Upcycled Halloween craft - tic-tac-toe.

Walter has delighted us with his projects for over a year now - and I really really love what he does for Halloween! I'm not sure if you remember his fun jack-o-lantern magnets or his cute Halloween cupcake pedestal tutorials, but those are a must see. He's back again with a recycled project to have a little bit of fun this Halloween, and I love it. Here's how he made his Halloween tic-tac-toe.

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As you may know, I too adore Halloween and the imagery. I have been wanting to create a recycled craft tutorial for some time and this "Halloween Tic-Tac-Toe" item is super FUN to make.

Supplies:

Sometimes making stuff from discarded items can be surprisingly good . . . I am so pleased with the way this traditional, fun game came out. This is how I made it:

• Any Mod Podge will work . . . I used Gloss and Mod Podge Dimensional Magic.
• 10 plastic caps, washed and dry! Mine came from the Almond Milk I drink and have a 1" opening.
• 1" Friskars Circle Paper punch
• Halloween themed rubber stamps
• Paintbrush
• Mod Podge tools
• 6" x 6" jewelry box, got mine at a yard sale . . . you can buy newer unfinished boxes available at most craft stores

I created a 6" x 6" digital image using vintage Halloween ephemera and had a laser copy made. If you don't have Photoshop skills, no problem - use scrapbook paper with pre-printed graphics! Divide the square box by three vertically and three horizontally and Mod Podge your grid to your liking. I then decoupaged the the sides of the lid and sides of the box with, orange and black textured cardstock.

It looks so good! Next, seal the whole box with Mod Podge for a durable finish. TIP: I used the NEW silicone Mod Podge mat. WOW, I love this product!!! This mat is fantastic! I use to decoupage on old discarded newspapers. No more unwanted "image transfers" on my decoupage items . . . and clean up is so easy! I hope Plaid introduces bigger sizes in the future.

For the game pieces I created two (1" square) designs with some Halloween themed rubber stamps (skull and jack o' lantern) and used my 1" Friskar Circle paper punch to cut out the images. Decoupage the images into the cap, let dry and repeat!

***You want to make sure the insert is fully coated with Mod Podge, including the sides or the Dimensional Magic will seep into the image. I tripled coated my game pieces. Then I added the Mod Podge Dimensional Magic and let dry over night. They came out AWESOME; it looks like I used a resin coat without the mixing and toxic smell. 

The game pieces are stored inside the box for storage . . . genius! Project completed! Let's play Halloween tic-tac-toe on family game night! This is a great craft for children and parents - a far cry from playing video games and no interaction with family members. I plan on making another with my niece and nephew and introducing them to a game of tic-tac-toe. Happy Halloween!

Don't forget to visit Walter's Etsy shop or follow him on his blog, Facebook and Twitter.

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Vintage kitchen tool shadow box.

I had a friend that loved to collect vintage kitchen tools, and her collection was super cool. She didn't want to use them, which I understood, because they were vintage and also they might have fallen apart in her cupcake batter. Man Podger David came up with a way to display vintage kitchen tools and I need to share it with my friend . . . I love this. Hang it on the wall or prop it on the counter, either way it looks great. I'll let David tell you how it's made.

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OK, my grandmother (dad’s mom) was one of the most awesome women ever – and not much of a cook. But she LOVED donuts!

My mother is equally terrific and a great cook. And she makes delicious, homemade donuts. The two of them got along famously needless to say!

When my grandmother passed away I ended up (I really have no idea how) with some odds and ends from her kitchen that have been sitting around in a “I-don’t- know-what-to-do-with-this-but-I-can’t-throw-it-away” box in my garage. Do you have one of those?

Anyway, it dawned on me that I could make a little celebration of both of them their friendship and their love of donuts using a shadowbox, Mod Podge and a blown up recipe card. It was incredibly easy!

1. Shadow Box (which I really should have cleaned before I photographed it. Sheesh!)
2. Mod Podge and foam brush
3. Vintage Kitchen Utensils
4. Small pieces of scrap wood to use as spacers – painted white
5. Hot glue gun
6. Spray Paint

I decided to recreate my mom’s famous donut recipe as a background. You could easily take an old recipe card to Kinkos and have them blow it up for you. I created my own using a great, free font called Octin Vintage (available for free download from DaFont.com), sized it to fit the back of the shadow box and printed it out.

I spread Mod Podge on the backer board that came with the shadow box and laid the recipe card graphic down smoothing out the wrinkles (although a few wrinkles seemed OK to me on this project) and set it aside to dry.

I also gave the shadow box itself a quick coat of antique white spray paint.

I wanted the utensils to stand out a bit from the background – hence the small pieces of scrap wood. I painted them white so they would blend a little and then I used a glue gun to glue the scrap wood to the back of each utensil.

When the recipe card background had dried I trimmed the edges and I gave it a sealing coat of Mod Podge for a little extra shine. After playing around with what I wanted for the arrangement I hot glued the utensils into place and re-assembled the shadow box. And BAM a tribute to my donut loving forebears.

I left the glass out of the shadow box for these pictures because all I was getting was a reflection of me taking a picture.

Don't forget to visit David at his blog, Etsy, or on Facebook.

I’m participating in the following linky parties: I Heart Naptime, Skip to My Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Tatertots and Jello, Tidy Mom, Tip Junkie, Today's Creative Blog, Creative Jewish Mom, The Frugal Girls

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DIY bunny book rack.

I love Walter's use of his own illustrations in his work. He's done it again by turning a spice rack into a book rack (I spy polka dots and I likey). Here's the tutorial below.
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I know a lot of people don't have the time or equipment to make some of my projects. But don't overlook items you can buy that need some assembly like the kind found at IKEA and Home Depot. The Home Depot has a section of quality Kids' Workshop items. I kid you not. I love books, especially vintage kids' books. I feel it is very important to read to children! I made this really cute Bunny Book Holder from a spice rack kit, which comes with very detailed and EASY assembly instructions. This is how I made it.

This is what you get in your spice rack package:
• 2 Ends
• 1 Back
• 2 Dowels
• 1 Bottom
• 8 Nails

I Primed all the pieces with FolkArt paint (French Blue).

Next, I decoupaged all the primed pieces with two types of polka dotted paper and the ends of the spice rack with a bunny illustration I created
• Use any type of Mod Podge and let dry for at least 15 minutes.

Then I gathered all the items needed for assembly.
• Glue
• Nails (included with kit)
• Small Hammer

Lay out all the pieces for assembly. Follow the simple instructions; trust me it was so easy! Then seal with FolkArt Varnish. Project completed!

This spice rack turned bunny book holder can be attached to a wall, perfect for a nursery. Or, you can also use it on the top of a chest of drawers. Very cute!

Don't forget to visit Walter's Etsy shop or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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Junk mail typography collage art.

My favorite retailer sends me many catalogs and sale mailers. I must say, I always get excited when a Crate and Barrel catalog arrives. I get a lot of inspiration from looking through them and the quality of the paper is great for decoupaging, especially the CB2 catalog!

I made this AWESOME re-arranged typography wall art with two junk mail postcard sale mailers. This is what you need to make this junk mail wall art plaque! This tutorial will showcase each step I took to complete this art piece.

Gather These Supplies

• Substrate of your choice: cradle board, canvas board, illustration board, plywood or wood ( I used a 5" x 5" x 3/4 piece of plywood that I primed and then painted it with FolkArt Wicker White paint.
• Cardstock
• Cutting tools
• Ruler
• Mod Podge tools: Brayer and Squeegee
• 1" SQUARE shape paper punch
• 2 Crate and Barrel postcard mailers (For some reason I got 2 in the mail) LOL!
• Any Mod Podge, I used Mod Podge Paper and Mod Podge Gloss

Step ONE: Cut 25 pieces (1" squares) of the red and white section only.

Step TWO: *TIP: I taped a piece of cardstock to my cutting mat. This type of mat has measurements printed on it, so it is easy to make accurate lines (see photo). I made two straight lines: one vertical and one horizontal; this made my layout easy to place . . . I knew I needed 5 rows of 1" squares across since I was working with a 5" x 5" block. I used Mod Podge Paper to mount the squares in place . . . then let dry for 15 minutes. Then, I cut the mounted pieces at 5" x 5".

Step THREE: Decoupage the FRONT with the re-arranged 1" square blocks. *TIP: I used a brayer that had some dried Mod Podge from previous projects, because when I run it over the paper it will give it a aged, rustic look and scuff it up. If you don't want that look, use a clean brayer. Next, I decoupaged the back with a random piece of printed cardstock.

Step FOUR: I decoupaged the sides with 3/4" white cardstock.

Step FIVE: Attach hanging hardware to the back. TIP: I find for something small like this a triangle hanger is easiest! All, you do is find the center, mark it with an AWL, then insert a screw. . . Then I attached two bumpers to the bottom.

Project completed! Ready to hang. Wouldn't it be fun to try this on a huge scale?

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DIY anaglypta "home" letters.

Well, this tutorial marks my one year Man-Podgerversary! Amy and I have exchanged the traditional one year gift – Paper (and Mod Podge!).

It’s been a great year of stretching my imagination and I’m very appreciative to Amy for giving me the opportunity and to all of you who have left comments or asked questions. Thanks so much!

So . . . I’m kinda hooked on letters and typography.

A while ago I started making my own letters to use in some HOME signs for my Etsy shop. But I’m always looking for another way to do things.

Relatively recently I learned about Anaglypta – which I assumed was an Egyptian Pharaoh but was told that it is, instead, a Victorian wallpaper made to imitate detailed plaster. I had come across a big pile of it at a garage sale and, even thought I didn’t know what to do with it I thought it was cool and scooped it up (you can find modern versions of it it at wallpaper stores or even Lowes).

I thought, for this project, maybe it would be cool to combine my addiction to letters with my new found appreciation of Anaglypta.

You will need:

Letters – I used my own chunky, wood letters but you could use anything – wood, cardboard etc
Spray Paint
Anaglypta
Sharp craft knife (not pictured)
Mod Podge
Craft Paint (not pictured)
Paintbrush (not pictured)

So first I laid my letters on the Anaglypta and laid out my cut lines. My letters are thick and I wanted the paper to wrap around three sides.

I also did a dry fit just to make sure everthing lined up.

Anaglypta is made to be wallpaper but I didn’t want to deal with wallpaper paste and Mod Podge proved the ideal alternative – it’s easier to work with and a little more forgiving than straight glue. I just brushed a fairly thick layer of Mod Podge onto the Anaglypta and then applied it to the letter, folding it around the edges. The dimensions of my letters meant that not all sides could be covered at once so I had to attach some separate pieces. I didn’t worry about matching the pattern up.

After everything had dried adequately I trimmed off any overhang with my craft knife (make sure it’s really sharp) and I had my letters.

I then gave each letter a light coat of my sky blue spray paint. And then, to emphasize the texture I went over each letter using a dry brush and just a tiny bit of white – just hitting the tops of the raised pattern.

And I was done.

These were pretty easy to make and would be even easier if you just did the face of the letter.

Don't forget to follow David on his blog or on Facebook!

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Mini centerpiece footstool.

Mod Podge Walter recently attended an outdoor antiques show and got inspired to create this fancy little footstool that works as a centerpiece. I love the story!

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I recently attended the Brimfield Outdoor Antique Show in Brimfield, Mass. I did not see Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren's people, celebrities or HGTV crew on opening day this year. Maybe because it was raining? Grace Bonney from Design Sponge did attend on the last day of the event. Check out her blog for some great finds she acquired!

The little rain that poured did not stop me and many others on our quest for treasures of yesteryear. I arrived at noon and it started to lightly rain - and before you know it it was 4pm and it was raining hard! It was a fun and exhausting time, and I only only got to see about 1/16th of the show . . . it is impossible to see it all! Despite the weather I had a grand old time and acquired a lot of inspiration. Snagged a bunch of first edition Little Golden Books, ephemera and vintage wallpaper. As a matter of fact, the wallpaper I purchased is the same paper that I used for this project (Don't ask how much I paid for it)! At one point I was visiting a tent with many vintage footstools fetching crazy money. There was a woman who wanted to buy a similar footstool and her husband said "I can make that." The woman said, "you say that all the time and you never produce". . . and she paid for her treasured mini footstool and walked away with a big ol' smile. That is how I came up with the idea to create this project.  

It was made from a piece of oak I had leaning against the wall in my studio, waiting to be transformed!

There are a lot of plans for foot stools out there. Just Google "footstool plans." I made this with out any plans - I just eyeballed it.
•Step 1: I used a 30" length x 5" width oak board
•Step 2: I cut two 6 1/4" pieces from the 30" board, leaving me with two pieces for the feet and the 17 1/2" board for the top.
Then I cut out a triangle from the two bottom pieces - this will give the finished piece stability when placed on a flat surface. For the sides I used two 17 1/2" x 1 1/4" pieces as braces.
•Step 3: All the pieces were primed with Kilz and then coated with a thick coat of white paint.

•Step 4: I decoupaged every piece with my vintage wallpaper. Tip: I used a X-Acto knife to trim the paper.
•Step 5: I marked the rails where I wanted to attach the top piece, then used a drill bit slightly smaller than the wood screws I planned to use. I did a dry fit to make sure every thing would align.
•Step 6: Begin assembly now. First I attached the side rails into the bottom of the top board. You have options for the legs: You can use right angle braces like in the picture OR I chose to screw from the side of the brace using a cordless hand drill.

Now, the piece is fully assembled! I then took a small piece of 100-grit sandpaper and wrapped it around a wooden block and sanded off all of the edges. The transformation was exactly what I was looking for - a vintage worn out look, shabby cottage chic! Seal the item if you choose to. I left mine unsealed.

Place some candles on top and a centerpiece is born! This mini footstool also makes a great accessory in a French Provincia kitchen. Place some of your favorite spices on top. Or use it outside for a nice centerpiece. I love eating outdoors!

Remember to embrace your creativity; there is no wrong way to make something like this. Happy Summer!

Visit Walter on his blog, his Etsy shop, Twitter or Pinterest.

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