I made a trip to Michael's Arts and Crafts last week (and since the closest one to me is at the Dixie Value Mall in Etobicoke, that's an hour trip between the Queen West Streetcar and the Mississauga transit system, ah well, at least Queen West is interesting from end to end!). I picked up a few things I needed/wanted, some fabric paints in dark colours, some interesting stencils, some varnish, ribbon, paper and ModPodge.
See, a few weeks ago during a trip to Value Village (I lurve the Value Village), I grabbed a serving tray for $2.99. Just a plain ol serving tray, white laminate with wood. Boring really. And I've been wanting a nice, slightly funky serving tray for my afternoon tea (I have an obession with the English ritual of tea. Something about cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off, I don't know). So my idea was to create what was in my head.
Lovely, isn't it? :) Here's what I used:
1 bottle Folk Art craft paint in Lavender
1 sheet of purple and white scrapbook paper with scalloped edges
2 lengths of purple ribbon with white flowers
1 bottle ModPodge and 1 bottle varnish.
I painted the entire surface in the Lavender, three coats total since I'm lazy and didn't prime the dang thing. Then a layer of ModPodge over the serving surface and stick down the scrapbook paper and two lengths of ribbon. Three layers of varnish over the entire tray. One handy, lovely serving tray!
And thus was born my obession with ModPodge. This stuff rocks! What took me so long to figure that out? For years I've been using substandard craft glue. In fact, my first effort with regular glue didn't even adhere the paper to the surface, I could lift the paper right off, which is what sent me off to Michael's.
It's not perfect, I folded the ends of the ribbon but didn't properly press them down so they kinda stick up at the ends, but oh well.....it's just for me.
Now fascinated with ModPodge I took a laminate serving tray I've had for years and glued down more scrapbook paper and ribbon. It's not as nice as the one above, but it's still nice enough for my personal use.
I also fancied up a camel coloured cord jacket I picked up at Value Village. It's a really nice jacket, fits great and I love it, but it was kinda....boring. Just plain ol camel coloured cord.
Break out the stencils and fabric paint!
