New life for a mannequin

Well, I previously blogged about a mannequin that I wanted to repurpose into a shelf to display my bracelets for craft fairs and like events. I am finally finished. I took some pictures with my inventory so you can see how I plan on using it.

I used "Grungeboard" by Tim Holtz for my shops name. After a coat of flat black paint I finished them off with a script stamp in white ink.

 Altogether we installed six shelves. I say we, because my husband did the cutting. They are made from 1/4" plywood that I bought from Hobby Lobby. I painted them a very light cream and added 1/4" black ribbon on the trim.

Most of the outside is covered with burlap (from Joann's) and also a cream tone canvas style fabric. I cut the material into different shapes so it would lay flat against the mannequin. Modge Podge is my new best friend. All the material on the outside as well as the dictionary pages on the inside were applied with Modge Podge.

I was trying to go for more of a vintage industrial look, but with the gray ruffled trim I may have dipped a little into shabby chic. 

One of my favorite tools I've bought for my Etsy shop is a personalized logo stamp. I bought it off Ebay for about 11 bucks. Super cheap, but it really adds a nice touch and I keep finding different ways to use it.

I just fell in love with these brass buttons (from Joann's) and I had to incorporate them somehow. I think they look perfect. What do you think?

The swirl was made from black rhinestones, adhered with a glue gun. 

You may be wondering what these numbers mean. They are meaningful, in fact its the date I opened my Etsy shop. October the 20th of 2011. I decided that I wanted to stamp them the way the date is written in Europe - putting the day, then month and year.

The hole that you see in the back was already there, and instead of covering it up I decided to leave it. Since the mannequin is tall, and would be easy to topple over on a table, I thought I could use a clamp to secure it to my table. With the hole in the back, the clamp won't be as noticeable.

That's it for pictures. I hope you liked my new project and maybe thought of some new ideas yourself. Share your thoughts below! :-) Thanks for reading

New member of the family... (Mannequin Shelf)

My latest project has got me soooo excited. I wanted to create a unique way to display my leather bracelets. I remember when I was young my family and I went on a cross country road trip and one of our favorite stops was Disney World. At Disney world there are many small streets with neat looking shops with beautiful window displays. One window had the neatest shelf I had seen, made from a mannequin torso. 

So there was my inspiration. We took a quick picture of it but never forgot how interesting it was. Sixteen years later I still remember it and am finally doing my own take on it. I am still in the process of the finishing touches so for a little teaser I thought I would add some before photos.

I marked a line where I wanted to cut it and ended up with this...

The outside will consist of two different kinds of burlap and some cream canvas fabric. There are so many more details I have to add. I can't wait to show you the finished product but your just gonna have to wait. :-)