{image transfer tray makeover}

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April 2, 2013 By | 47 Comments

tray3

I have to admit that my mom and I were a little discouraged when we met up for a craft date yesterday. The last time we crafted together, the results were.. well.. mediocre. We only ended up with one of the originally six paper mache tea lights. All others landed in the trash..

But this project turned out great! We were really pleased with the results! :)

My mom had found the tutorial on a German blog called “dekoherz” a couple weeks back and we just had to give it a try.
I had this old tray laying around that was just waiting on being brought back to life.
So, this is what I did:

tray5

I used chalk paint to paint the tray an off-white color and decided on an old french advertisement graphic from The Graphics Fairy.

tray1

What you’ll need:

  • copies or prints from a laser printer (color or black & white)
    • if it has writing on it, make sure to reverse the image
  • photo transfer medium (I believe Mod Podge makes it in the US)
  • a tray (or other surface)
  • a flat brush
  • a sponge
  • hair dryer

tray2

How to:

  1. Pick an image or graphic and print it mirrored.
  2. Give both the surface you want to transfer the graphic on and the printed paper (on the printed side) a good coat of the photo transfer gel.
  3. Place the coated paper, printed side down, onto the surface and use a squeegee (or old credit card/discount card) to smooth out the paper. Wipe any excess gel off with a damp cloth.
  4. Blow dry for about 10 minutes and let cool.
  5. Now the fun part! Use a sponge to wet the paper and then start rubbing the sponge over the graphic until the paper starts to peel off. All that will be left is the water-proof ink.
  6. Let dry and seal by applying another coat of the transfer gel.

You can also use this technique on metal, glass, fabric, .. pretty much anything you can think of! :)

tray4

I’m partying here! ❤

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, Nifty, paint | 47 Comments
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{nightstand makeover & DIY chalk paint}

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April 24, 2012 By | 131 Comments

A few weeks ago, while going for an after-dinner-walk, the hubby and I found a set of nightstands on the side of the road, set out for trash, that looked like they’ve been around since the 60s.
Even though they had been rained on a little and one of the bottom doors was missing, we each snatched one and happily headed home with our finds.

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Since we wanted the nightstands to be matching, we decided to take the functioning door off as well and have open shelves on the bottom.

After taking the bottom door off and thoroughly cleaning the nightstands, we applied a fresh coat (or two) of paint. I thought these $0 nightstands would be the perfect project to try out a DIY version of chalk paint.

To mix the DIY chalk paint:

Dissolve 1 part of plaster of paris with 1 part of hot water
& then mix it into 3 parts of latex paint

We still had a bucket of white latex paint on hand from when we moved into our apartment and added a few drops of turquoise acrylic paint to it to get the desired color.

The paint works like a charm, is really easy to apply & dries very quickly, so you don’t have to wait too long to apply a second coat.
The best part about the chalk paint is, there’s no need to sand or prime. Just clean your piece of furniture and get to the fun part! ;)

I did apply a coat of wax after everything was dry, to protect the paint and make it easier to clean the nightstands.

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A couple days ago, we finally found some wrapping paper that we thought would match perfectly and were finally able to finish our project.

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And now I finally have a place to put my books (and yes, I’m re-reading The Hunger Games right now! ;) ) and little knick-knacks that I keep by the bed.

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Unfortunately I couldn’t stand back far enough to take a picture of the whole bed, so I had to piece the pics together. .  But, there’s a king-sized bed in between our new nightstands. ;)

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I’m partying here! ♥

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY, furniture, Nifty, Out and About, paint, Thrifty | 131 Comments
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