DIY Rainbow Book Art

DIY Rainbow Book Art: Using old books as a canvas this DIY rainbow art in mustard yellow and pink is fun to make and inexpensive.

I’m excited to share my DIY Rainbow Book Art with you.  This was such a fun art piece to create, and I really like how it turned out.  The colours and rainbow are so cheerful and pretty for summer.

I’m sharing as part of the Seasonal Simplicity Summer Series.  Be sure to check out all the other fun summer DIY’s at the bottom of the post.

Materials:

• 6 vintage books
• 3 paint sticks
• hot glue
• tacks
• string
• glue stick
• paint -mustard yellow, dark pink, light pink, white
• hammer
• paint brushes

Instructions:

This project was actually a re-make of an old DIY.  Years ago I created this Deer Head Art -see the full tutorial here.  I loved it and had it up for quite a while.  When I took it down to do something else in the space, I stored it away.  When I was thinking about my summer decor, I had the idea to re-make it.  The hardest part of this DIY was locating the books -which I had stored “in a good place” and it took me a few hours of searching to find them.

Preparing the Books:

I was working with the books from the deer head art, but if you were doing this project from scratch you first need to find 6 vintage books -thrift stores are a great source for these.  In order to keep the book open, I used a piece of a paint stick and hot glued it to the back of the book.

To hang the books, I used some small nails hammered into the books, and tied a string between them to hang from.  The nails in the back helped secure some of the pages as well, but I also needed to add tacks at the front to keep the pages together too.  Then I used a glue stick to glue the pages together at the front, and over the tack.

Since I was working with the deer art books, I just flipped a few of the pages to get to blank ones, and glued those down.

I decided I wanted to mount the books on this old rustic piece of a door.  Because I have a corner fireplace, mounting the books directly on the wall there won’t work, so using the door was the perfect solution.  I thought it would be easiest to mount the books on the board before doing the rainbow painting.  That way there were no worries about the painting lining up afterward.  I used little finishing nails to hang the books on the old door.

Making A Rainbow Pattern:

I made a really simple pattern out of some old paper.  I drew my rainbow out roughly and then folded it in half  and cut it out so that both sides would match.

Painting The Rainbow:

I also tested out a few colours.  I wanted pink and mustard yellow.  The lighter mustard yellow is just half of the original colour and half white.

I used a pencil to trace my pattern onto my books, and then painted my rainbow arches, allowing each colour to dry in-between so that the wet paint colours won’t mix.

It was really simple to paint, and I love the final colour combination.  I’m doing a pink and mustard yellow colour scheme for summer and this area is looking perfect now.

This new piece looks perfect on my fireplace mantel.

This little spot is looking so cheery now and ready for summer!

More Inspiration:

And, today I’m joined by a fabulous group of blogging friends who are also sharing their Summer DIY Ideas as part of the Seasonal Simplicity Summer Series…

Just click on the links below the images to be taken to their posts and see what they’re sharing today. I’m blown away by all the awesome summer DIY ideas!

5 Minute Dollar Store DIY Hit Wall at The Happy Housie
Anthro Octopus Knockoff at Craftberry Bush
Summer Activities Tree at The Handmade Home
Easy Ways to Bring Colour Into Your Home for Summer at Tatertots and Jello
Rustic Birdhouse Garden DIY Decor from the Dollar Store at The DIY Mommy

DIY Shell Planter Tutorial at Zevy Joy
Painted Wood Jewelry Dish at Paint Me Pink
DIY Beach Art on a Canvas at Shabbyfufu
DIY Concrete Vase at Place of My Taste
How to Dress Up Your Walls For Summer at My Sweet Savannah

DIY Pottery Barn Inspired Liberty Burlap Party Banner at She Gave it A Go
Campfire S’Mores Gift Basket Idea at Modern Glam
How to Paint a Concrete Patio at The Turquoise Home
DIY Hanging Garden Trellis at A Pretty Life
A DIY Coastal Window Box at Finding Silver Pennies

DIY Rainbow Book Art at Life is a Party
A DIY Tabletop Marshmallow Roaster at Sincerely, Marie Designs
How to Make a Sign the Easy Way at Confessions of a Serial DIYer
DIY Bird House at Seeking Lavender Lane
Simple Botanical Watercolour at Lemon Thistle
DIY S’mores Bar at Clean & Scentsible