Old becomes New

So I have trying to get into more craft things and have found some cute ideas that I want to use to decorate the house. Here are just a couple things where I used old things and turned them into something new!

Here is a before picture of some ugly blocks I found at DI for $.75that looked really worn down

And here they are after some paint and paper and writing....our new kitchen decorations...

Next are some old books that no one was going to read....

And here is the finished project after I recovered them...