A busy, yet successful day. With a bit of a FAIL.
I spent the morning running errands (including dropping over $550 on new tires for my van…yeah…all of the sudden I’m thinking the husband is not going to be happy about the money spent on this makeover stuff.)
At our local thrift store, I found a FANTASTIC little table to use for my nightstand (for $8!) that will get a bit of a facelift first. Not by tomorrow night, mind you, but eventually. Actually, there are a lot of “eventually” things left to do in the room. That probably makes it not such a Four Day makeover, eh? And not that this has anything to do with the makeover, but I also found a big box of wood building blocks for the kids for 5 buckaroos. Seriously – this thing was HEAVY. How could I pass up a deal like that with 4 munchkins in the house?
Moved the mattress and box springs back into the room after some much needed vacuuming. Checked on the bedding and it’ll be here tomorrow! Yay! And I got the laundry sorters all painted, inside and out. Since the insides are blue and I decided to use spray paint for that part, I ended up looking a bit like I belonged in Kentucky with these guys:
But never fear, a shower and much scrubbing has returned me to my normal state.
Aaaaaaand onto the FAIL. As I mentioned last night, I was planning on using this photo transfer to canvas method. I have 4 photos that I wanted up on the wall and I thought this would be a great way to display them. Unfortunately, I can’t find my cord to upload the photos I took, but I’ll tell you all about my failure that has me back to square one for some wall decor. :P And when I find the cord under all my mess I’ll add photos.
I decided to try the Mod Podge and Elmer’s Glue method she mentions at the very end of her post. I had the UPS Store print my pictures because I don’t have a laser printer. Unfortunately they printed them on very nice paper. I guess the lower the paper quality, the better this method works. But I digress.
I prepped the canvases with the glue. I was so excited to sit down and do this (maybe I was just excited to sit down?). And then…I sucked at it. My first photo was practically unrecognizable. Word to the wise: If you’re planning on doing a photo transfer like this, use a picture you don’t care about for the first one. My second one looked a bit better. Not great, mind you, but better. My third was looking dang good. I started to think of tips I could post like:
More Mod Podge is better than less. But not so much you’re oozing out the sides in great gobs of Mod Podge gooeyness.
And: Wetter is better. All this “dampen the paper” stuff is garbage. You want that paper wet. Soaked through. And when it’s getting even just a little difficult, spray the area some more and then go work on another area that is very very wet and has had a bit of time to soak. And then when that gets a little resistant, spray it and go back to the first area.
And: Don’t rub too hard. Yes, all of the tutorials out there say this, but seriously…DON’T rub too hard.
All great tips. But then I looked at the dried products. I could hardly see the pictures through the ghostly white residue left behind. I even took a damp soft cloth and tried to rub (gently) the film away and it looked great when it was wet, but when it dried…BAM! White residue. Sprayed the dang thing with water and wiped (a little less gently) with the soft cloth again. Still white residue. I’m tempted to brush some Mod Podge over the top of one just to see if that residue will disappear when that happens, but if I do, it won’t be until tomorrow…when I have nothing else to do. #eyeroll
Less Pinning More Doing 