make your furniture your own!

I bought a wooden cubby at Michael's the other day for $14.99. It was plain, boring...well, it looked like this:

booooo-ring.

So, I decided that I would jazz it up a bit. I considered painting it, staining it, or woodburning a design into it, then I remembered a project I saw online where someone had revamped an old dresser by painting it and using mod podge and scrapbook paper to add some *POP* to the fronts of the drawers....so I decided I'd give it a try. I'm still fairly new to decoupage and using mod podge, so it didn't turn out as perfect as I wanted, but it's still pretty bitchin'. Here's how you can do it yourself!

What I used:

• acrylic paints (mixed the red & white to make pink)
• mod podge gloss
• spray adhesive
• spray gloss sealant
• scissors
• ruler
• paint brushes
• scrapbook paper (not pictured)

and no, the beer is NOT optional. :)

Once I got the materials together, I started by painting the insides of the cubbyholes and the edges and trim pink, like this...

even Johnny Depp approves.

After letting the paint dry (kinda, I got a little anxious, and now my favorite jeans are ruined..), I used the spray adhesive and used one big sheet of the scrapbook paper to cover the top: 

I sprayed it right onto the wood.
don't know why I felt the need to get a picture of it, but here you go.

after adding the paper to the top

From there, I took the rest of the paper I had, and cut out rectangles and squares in all different sizes.

that's how you use a ruler...

it's probably better to draw the lines on
the side that you're NOT using, but i was feeling rebellious

After I got all the squares cut out (yawn) I got to do the fun part, arranging them and layering them on the sides. I did it the same way as the paper on the top, except I found it easier to spray the backs of my paper and just press them on so I didn't have adhesive gooping up all over the wood. (Also, spell-check says "gooping" is not a word. TOO BAD, SPELL-CHECK!)

the first side

Once I finished doing both sides this way, I covered all of the paper with a coat of mod podge and let it set for about 45 minutes.

see that buckle in the paper on the top?
rookie mistake. make sure your adhesive spreads and the entire
paper is stuck, otherwise that will happen. you don't
want to have any air trapped under the paper. whoops!

And here is the finished product!

Also, I made a couple new necklaces last night, so I'll just add those in here too:

Get busy, crafters!