3 Easy Updates Using Scrapbook Paper

If you saw a tray like this at Goodwill, would you have passed it up?  

Well, I am not one for the landscape, it's not quite my style (it looked hand-painted by the way).  But, I liked the green color of the rest of the tray, & also the black handles.  So for $4, I took it home.

Or this?

You can tell it had 3 tiles glued on the upper part of it, but it came to my house with only one (which I pryed off, & it did NOT want to come off).  But once again, I was looking past that into what I could do with it.  I had been wanting a chalkboard for my kitchen to use as a menu board, & again, I think it was only marked either $2 or $3, & I also liked the base color of it.

Here is my "road to recovery":

1) Scrap book paper.  

For the tray, I picked two coordinating designs, since the width of one was not enough to cover the whole tray surface. 

2) Scissors & Mod Podge.  

I think both are pretty self-explanatory, so I don't think a picture is required.  

Simply cut the scrapbook paper to fit the surface (in this case, there was an enclosure I was trying to fit, which previously contained the tiles.  

Mod Podge (in case you didn't know), can be used as not only a sealer, but also as a glue.  Make sure you let it dry well after gluing on the scrapbook paper before adding the top sealant coat.  

3) Something heavy to use as a "press" (I used stacks of magazines).

I did have a bit of an issue w/ the paper wrinkling after adding the top coat, but after it was dry to the touch, I used a heavy item as a "press", & weighted it down overnight, which worked like a charm for flattening the paper out.  After 1 more coat of Mod Podge the next day, I repeated this process.  

After doing the same thing with the tray, here it is finished:

As you can see, I used two strips from the coordinating paper to fill in the gaps of either side of my top paper.  I think I ended up putting 3 or 4 coats of Mod Podge on this one, which took about 3 or 4 nights of sitting under a stack of magazines to flatten out the wrinkles.  See, a nice, flat surface now.  And, it looks great in my living room (much better than that farm-scape would have).

Here, I glued on (using wood glue, this time) some wood letters that I found at Michael's & had already pre-painted.  You can't really tell, but I used a base coat about the same color green in the scrapbook paper, then added a layer of crackle medium, then coated w/ cream.  It didn't crackle as well as I would like, but it'll do.  

It needed a little something else to make the letters standout.  I had a sample of chocolate brown paint I had bought about 2 years ago, so it had turned itself into kind of a watery "glaze", (even after lots of stirring & shaking).  In this case, that was perfect since I just wanted a hint of color.  I used a q-tip to lightly apply the old paint  "glaze" around the edges.  

Here is is finished:

I think it gives it a little "sumpin' sumpin'" extra that it needed.

For the final update, I took a plain letter (again from Michael's, but this one was already came pre-painted white) & used spray adhesive to glue it onto the opposite side of scrapbook paper I wanted to show:

After letting it dry & trimming it out around the shape of the letter, painting the edges w/ cream (I didn't want the white) & adding a few coats of Mod Podge as sealer, this is what I had:

I just LOVE the look of that scrapbook paper, all vintage-y & stuff.  

To showcase my monogram, I surrounded it with a frame that I found in someone's trash pile on the side of the road.  Yes, I stopped my car to dig through someone's trash pile.  Hey, if you spot something, go for it!  I actually got 5 cool frames out of the deal, and they were all - FREE!!!

I didn't do anything to this frame except clean it up a bit to get all the dirt & dust off it.  I loved the finish, & it was already naturally "distressed".  It didn't have any hanging elements, so I decided to just hang it up with some fabric toile ribbon I had left over (which matches my quilt in my room, by the way).  

Ta Da!  There you have it, 3 easy updates using scrapbook paper. 

Linking Up Here: http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2011/02/frugal-friday.html; http://www.freckledlaundry.com/