Outlet Cover Make-over

Since we moved into our house it's taken me awhile to get back into doing projects specifically home related.  There is a long laundry list of handy home repairs needed to be done.  I got burnt out on all the work I had to do to make this place livable.  Once we settled in I was in full work mode, without hardly a moment to think about working on the house.  Now that I have time I've been overwhelmed as to where to begin.  The recent cold front that moved in, and has been making it feel like winter, gave me a great idea where to start.  We should have done this months ago.  Long before it got cold, but better late then never!  

An important part to a home is making it air tight.  This is important whether you're running the heater or the A.C.  You don't want all your heated/cooled air escaping out of every little crevice.  Air likes to seep out through door and window frames, around outlets, and baseboards.  We removed most of the floorboards and outlet covers months and months ago.  All of the outlet covers needed to be replaced, and I just kept putting it off.  I knew I would buy the least expensive white option, which meant it would be an ultra boring shopping trip.  It never seemed like something worth going to the hardware store for on it's own.  The other day we found ourselves there buying a snow shovel, so we also picked up some outlet covers.  We have this one wood wall, and the white outlet cover looks horrendously out of place.  

So I used this DIY tutorial from The Plumed Nest to cover the outlet cover.  As the grand-daughter of an electrician, I have to wonder if gluing paper around my electrical outlet is a good idea, but what the heck!  We don't use this outlet anyway, so why not make it decorative?  I began by finding a scrapbook paper that would blend well with this wall.  Then I cut it out about a half inch larger than the outlet cover.  

  Then I applied Mod Podge to the outlet cover and laid it down on the backside of the paper.  I folded the sides in first, and Mod Podged them down.  I cut slits at the corners, and trimmed off the triangles to make them fold in nicely.  For the holes I cut 'x's across them, and folded the triangles in.  Then Mod Podged the flaps down.  I finished by coating the whole thing in a thin shellack of Mod Podge.  

Doesn't it look better now?  

I'm also happy I found a use for this paper so I can enjoy it on a daily basis.  Oh, and speaking of that electrician, today is his 85th birthday!  Happy birthday G-Dad, and Happy DIYing, chris!

Mod Podge vs. Homemade Decoupage

I'm rounding in on my one year anniversary for this lil' blog, and as a homage to my most popular post, My Homemade Mod Podge, I'm going to do a hearty review on homemade decoupages vs. the real deal, Mod Podge.  To test the different mixtures I will be covering three cardboard rectangles with fabric.  These will be used in a wire shelving unit I have in our downstairs bathroom.  I used the shelves to store our extra washcloths and hand towels, but they just fall through the cracks, and it just looks a mess.

I used three large pieces of cardboard, a measuring tape, a pencil, a sharp box cutter, and cotton fabric.  As you can see in this photo I have three different fabrics, but in the end I decided to use only one, so I wouldn't have a bunch of variables making it hard to compare the different mixtures.  

I began by measuring the existing shelves on the wire unit, and then using those measurements I marked out where I would need to cut the cardboard to make it the appropriate size.  My first tip for this step is the age old adage "Measure twice, cut once".  My other tip is when cutting cardboard with a box cutter don't try to cut through all the layers on your first cut.  It might take three or four times to get through all the layers, but the results will be better if you don't force it.  

Once I had the pieces cut I checked to make sure they fit.  

Next I cut out the fabric, I started by smoothing it out face down, and then placing the cardboard over it.  I happened to have a nice corner to start in, so I lined the edge of the cardboard up with the fabric, and moved about a half inch in, to create a boarder around the cardboard.  Then I cut the other two sides out leaving a half inch boarder on those sides as well.  I repeated this for the other two pieces as well.  

Now to start the comparisons!  I began with the Mod Podge so that I would have a baseline to compare my two homemade mixtures to.  I covered one whole side of the cardboard with the Mod Podge, and then I quickly flipped it over and pressed the cardboard against the cotton fabric.  

Then I painted some Mod Podge down one of the sides, and then folded over the fabric, and added some more Mod Podge over the flap of fabric.  I repeated this process with the opposite side.  

To fold in the other two sides I applied some Mod Podge to the corners, and then folded them in.  I did this to all four corners, before Mod Podgeing the remaining sides of fabric down.  

I checked out how it looks before I moved on to the next step.  

The first homemade decoupage mixture I whipped up was equal parts basic white glue and water.  A few people commented that this was better then my homemade mixture, so I knew it was a must in this comparison.  I emptied the glue into a brand new mason jar, and then filled the glue container up with water, and poured it in.  Then I tightly screwed the lid on, and gave it a good shake.  

The other mixture I made with 3/4 cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of peanut oil (any type will do), and 5/8 cup of water.  I mixed all the ingredients together on low heat in a small sauce pan.  I used a whisk to get all the clumps out.  It's important to not let the mixture boil, or it will burn.  Here are all three mixtures.  They are in order from left to right, and as you can see the mixture made of kitchen ingredients is a bit yellow.  That's the first major difference you can see right off the bat.  

Here is what the backside of all the three cardboards looked like after they were completed with the three different decoupages.  The flour mixture I did just before I took the photos and that's why it's still wet.  

Real Mod Podge is ultra thick, which can be important, and it dries in seconds.  The results were just as expected.  

The other two seemed to take forever to dry, the glue and water mixture was the slowest at drying.  It also bowed the cardboard at first, but it eventually did flatten out again, the one positive was that it dried the clearest.  It also was the only mixture that seeped through the fabric on the front side.  I had to apply more glue to the corners then I did with the Mod Podge, and it made the cardboard smooshy.  I'm sure this mixture would be an adequate stand-in for Mod Podge for some projects, just not all.

The mixture made of kitchen ingredients was pretty much neck in neck with the water and glue mixutre.  It dried a little faster, and I didn't need to apply as much to the corners as I did with the other homemade batch.  The cons are it does leave a bit of a residue, and over time the mixture separates.  Though I really like that this mixture is completely kid friendly.  A child could eat a big spoonful of this, and there wouldn't be any ill effects, but I wouldn't suggest anyone eat the other two glues.  This might not have the durability or as many uses as the real Mod Podge, but it would be fantastic for kid projects, or anything that doesn't need to last forever.  

There you have it, homemade decoupages are great for when you're in a pinch, but they don't replace the real deal.  I promise I'm not being paid by Mod Podge to say this either.  I personally bought all of the materials for this project (and all my other projects).  After testing these three mixtures I am a strong support of the real Mod Podge.  The homemade mixtures just don't compare.  Sure they work well enough, but there are some cons to them as well.  They are both rather runny, and take a long time to dry.  

Before I go I want to share how my bathroom shelving unit turned out.

Much improved.  I'm glad I used this project to test the different Mod Podge mixtures.  I killed two birds with one stone.  I hope you enjoyed this review as well, and happy DIYing, chris!

Giant Candle Make-over

I have this giant candle my lovely husband got from work, Pier1 awhile ago.  It's cool because it's giant, and he got it for extra cheap, which giant candles never are, but otherwise it doesn't have any pizzazz.  It's this weird nondescript color and strange texture, so it just sits there calling no attention to it's self.  

So today I came up with a lovely solution.  I Mod Podged some orange yarn to the bottom of the candle.  It was super easy.  Getting started was the hardest part, and then it only took about five minutes to complete whole thing, including clean up.  I began by painting Mod Podge along the bottom in a thin line, and immediately applying the yarn.  I did the first two rows of yarn in small stretches, with the candle on it's side, rolling it as I moved along.  Once I got the first two rows done I stood the candle up and painted about an inch of the candle with Mod Podge, and quickly applied the yarn.  Then I repeated once more with another inch of Mod Podge.  Once I covered all the glue with yarn, and had reached the desired height I snipped the yarn, and painted the end down with Mod Podge.  

I love how great this looks.  The orange yarn really complements the nondescript color perfectly, and makes this candle awesome.  Plus it's totally dressed for Thanksgiving day now too.  :)  Yay!  Happy DIYing, chris!

Fancy Keepsake Box DIY

I'm home from Vermont, but this thing is still on auto pilot, because today I will be at my niece's baptism.  So I thought it would be appropriate to share what I made for her gift.  I haven't been to many baptisms, and this is the first that I am bringing a gift to, so I really had no idea what to give.  I've heard that bonds are a popular gift, but I figured she'd be getting a lot of those, and I wanted to give something a little more thoughtful.  My next thought was something personalized to commemorate this momentous occasion.  When I googled some ideas for personalized baptism gifts I didn't find anything that struck my fancy.  My family isn't religious, and it didn't make much sense (to me) to give my niece something with psalms, or bible quotes, or a giant cross, which seemed to be my only options.  There is a plethora of non-baby-friendly jewelry, giant crosses, and stuffed lambs as gift choices.  I had a really hard time thinking of anything that is baby appropriate and religious, but not overly religious.  

What I came up with is a suped-up wooden treasure box.  I had one of these when I was a kid, and I loved keeping special little things inside of it.  This gift idea seemed the most reflective of me.  I guess it doesn't have much to do with the ritual, but maybe she can store all her new non-wearable crosses  in it.  Or I imagine she'll be receive lots of pretty jewelry today. 

I bought a small oval shaped wooden box from Michael's, and I used a bunch of scraps of special decorative papers, and applied them to the box with Mod Podge.  

Here is the wooden box after I glued all my pieces down.  Sorry I don't have any pics of the process.  I simple traced the different parts of the box on the pieces I wanted to use, then cut them out.  I played with their placement before I started glueing them down.  Once I started gluing I had to keep going, because I was layering the next piece under the previous piece.  I covered the whole thing with paper and Mod Podge, and then I gave it a couple extra coats of Mod Podge.  

I painted the interior and the top lip of the box with acrylic paint.  They call this color ocean breeze.  I liked using non-traditional girl colors, plus of course a little pink.  All the patterns and colors I picked work perfectly together.  

Once I had enough coats of paint on, and everything had dried for at least twenty minutes I coated the whole box in satin varnish.  I applied three coats.  

To finish the box off, on the inside of the lid I wrote Annabel's name, and the date of her baptism.  

I also added a super cute Martha Stewart rocking horse fabric sticker to the top.  I hope she cherishes it as much as I enjoyed making it, but if it ends up in a closet collecting dust, I think I discovered a new thing I'm good at making.   

Well I hope ya'll had a great weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!