Scrappy

This is Part 1/2.  The holiday season is upon us, didn't it seem to get here so quickly?  Every year I tell myself "Okay, this year I'm going to get all my shopping and holiday errands done early so I don't have the scramble the week before Christmas."  And then every year a few days before Christmas I say "Oh crap, I didn't get any shopping done..."  I'm sure this sounds familiar to most of you.  Isn't it so tough to come up with the perfect gift for someone?  I promise I always have the best of intentions.  Sid's birthday is Christmas Eve too.  How awful is that?  Even if I nail the birthday gift then I have to wonder woman it and get a second awesome thoughtful gift the next day??  It's a good thing I'm a super hero.

So this atrocity in my house is a plastic, yes plastic gross, (the italics are supposed to highlight my discern), floor lamp/shelf.  Had I realized this was plastic I would have thrown it out but I thought it was a cheap wood.  Because that's obviously much classier.  So this guy is definitely a temporary item, but I figured why not snazz it up inexpensively a bit while it lasts.

Before:

Materials:
ModgePodge, Foam brush, Scrapbook Paper, Scissors/Box Cutter, Acrylic Sealer 



Step One:
Cut the Scrapbook Paper to size for the shelves.  The corners were a bit tricky, and thus I used a combo of my box cutter as well as scissors.

Step Two:
Using your foam brush, brush on a coat of ModgePodge to the shelf, and press your scrapbook paper on top.  Let dry.

Step Three:
Spray with your acrylic sealer.  Do this outside!  I'm super lazy, and thought I could do this in my sunroom with the windows open.  Terrible idea.  It smells toxic and I probably killed my brain cells.  Oops.  Also, I didn't use one but a high shine/gloss acrylic sealer probably would have looked better.

And that's it!  I love that super cheap scrapbook paper can easily snazz this bad boy up.  And you can virtually do this on anything - shelves, dresser linings, etc.  A fancier, more expensive option would be using wallpaper.  But, for this plastic guy, I think scrapbook paper is perfect.  Stay tuned for next week's Part 2/2:  The Lampshade.  In my mind it's going to be awesome.