Friday, August 23, 2013

Words, words, words

   What a crazy time of year. School is back in session, which means, yes...Christmas is right around the corner. I know, you are thinking, is Dee crazy??? But you just wait, you'll see. Time will fly by and soon we will be talking about Christmas gift giving.
     With me, it's when craft fair season really starts revving up. Why? Well, because people are starting to think about...yes, Christmas! And that's a good thing for me, because I like making gifts for people.
   This project was squeezed in between filling up my stock for the fairs. I was visiting my daughter, Dana. And she has a kitchen table which was in pretty rough shape on it's top. So on the spur of the moment I got inspired to decoupage it. I had a bunch of old dictionary pages with me that I thought she could use in her paintings, and they were perfect to use on the table.

Today's project is:

decoupaged table top
You will need:
papers to decoupage, (these can be anything from magazine clippings, to newspapers, to gift wrap)
Spray Mount (spray adhesive)
Mod Podge decoupage glue
sponge brush

First clean the surface you will be decoupaging on. This can be anything: chairs, tables, trunks. I have even used glass plates (see previous post for that one)

Then arrange the pieces you want to use. In my case, I laid out the dictionary pages and decided which way they would go. Some of the more yellowed ones were scattered around to give it depth and interest. And I tried to make the ones on the edges (where people would be sitting) easy to read. Something fun to do while eating, learn a new word!!!

Then I took the pieces outside, and over some old newspapers, I sprayed the adhesive on the back of the page. This is messy, because the spray will get on everything, so spray down close to the newspaper. You can skip the spraying part, and spread Mod Podge on the table and smooth the paper down on that also.  But I did not have enough Mod Podge to cover the table twice.

Then lay the pieces down, smooth out any air bubbles. If you have a brayer this work well, a dowel, or a rolling pin might work too.  After these have dried, take a sponge brush and apply the Mod Podge to an area, covering completely.

This may wrinkle or bubble up a bit as it dries, but don't panic. It will flatten out again when the decoupage glue has dried.
* One word of warning: Do NOT put anything hot on this surface you it has dried. I accidently put my tea cup down on it, and it started to bubble up.  IF that happens, take some steel wool, smooth down, and apply more Mod Podge. 

If you want to make it more durable, cover the top with a varnish or an acrylic sealer.

If you have some old chairs, like the ones I found at a garage sale, that were in bad shape as far as the paint was chipping off. You can see in the picture at the top, Dana and I sanded them and then she painted them with fun stripes on one and polka dots on the other, and put new fabric on the seats. And voila, you can make some fun chairs to go with your fun new table!  Paint words on the chairs to match the dictionary pages, if you use dictionary pages.

tip of the day:
My friend came up with some great uses for coffee filters. She uses them to hold small snacks like popcorn or goldfish.  You can fold up a couple, stash in your purse for the next time you take a little one to the movies. You buy a popcorn for yourself and pour some out for their own little bowl. Then you just toss them when finished.
 And she also puts them over bowls when microwaving to prevent splattering. Clever girl.

That's it for now...
:D


No comments:

Post a Comment