Plastic, Please

Last weekend we found ourselves with a sick, puking toddler...in the car. If you have had this happen, it is 10 times more difficult to console a sick kiddo in a car. Luckily I had a portable, foldable potty seat that came with plastic baggies! The perfect thing to help Mr E while sick and made me feel more at ease.

We used bags for dirty clothes, for dirty baby wipes in cleaning up, and other soiled items. This used up my baggie stash. I have had this fabulous tutorial saved for months and never found time to do it. This incident was the perfect motivator to get the job done!

I used an old bleach wipes container, 15 plastic grocery bags, and wallpaper cut to size to fit my wipes container {approx. 7.375in x 11in}. I got the wallpaper from old sample books that Lowe's was giving away. It was fun to tear out my favorites to use for future projects! I used this tutorial from Tatertots and Jello to roll the baggies together. This method makes the bags self dispensing and so convenient for in the car or other travel. I also used adhesive spray as suggested to adhere the wallpaper to the canister.

I love how this turned out and it only took 15 minutes to complete the project. We are now ready for any traveling adventure!! Stay tuned for an amazing sugar cookie recipe just in time for Valentine's Day!

Glitter Gone Wrong

I had a vision, this fabulous idea. And...it didn't go quite as planned. Most of blogland is {conveyed as} unicorns, rainbows, and the perfect white picket place. Not so. After several hours of mental planning and problem solving I attempted to make a lovely, glitzy holiday sign for our mantel.

I started with a leftover Ikea tabletop piece. It's been in the garage for three years and I finally found a spark to upcycle.

BEFORE

I started by cleaning, lightly sanding, and spraying with Valspar Satin Spray Paint in Churchill Hotel Vanilla. I applied three coats and let it dry completely overnight. The finish was fairly bubbly and rough after drying. I sanded out all imperfections in the texture and applied one last coat. It was beautiful!!

I was excited to use a stencil to apply a fancy phrase in silver glitter. Subtle contrast, but with some glitz to add a classic holiday sparkle. I don't own a Silhouette or other equipment {although after this project, I am convinced I need one}. My bright idea was to design, print, and cut out the graphic to create my stencil. It took a lot of time, but the stencil turned out great!

Time to paint with glitter! I have heard rave reviews of the new Krylon Glitter Blast spray paint and was excited to try it. Unfortunately, Hobby Lobby did not have the 'Blast' version so I bought the other glitter spray paint from Krylon. I applied my stencil using a light adhesive spray and masked the remainder of my sign.

I applied three light coats of the glitter paint. Contrary to what I had read, the glitter spray did not do so well. It is more liquid than normal spray paint and soaked through my cardstock stencil. The residue ate away at my gorgeous sign finish leaving an ugly looking residue. Grrr!

AFTER ONE COAT

So, I am on to plan B...sadly. I am hoping to use a vinyl transfer in order to achieve my original vision. So off to go sand and refinish.

As you can see, projects don't always go as planned...just like life. But in the end there is always a solution or a way out. Hopefully I will be able to share a lovely, sparkly new sign soon!!

Don't forget to grab some great discounted Etsy goodies at Cake Ink and Annie42 !!