Thrifty Thursday...Upcycled Brie Box

It's Thrifty Thursday...the day we do something cheap, cheap, cheap!!! On Monday, I did a recipe post on baked brie. If you missed that post, you can click here.

Brie cheese comes in a wooden box. A box!! You know I can't throw that away!!

Upcycled Brie Boxes...free, plus some crafty stuff I already had.

Tool Time Tuesday...Mod Podge Phone Case

It's Tuesday again and today's project is a quick transformation for your cell phone case...and it uses fabric!!

Here's the before...

Here's the after...although now that I look at it through the camera lens the stars show through a little. Maybe a thicker fabric or busier design. Live and learn...Lol

These are your supplies...

• old cell phone case
• fabric
• Mod Podge which is a glue and sealer all in one!
• paint brush

Cut fabric a little larger than phone case

Paint on one coat of Mod Podge glue/sealer. I used the Matte Finish

Place fabric on the glue. Watch for designs in the fabric that need to be centered.

Paint on another layer of Mod Podge on top of the fabric.

Trim away excess fabric.

Smooth around all the edges, making sure they are sealed. Place on something to air dry.

Make sure edges were pressed down to give you a finished look.

Don't forget to poke out the camera hole if you have one!!

Here it is all dry and ready to go.

Great to change it up and match your purse...especially if you sew your own bags.

The Mod Podge really gives it a nice sealed coat for protection!

Great project for kids too!!

Happy Tuesday,
~Karen~

Coffee Table Makeover...Mod Podge Style

Did you ever live with a piece of furniture that you really don't like for a very long time and then all of a sudden...on a whim...you want to transform it. Well, that's the story of a coffee table in our family room.

When my parents moved in with us, they had 50 years worth of furniture that they had collected while traveling the world with the army. My mom was also a yard saler/thrifter and loved her deals. They had several teak dining room tables that they bought while thrifting years ago. This table was one of them.

However, we didn't need a dining room or kitchen table, so a few years ago I switched out the legs of the dining table for the legs of a coffee table. It works great as a coffee table...large enough for all our family gatherings and parties. The thing I hated the most...my dad varnished the crap out of it. Sorry about that, but I couldn't explain it any other way. The wood was so shiny, you need sunglasses if the light hit it. Ok, maybe not that shiny, but not the natural wood look that I like.

What are my quickest options...sanding (no), chemical striping (no), painting (no) because that would require sanding and priming. What's the answer...MOD PODGE and an old dictionary!

Here is the semi before. Forgot to take a full picture of the table before I started gluing.





Guess when I started this project...the day before Thanksgiving, when we were having 25+ for dinner. I told you it was a whim.



Boy was I keeping my fingers crossed with every page I glued down. The girls were home from college and all they kept asking was...Do you think daddy will like it? Well, maybe not looking like this in the middle of the project...but I knew it would be great when it was all dressed with accessories. So I glued faster...


tore more pages out...

and glued some more!

Looks good, but needed to dry to get the full effect.

and here it was all set for Thanksgiving, just a few hours after I started.

What do you call your TV remotes? We call them clickers and we have a box of them...tv, dvd, vcr, wii.

Here it is all set for Christmas. For last weekend's party, it was covered with food and drinks and held up perfectly. We have another party this weekend, so I'll let you know.

I always put a wreath on the table...it adds some color and when we have a party, I add a pedestal plate for appetizers or a punch bowl for egg nog in the center of the wreath.

I had mentioned before I am a clearance woman...I bought 4 of these wreaths at a gift shop for $1.00 each...woo hoo!!

Here's the link to the Tool Time tutorial where I made these boxes. More ideas over at that post, so don't miss it! That galvanized plate is a switch plate from the electrical section in the ( where else) the hardware store!

When I was tearing out pages, I made sure (thanks to Courtney) to pick a few words that had meaning to our family. The girls danced their whole life together and Kelsie is still dancing at college.

Courtney is a graphic design major.

Hubby's favorite sport...Golf!

Courtney's boyfriend Courtland loves every thing to do with music.

and mine is sewing...I love to sew, but if they had the word blogging in this 1952 dictionary, I would have ripped it out and glued it right in the center! Our last name is in the dictionary, so that's fun to have that on there too.

Remember when you are using Mod Podge...brush on a coat of glue, add your paper and then add another layer of glue right on top of that. Once it dries, the top coat acts as a sealer to protect the paper.
spaceHope you can give this a try. You can use any paper...scrap booking, old books, copies of photos etc. If you want to do a smaller project, try a tray or side table to start.

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Take care,

~Karen~

I'm sharing this post at It's a Hodgepodge Friday...come join the fun! Also sharing at Just A Girl and Tatertots and Jello and Funky Junk Interiors.

Mod Podge Strikes Again...

I bought this little side table a long time ago at TJ Maxx. Up close, it's a mosaic tile of broken china plates. I love it and it's moved around from room to room...but in different colors.




This is when it was pink and red to match the fabric in Courtney's room.




This is the black and white version from my sewing room.



Now that I've added a little red to my sewing room, it's time for another Mod Podge make over!

It's so easy to change the look of something quickly. Just spread a layer of Mod Podge over the top...

add your fabric to the wet glue and then add another coat of Mod Podge.

The top coat acts as a sealer.

Now I'm all set for a cup of tea and a little hand sewing or maybe just reading my new catalog from Hancock's of Paducah. I have a gift certificate I have to use too.

Have a great Sunday,

~Karen~

Yahtzee Anyone? Lazy Susan Remake

Games...high tech or low tech they are popular around our house. Our girls have lap tops, ipod touches, ipods, wii and all the latest what nots, but once in a while they still go back to the basics. Yahtzee is big at our house right now. Our daughter Courtney and her boyfriend Courtland have matches all the time. We came home from Kelsie's last dance recital today (pictures later) to find the 2 Courts on the porch playing Yahtzee. Then they asked us if we wanted to play...lots of fun and Courtney won with 280 points! I wanted to share something I made for them.

When they would play on the table, they thought it was too noisy and would roll the dice on a magazine. Here's what I came up with.

I took a wooden round tray, some fabric and Mod Podge glue. I used a round tray, because the table we have it on is round so it looks cute. However, any tray would work.




Cut the fabric to fit your tray. Brush a layer of Mod Podge glue on the tray and then place the fabric on that. Once you have the fabric positioned, brush on another layer of Mod Podge.




The glue is milky white until it dries.




I added an antique box for the score cards and pens, a matching mug instead of the plastic cup it came with and cute wooden dice.

and look...I rolled a Yahtzee!!! (yeah, right)

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Here it is on the game table. I gave them each their own mug and 2 different sets of dice. You could definitely customize to your own with fabrics and colors.

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Now go through some old board games and steal 5 dice or look in that junk drawer, they've got to be in there! Go to the computer, print free Yahtzee score cards and have fun with your new homemade Yahtzee set!!

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Have fun,

~Karen~