives you so much more control as you're laying the paper down. It really helps you reduce wrinkles and the chance of tearing while you work. Once everything was fully dry I came in with an exacto knife and carefully trimmed around the edges to get a really crisp clean finish. Then I sealed the entire piece with Big Top and let that dry completely. I came back in with DIY's dark wax, working in small sections, applying a little, wiping it back and slowly building up that depth and age and I really love how the final step softened everything and gave this piece more of that old vintage character again. And that wraps up all seven projects from today's video. I hope this gave you a lot of inspiration for ways that you can layer pieces, mix patterns and create something absolutely beautiful with what you already have. If you've enjoyed today's video don't forget to hit that subscribe button, give this video a thumbs up and turn on your bell notification so you don't miss future videos and before you go I'd love to know in the comments what project would you create first? Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye!