$5 Challenge: Reinvented Mail Holder

I've been given the challenge to come up with a craft under $5. The $5 Challenge The CSI Project calls it. Remember when I found this in the Buck Hut on Sunday? My goal was to give it new life...

I decided to hang it in our entry so that we'd have a place to put mail and a happy little place for some flowers.

I was loving the shabby (okay, very shabby) chic look but didn't want all that lead paint flying around our house. So I sanded it like crazy. Actually all you had to do was practically look at it and the paint came off... Then I dusted it off, wiped it down and painted it. Here's what it looks like after one coat of paint.

I could really see the differences between where the original paint fell off and where it didn't... So, I decided to do things "right" instead of "fast". I love fast projects but patience is a virtue that it's taken me 29 years to even somewhat learn.

So I decided to plaster the entire mail holder with a thin skim coat, sand it again and then do two more coats of paint. This is what I'm talking about with patience...

My friend Katie and I went to the Hamilton-Wenham book sale today... fill a bag for $5. Basically I was in heaven... so this little old gem cost me about 50 cents. I took it apart at the seam and put the front and the back on the top part of the holder.
Are you wondering why I'm going to put a book on display called "Some Problems of Life"? It's to remind AJ and I about how we don't always know what is best for us... like when we found out we were unexpectedly pregnant... I had a hard time with it at first because I didn't feel like I was ready... but now I can't believe how much joy God has blessed us with in Drew... he adds so much to our family and I want to remind ourselves of the fact that He knows what is best for us... even when we don't see it!
I intend to put a photo (the one of us at the top of the blog kissing Drew) on the nearly blank book back:

Then I used the book pages and a cool vintage postcard Jade gave us for Drew's nursery to show off where mail will go. I just tore out the last page of the book and cut out "The End".

And here's the finished product! I can't wait to interchange the flowers with a potted fern or some fabulous moss and get up the photo of our family...

Thank you CSI Project for this fun challenge!

(I'm including the link here because I'm having a hard time getting the button to work.)

http://www.thecsiproject.com/

Oh, and here is a picture of the little guy propped up by my laundry while we waited for the plaster on the project to dry... :)

Have a fabulous weekend! Any fun plans? We are heading to upstate New York for Matt (AJ's brother) and Alison's wedding shower.