Tag: paper

Craft Projects

Mod Podge Jewelry Box

Jessica Smith

I picked up this mini chest of drawers months ago when I went to the local art store closing. Originally $9, I paid $2.25 because the whole store was 75 percent off.

It’s been sitting in my craft room for months. MONTHS. And I’ve been so good at getting rid of things and tidying up my space down there — I’m so close — that each time I looked at it I wondered why I bought it in the first place and if I should just donate it to Good Will.

Well, I’m glad I kept it around because I was finally inspired to tackle this project and I love how it turned out.

1. Buy a little wooden chest of drawers at any craft store.

2. Remove the drawers and paint the outer structure of your box. I painted mine with chalk board paint.

3. Remove the little wooden knobs to prep the surface for Mod Podge.

4. Mod Podge paper or fabric onto each drawer face. I used sheets from a dictionary, making sure to choose pages with illustrations on each one. Place a layer of Mod Podge (I used glossy) on each drawer, then the dictionary page (already cut to size), and then one last layer of Mod Podge. Smooth out the bubbles (I used my fingers) and let dry. Then do one last coat of Mod Podge to give each drawer face a nice seal.

5. If you’d like to, paint the rest of your box. This probably should have gone with step 2, but whatever. For my box, I lightly brushed on my black paint so you could still see the wood grain through it. I also painted the edges of each drawer face so the black carried through and it looked a bit distressed. Paint your knobs as well, then re-attach with wood glue and a small hammer. They should fit right back into place.

6. Let everything dry overnight, then put your chest of drawers back together!

{A Smith of All Trades} Dictionary Page Jewelry Box

 

 

Craft Projects, Life

Authentic Wooden Sign

Jessica Smith

Yesterday was my coworker Dan’s last day in the office — he and his wife are moving to Greece for a couple of years. Dan has a fantastic sense of humor and is a midwestern boy. One of the long-running jokes in our office is that Dan wants to move to West Virginia to start a bear emporium… it’s better that you not ask haha. Anyway, he calls it “Uncle Dan’s Bear Emporium.” SOOOOO, the rest of the team devised a plan to make Dan a sign for his fictional business for him to take overseas with him. While I doubt anyone will want to replicate this project exactly (who else wants a fictional bear emporium after all?), I’m sharing it because 1. it’s awesome, and 2. it turned out to be a pretty authentic looking wooden sign.

Here’s the image I created in InDesign for us to use on our sign:

Awesome, right? We all thought so. But it gets better. So much better!

I picked up a wooden slab at Hobby Lobby for the back of our sign.

It was the perfect size and shape for our sign, and the smooth surface made making the sign a breeze. Once I had my piece of wood and the document printed, I trimmed the edges of the sign so it would fit in the center of the piece of wood.

I headed down to my craft room to start making the sign look like aged wood. To do that I took a lighter and burned the wood. Be very careful if you try this. After all, you are playing with fire.

 

Once the piece of wood was sufficiently burned, I turned the flame to the piece of paper.

I was very careful to not set my house on fire or burn a hole through Dan’s face, only letting the flame burn for a second or two before blowing it out. I did this around the entire edge of the photo. The effect of the burnt edges was a really nice touch.

 

With my photo and piece of wood equally burnt, I set to work Mod Podging the piece of paper to the piece of wood.

 

Two coats of Mod Podge later, I left Dan’s sign to dry. Once it was dry, I set it on fire a bit more (can you say “pyro?”). Then I attached picture hangers to the back of the sign using a shallow screw.

I then tied rope to each hanger.

With that, the sign was complete and AMAZING.

Pretty sweet going away gift, huh?

We all signed the back before sending our coworker off to Greece in style. I wonder what they’ll think of the sign in customs?

Farewell, Dan. We’ll miss you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craft Projects, Furniture

Sunshine Yellow wooden chairs

Jessica Smith

I love the color scheme in our house — it’s very calming and beautiful. Having said that, it never hurts to add pops of bright colors here and there. That’s just what I did with my most recent project. I found two wooden chairs at a local thrift store that I liked the shape of. So, I snagged them ($5 and $7… not too bad) and ran to Home Depot to pick a bright fun color.

I ended up going with a bright shade of yellow. I set up a drop cloth in my yard so I had plenty of ventilation for my project, then started to spray away.

 

The chairs turned out great. There are a few spots I need to sand down and touch up but very time I spray paint I either grossly underestimate the amount of spray paint I”ll need and run out, or it starts to thunderstorm and I get interrupted halfway through my project. I’ve got about half a can left, maybe less, so hopefully it will be enough to cover a few areas I need to touch up. If not, I’ll buy one last can next time I’m at the store. I used five in total for this project.

Once my chairs were dry, I brought them inside. I’m debating whether to flank each side of my buffet (which I still need to refinish) with a chair so they are against our bluish-greenish walls, or if I should put them on our main floor so they are against the light gray.

Overall, I think they are adorable and oh so cheery.

I also like that we’ll have more seating options for our guests. The chairs are comfy, too!

Now I just need to make two pillows to tie them into whichever room I decide to keep them in. I’m thinking a gray chevron pattern with a cheery yellow flower and an aqua button… That can’t be too complicated to make, right?

That pillow looks dumb and is way too big, but you get the idea.

** The sad part about this project is that while I love the yellow, I keep wondering if I should have painted them an aqua blue instead… I have a serious problem with my love of blues and greens. I have to keep telling myself it’s OK to have yellow in my house :p **