A version of this first appeared on this site way back in 2012, however it wasn’t super clear and needed updating.

First, credit where it’s due, the original idea for this comes from the book “Happy Gloves – Charming Softy Friends Made From Colorful Gloves” by Miyako Kanamori. The author also has a book called “Sock and Glove – Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-off Socks and Gloves.” When I originally posted this craft, I had no idea where the original idea came from, and several people kindly let me know in comments, so I wanted to be sure to credit properly this time around.

Now, I think it’s important to point out that I am NOT great at sewing. I can make basic stitches, but I don’t know enough to be any sort of authority. The good news is that if I can do it, so can you. Not knowing how to sew does not preclude you from joining in on this fun craft.

If you are someone who sews, this should be extra simple. The stitch I used is the whip stitch, which is basically a really simple in, out and around motion that works pretty well.

To begin, you’ll need a glove. I had these black ones on hand, but the Dollar Tree has loads of gloves in different colors for cheap, so you can always find yourself a better color. You’ll also need a needle and thread, scissors and any embellishments you may want to add. In my original version, I gave the bear button eyes and a felt nose. But for this version, I simply made the face with different colors of thread.

Turn the glove inside out, as you’ll want to make sure you sew INSIDE the stuffie so there are no weird lines. Refer to the photo above to know where to cut as you go.

Begin by cutting the thumb of the glove off. This is going to be the tail for your critter. You can make it as long or as short as you want. I chose to cut the tip off for a shorter tail, but you can make it longer if you want a different animal.

Next, cut between the second and third fingers so that you have two sets of two fingers. Cut all the way up to the top of palm of the glove and remove. This will become the body/legs of your animal.

Cut the very tips of the legs off so that you have two small half circles. You can trim the legs so they are more rounded, allowing you to sew them more easily. The two half circles will become the ears.

Next, cut the two fingers left on the glove, as these will become arms.

The final cut is the area above those two fingers, which should be enough for the head.

To help envision the final product, lay out your pieces in front of you to see how they will fit together.

Then, begin your sewing. Using a whip stitch, sew along the open side of your body/leg piece and down and around the feet. Make sure you close any gaps so that stuffing can’t escape.

Next, pull the glove so it’s no longer inside out, and add your stuffing into the legs/body, sewing the top of the whole piece closed. Be sure not to over-stuff, as it will make the weave very thin, and it may also cause your stitches to break.

Move on to the head, sewing around the entire piece, leaving a gap in the back to add more stuffing. Be sure to flip it so it’s not inside out before you stuff. Once you have a shape you like, sew this closed, as well.

Very carefully, sew the head to the body, using whatever method works best for you. I like to add a lot of back and forth extra stitches to make sure it’s secure. I also chose to sew the chin area to the chest area so that the stuffie would look more stable and to stop the head flopping around.

Moving on to the arms, you simply need to pull them right side out, stuff them, and then sew them to the body. There are many ways you can do this, but I chose to sew the shoulder areas to the body by going around the entire outer arm in a circle. I considered simply closing the arm hole first and then sewing it to the body, but I didn’t want a flat seam. I wanted a rounded arm, and this seemed the easiest way.

Once both arms are attached, you have the basic body of your critter. Now it’s just about adding a tail and ears. I added the tail first, stuffing it slightly and then closing it. I then sewed it to his backside.

The ears were simple, as well. I pinched them together a bit before sewing them to the head of the critter.

Next, I took some colored thread and sewed a pink nose and greenish eyes to give him character.

The final step was adding a little scarf. For this, I simply cut the very bottom of the glove off, where the wrist part is. It is stretchy and ribbed, and it looked just perfect for this job. I cut it out and then tied it around the critter’s neck, sewing a couple of stitches to it so that it would stay put.

And that was it. Our little critter is all done. I personally think it looks more like a mouse than a bear this time around, but regardless it’s pretty cute. I gave it to my six year old son, and he named it Barnabus. SO CUTE!

This whole process only took about an hour, and it would have been quicker if I was better at sewing. I think even young children could make this with a little direction from mom or dad.

I hope you love it and will give it a try. I know it’s the perfect craft for kids or adults who want to make a simple sewing project.

The post Turn a Glove Into a Stuffed Bear appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

Saying this school year isn’t like other years is definitely an understatement. We are all making different decisions for our kids based on our own situations, and every one of us wants to make sure our kids have a wonderful year, no matter what. My kids are going back to school with a virtual option, so we have been trying to set up a virtual classroom for them.

It’s… tricky.

But in an effort to keep things as normal as possible while also making them feel just a little bit special, I dug out my Cricut Joy to personalize some things for them and give them a little extra pizzazz this year.

First up, I went to the dollar store and grabbed some basic plastic pencil cases. They will need them if and when they go back to in-person learning, and I figured it’ll keep them from fighting over supplies here at home, too.

I used Cricut Design Space™ app to find a cute little pencil image, and I came up with some cute puns that also serve as positive affirmations for my boys. I think they worked well.

I love that my Joy gives me the option to use Smart Vinyl, which doesn’t require a mat, so I can just cut it out without any fuss. Plus, I did it all from my phone, which was handy because I’m in the middle of revamping my craft room and didn’t have the ability to set up my computer or connect to my Cricut Maker for this project.

I mean, seriously, I love my Cricut Joy. It is super portable, and I can literally take it anywhere, plug it in and create something amazing with just my phone or iPad. It’s perfect.

Ahem. Anyway…

Once I’d created the pencil cases, I wanted to do something else the boys would like. I thought back to other years, and I knew that one thing we always do is buy the school T-shirts for the year. I plan to do so again this year, but because the Registration Celebration has been canceled, we aren’t going to be able to get them for a while. I figured I would go ahead and make my own T-shirts for them!

This year is a little extra special for my kids. Firstly, my oldest son tested into the ALC program, which is the gifted program in our state. My second grader is already in the program, but my fourth grader has struggled since Kindergarten due to a learning disability. So this year is extra awesome for him. Also, I have another son starting Kindergarten, which is special in itself, but kind of sad since he doesn’t quite get to experience school in the same way his brothers have.

I thought it would be great to create some T-shirts to commemorate this special year and share how different it is. Once again, I used Cricut Design Space to come up with a design I liked. I have Cricut Access Premium which allows me to access all sorts of different cool fonts and images. Originally I wanted to encapsulate everything in a fun computer image, but unfortunately I would need my Maker in order to cut something that big.

In the end, I went with just the text, which I actually LOVE. I was able to create such a cute design for all three boys, and I got to try out holographic vinyl for the first time!

I’m also really excited that I got to use my EasyPress 2 for the first time. In the past, I’ve had to use an iron, and it worked fine, but this was SO much easier! I love that you can easily set the temperature to exactly what you need it to be and then set how much time you need, and PRESTO! You are good to go. Plus, you can use the heat guide online to figure out EXACTLY which settings to use and what the process is for the vinyl you have and the material you’re using.

How CUTE did they turn out!?

They boys absolutely LOVE the shirts, and they think the pencil boxes are super clever and fun. They’re all set to start school next week, and we’re all excited for a really fun and unique school year.

I love the way everything turned out. Even though this year is a little bit different, there’s no reason it can’t be a fantastic year. Our home classroom is almost ready to go, and we are all so excited to get started.

I know my kids are going to put in the same effort they would if they were inside the school building, and their teachers are so amazing, I know they’ll get them where they need to be.

In fact, the boys have asked if they can make something special for their teachers with the Cricut, so that’s our next project! Stay tuned to see what we come up with! It’s sure to be awesome!

The post Personalize Your Back to School Essentials With Cricut appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

Our requirements didn’t seem too difficult. We have a nice patio area with lots of room for a big table, but most outdoor dining sets are crazy expensive. Since my hubby and I pride ourselves on being frugal, we kept our eyes on garage sales, second hand shops, Facebook Marketplace, estate sales and any place that was going out of business. But we couldn’t find anything that would suit our needs and was in our budget.

Hardware stores like Lowes or Home Depot sell picnic tables, but they are the traditional versions – cheap, mass produced and very small. They just didn’t work for what we needed. I was really wanting a contemporary picnic table.

Finally, as 2020 rolled on through, and it became clear that we’d be spending a LOT of time at home this summer, I decided that getting a table sorted was going to be of the highest priority. But with money even tighter than normal, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to afford to buy what I wanted.

So I decided I’d make it.

I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to make, and I knew the measurements of the space I was working with. So I sketched out a couple of rough ideas that I thought might work.

One was a modern version of a traditional picnic table with bench seats that were built in to the table. The other had modern picnic benches that were detached and stood on their own.

While I preferred the detached modern picnic benches, I knew they would be harder to build and store, and I also knew they’d be more dangerous around my kids because they’d be more likely to tip over on them. So after discussing it with my husband, I went with the first option.

I wanted to keep this very simple and inexpensive, so I built it out of 2x4s and 2x6s, attaching everything with 2 1/2 inch and 3 inch deck screws that I already had left from building my kids’ club house last summer.

While my initial plans were for a 6 foot table, I ended up going with an 8 foot table instead. My husband actually wanted a full 12 foot table, which would have been CRAZY. But we had a pretty large space to fill that was kind of unusable for anything else, and he wanted as much table as I could give him.

I figured eight feet was plenty, though. It can comfortably seat 10 people, so it’s perfect for us when we can eventually have guests over. Alone, we have TONS of space.

So onto the build!

Here’s what you’ll need:

14 – 2 x 6 x 8
5 – 2 x 4 x 8
1 – 2 x 12 x 8 (optional)
3 inch deck screws
2 1/2 inch deck screws
wood stain and sealer
circular saw
drill

Cut List:

2 x 6

9 @ 96 inches
4 @ 56 inches
1 @ 57 inches

2 x 4

2 @ 28 inches
2 @ 63 inches
5 @ 18 inches

2 x 12

4 @ 20 inches

To start, take your 28 inch piece of 2×4 and place it on top of your two 18 inch pieces of 2×4, making sure they are square. Screw them together using your deck screws to secure.

Do the same with the second set of pieces so that you have two sets of U-shaped assemblies. These will be the beginnings of your tabletop assemblies.

Next, place these two pieces on a level surface (I used my garage floor) with the 28 inch piece on bottom and the 2 vertical pieces facing upward.The vertical pieces should be facing inward toward each other, and they should be placed a distance apart.

Now, take your two 63 inch 2×4 stretchers and place them inside the tabletop assembly pieces, using the two vertical uprights to brace them. You will want to secure these two pieces in two ways. First, secure them from the outside of the horizontal piece, going straight into the end from outside using two 3-inch decking screws at the top and bottom.

Then, go inside the brace and add an extra screw going into the side of the vertical support, right in the middle between the other two screws. Do this for all four corners. This way your two table braces are absolutely secure.

Once this is all done, you’ll need to flip the entire thing upside down (or really right side up since it was already upside down). Now it’s time to place the joists for the benches. You’ll need your four 56 inch 4×6 pieces. I was kind of dumb here and screwed in both the inner and outer pieces at the same time, but you need to add the inner pieces first so you can then screw in the stretcher.

To place the joist, set it on the inside of your tabletop assembly, making sure that each end extends 14 inches past the uprights. This will ensure it is centered properly. Screw it into the upright from the inside using 2 1/2 inch deck screws at opposite sides on top and bottom.

Once both inner joists are screwed in, you’ll need to add your stretcher. Take your 57 inch 2×6 and screw it directly into the center of your bench joists to add stability to the table. Be sure to do it on a level surface so that everything is as stable as possible.

Now you can add in your outer bench joists, lining them up with the inner joists and screwing them in from the outside. Make sure you screw them on the alternate sides to the screws you added on the inner joists.

Now it’s time to place your benches. Set two 2×6 pieces across the joists on each side, using the outer edge to line up the first one for square. Use a tape measure to ensure you have the same amount of overhang on each end. This can be slightly off depending on whether your boards are warped or if you have cut them correctly or just left them at the length you bought them. I bought mine at 8 feet, which came about half inch longer than that, so I left mine as is so that I could sand them a bit shorter. As such, I had about 15 1/4 inch overhang on each end. But you may need to push and pull a bit to get it right.

Once you are happy with the centering, use 3 inch deck screws to secure your first board into the joists. You should have four screws at each end, two screws into each joist.

Then, use spare piece of wood, cut into two, to act as a spacer. I had a 3/4 inch piece of furring to act as my spacer, and it worked perfectly. I just butted up the second 2×6 against the spacer, and it gave the perfect amount of space between the two boards. Then I could secure it down and my bench was complete.

Do the same with the other side.

By now the table is looking pretty interesting. But it’s also starting to get pretty heavy. So before adding the table top, you’re going to want to add the legs on. You’ll want to get a second person involved for this part because this table is seriously getting heavy.

Flip the table over once more so that it is upside down. You’ll want to decide how long you want your legs. Most tables would be 18 inches, and this is probably what most people should go for. I decided to go for 20 inches because I have a bad back, and I like things a little bit higher than most. But in all honesty, I kind of wish I’d gone with 19 inches. Do whatever works for you. 18 inches is standard, so decide in advance and do what you like.

I’ll also mention that I used 2×12 legs because I happened to have a couple of pieces of 2×12 in my scrap bin and I figured they would be great for this project and save me money. But you can absolutely use 2×6 legs, and they’d be just fine. In fact, you should have plenty of 2×6 left over for the legs, so you can save yourself money by just using that.

Anyway, attach your legs using 2 1/2 inch deck screws screwed in from the joists under the bench. Make sure to screw in a few screws from both sides for maximum security. The legs should fit in directly between the joists right under the bench seats. If you find the fit sligthly tight, just use a rubber mallet to coax it in. Only one of my legs had that problem. The rest went in with no resistance at all.

Once the legs are all fully secure, you’ll once again have to flip over the whole table, and you’ll be able to make sure it’s sitting totally level. This is kind of the moment of truth. I was really nervous at this part, since it can be pretty scary. What if it started rocking???

Thankfully everything was perfect.

As a last minute addition, I added in an 18 inch joist into the center of the tabletop, just so I’d have somewhere to screw the planks into and offer extra support. I secured it from the outside of the stretchers using 2 1/2 inch deck screws.

Finally, I laid out my five 2×6 planks on top of the table. I made sure to place the center plank first, lining up the center of the plank with the center of the table, and once again I measured the overhang on each side to ensure it was perfectly balanced. Then, I secured using two screws at each end and in the center of the table.

Then, I secured the outer two planks in the same way. Finally, I secured the two planks on either side of center, eyeballing the spacing to try and make sure it looked good.

The table was complete! My youngest and I tested it out to make sure it was comfy, and my oldest declared it would make a very passable pirate ship during outdoor adventure games. Score!

The next day was all about sanding. I started out with 80 grit sandpaper. Some of the lumber was REALLY rough, so I went through a LOT. I went up and up and finished on 120 grit. I didn’t want to make it too smooth, as it this is an outdoor table, and I know it’s going to get a lot of abuse. It didn’t need to be perfect.

We ended up needing a lot of help getting it moved out of the garage and into the back yard. My husband and I managed to move it around the house and to the gate by ourselves, but this thing seriously weighs at least 350 lbs, and my back just couldn’t cope. Luckily our neighbor saw us struggling and sent over her four strong teenaged boys to help. They had it on the patio in less than a minute.

We even had a nice BBQ dinner that first night just to test it out! The kids said it was like eating at a restaurant.

Then it was a case of getting that sucker weatherproofed! I grabbed some Olympic Waterguard Transparent Stain and Sealer in Acorn Brown, and we spent a few hours getting her painted up. I need to invest in one of those spray machines because man that was some WORK. Haha.

But the whole family got involved. It took several days for her to dry, but she’s super purty now.

I’m definitely going to be building a few more things for our outdoor area, and I have some cool projects to share soon, including a final reveal of how this table looks in our new patio area. But for now, I just really wanted to show how easy it was to build this table.

In all, it cost about $90 in materials, and it took about three hours of work (not including the weatherpoofing). I like to think it’ll last a good long time.

I really love the way it turned out, and I couldn’t be happier to finally have a table in our back yard! What do you think of this contemporary picnic table? Will you be giving it a try yourself??

The post DIY Extra Large Modern Picnic Table appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Plasti Dip. All opinions are 100% mine.

We are a total Do-It-Yourself kind of family, so when my son started Kindergarten this year, he asked if he could have a new bedroom to celebrate. Since our youngest baby is still sleeping in our room for the foreseeable future, we decided to go ahead and set him up in the nursery. We dug out our old queen sized bed for him to help him sleep better (he was on a fold out cot before!), and I decided to make over a set of old beat up bedside tables into something funky I knew he would love. I used Plasti Dip air-dry specialty rubber coating to upcycle these ugly brown tables into a pearlescent orange masterpiece fit for a five year old!

For this project, I needed very few supplies, most of which I had on hand. 

Supplies:

• 2 old bedside tables
• screwdriver
• large pieces of cardboard or plastic (for catching overspray)
• painters tape
• Plasti Dip in Pumpkin Spice (get yours at Amazon)
• Plasti Dip in Crisp White
• Plasti Dip Pearlizer

To begin, I set the tables on a large piece of cardboard in my back yard. The directions say not to go in direct sunlight, so I made sure to place them in the shady part of the yard. Since this project was done over two days, I had to move the tables every so often to keep them out of the sun.

Next, I removed the drawers from the tables and used my screwdriver to remove the handles from the fronts. Make sure you screw the screws back into the handle and set them somewhere safe while you work so that everything can be put back where it belongs at the end.

Next I used the Plasti Dip in Pumpkin Spice to lightly spray the sides and fronts of each table with a thin layer of paint. Because of the color of the original veneer, the color was difficult to see until I’d built up several layers of paint over several hours.

I also sprayed the fronts of the drawers, and here is where I tripped up a bit. I sprayed a little too much and ended up with drips, which did not look so good. Thankfully, even though Plasti Dip presents like a spray paint, it’s actually way better. It is totally peelable off most surfaces when it dries! That means if you make a mistake, you can just peel it off and start again. I’m not proud to say that I had to do this a few times as I got used to working with it. 

I even had my husband lend a hand when I was tired of bending over the low tables!

For these particular tables, I had to be sure to cover the sides, front, tops AND inside. But since I knew a drawer would cover the top half of the inside, I only painted halfway up – basically to the rails. I also switched out the colors halfway through, using the Crisp White for the inside and the top. I felt like the pumpkin color was making the drawers a little too vibrant for my son’s room, and I wanted to tone it down a little bit.

Once I was happy with the paint job, I used the Pearlizer, which is one of Plasti Dip’s three enhancers, to give the entire project a beautiful pearly finish. The result was beautiful!

Depending on the light, the tables glisten and shine in a soft orange or pearly white. They look so elegant, which is amazing for something that started so ugly! 

With one on each side of his bed, he has the ability to use these for storage or to enhance the decor. Currently, he has books on one side and some toys on the other. I actually thought about trading out the handles on the drawers, but I wasn’t sure it needed it!

I really love the tops of the tables, as they aren’t just a boring flat white. They look very shimmery and pretty, which my son says makes him feel like he’s in a story. I love that!

One of the best things is that these tables were sort of pitted and pock-marked with deep scratches in the wood. The Plasti Dip filled in the dents and made it look brand new! And since it protects against moisture, acids, abrasion, corrosion and skipping/slipping, I know they’ll be safe with my crazy kid. 

Plasti Dip provides a comfortable control grip and a sort of rubberized texture that remains flexible and stretchy over time. It comes in 7 colors and 3 enhancers, including:

• Crisp White
• Lemon Yellow
• Tin Roof Red
• Pumpkin Spice
• Midnight Black
• Gulf Coast Blue
• Gator Green
• Glossifier Enhancer
• Silver Metalizer Enhancer
• White Pearlizer Enhancer

I have a TON of ideas for crafts that I want to try out now that I have used Plasti Dip a few times. It’s so fun and simple, and it’s GREAT for beginners who are just learning how to spray because it is so forgiving of mistakes. The only warning I would give is that this stuff is NOT food safe. So don’t use it on things you’d put in your mouth or in a dishwasher. Other than that, the sky is the limit! I can’t recommend it enough.

You can find a retailer or just shop now at Awarehousefull.

The post Bedside Table Makeover With Plasti Dip appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

Fun fact – when my oldest son was in Kindergarten, he adored his teacher (fun fact within a fun fact – my second son just started Kindergarten with the same teacher, and he adores her just as much!). He came home from school the first day, and I swear he was half in love, even if he misunderstood her name and kept referring to her as Mrs Potato. Haha. Anyway, without any prompting, and with no way of knowing how perfect it was, the second day of school, I noticed him putting an apple in his backpack. Knowing he didn’t eat apples back then, I asked him why he was taking one. He told me it was for his teacher. She was pregnant at the time, and he wanted to make sure she had a healthy snack for her and her baby since she worked so hard to teach them.

Like, how do you even get a kid that thoughtful?? I couldn’t love him more.

Anyway, apples are great and all, but they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and they go bad quickly (especially when kids are dropping them all over the place as they travel to school). So instead I suggest this fun apple-themed teacher gift craft that you can fill with candy, gift cards or anything else you think the teacher may like!

Supplies:

• Glass jar with a lid (Mason jar)
• Red craft paint
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• ⅜” green grosgrain ribbon
• Green felt
• Pen
• Heavyweight brown paper
• Glue gun 

Instructions:

Remove the lid from the jar and set aside. Pour a little paint in the bottom of the jar.

Use the paintbrush to coat the inside of the jar. You may need to add more paint so that you have a thick coat. (Let this dry.)

Cut a piece of green felt that is about 5 inches square.

Trim the edges of the felt into a circle.

TIP: You can wait until the end but, this is a good time to fill the jar with treats. Gift cards, Breath Mints, Sticky Notes, Candy, etc. all make fun treats for your jar.

Put the flat part of the lid on the top of the jar. Center the felt on top and screw on the rest of the lid.

Cut a leaf shape from the green felt and leave a stem on it. This is where you will write the “to and from” so make sure it is large enough to write on but in a size that matches the jar.

Cut and glue a piece of green ribbon around the rim of the screw-on lid.

Cut a piece of brown paper that is slightly smaller but in the same shape as the felt leaf. As well, cut a piece of brown paper that is about 1” – 1 ½” tall and  4” long to roll into a “stem”.

Write your “To: Teacher” and “From: Your Child” on the paper. Glue the paper to the felt.

Glue the stem so it will not unroll. Securely glue the leaf and the stem to the top of the jar.

Give this “apple” to the teacher on the first (or second or 90th!) day of school!

And don’t forget to check out this other awesome teacher gift craft!

The post Back to School Apple Jar Teacher Gift Idea appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

But I really love how shiplap can look rugged and swarthy for men or crisp, clean and beautiful for the ladies. It took me a while to figure out how to get that coveted look without doing something drastic. After all, if I did a feature wall in wood and it didn’t turn out well, my husband would probably divorce me! I didn’t quite have the wherewithal to attempt a whole room makeover anyway.

But then, inspiration struck! We had this old dark wooden desk frame that used to have a black glass top. My brother in law gave it to my husband when we first moved here, as we were lacking in furniture, and we needed to accept whatever we could get. But after a few years, we’d replaced the desk, and it was gathering dust in the garage. As I walked by it one afternoon, I realized how easy it would be to replace the glass top with something prettier. I had just updated my home office, and I had a big space in the middle of the room for a table, so I decided to try my hand at some DIY!

First, I measured the top of the existing glass piece for the desk. I was pretty sure I’d need to keep to the same measurements in order to have the best success. Then I headed to Home Depot, measurements in hand to find everything I’d need.

Here’s what I used:

– shiplap, enough for your measurements
– circular saw
– plywood, big enough to match the desk top
– sandpaper
– wood stain
– wood glue
– clamps, or heavy items to hold project together
– an old rag or paintbrush for the stain
– vinyl gloves

In full disclosure, this project was done nearly a year ago, and I’ve been meaning to post it forever. So many apologies if I can’t quite remember exact measurements, but since you probably will need to bespoke it to your own size, I don’t think it’s THAT important.

Anyway, once at Home Depot, I found an aisle endcap that had a good selection of shiplap boards. You can buy them in packages, but I like picking out my individual boards so I can make sure they aren’t warped or full of holes/knots. The boards were much longer than I needed, and each was about six inches wide. You’ll want to make sure you choose enough boards so that when they are glued together, they are at least as wide as your desktop measurement. My measurements were about 36 inches, which meant I’d need six boards to have enough. I bought a few extra, though, as I was worried about screwing up and starting over.

Once I’d picked my boards, I took them to one of the store employees and asked them to cut them down so that they were the right length, in this case 48 inches. I LOVE that Home Depot does this, as it made it so much easier for me to put them together. I kept both sides of the board, as I wanted to be able to stagger them on the desk instead of just having six same-sized boards. As luck would have it, these shiplap boards came in lengths of 72 inches, so when I cut the boards down, the remaining ends were exactly half the size of the full sized boards (48 inches for the long boards and 24 inches for the short boards). This meant, two of the end cuts could be put together to form one full board. This will probably make sense later when you see the final project.

I also grabbed up a huge sheet of plywood and had the man cut it into the correct sizes I needed. Since my desk was 4 foot by 3 foot, and plywood comes in 4 foot by 8 foot, that meant I got two pieces of 4×3 and one piece of 4 x 2. I figured if I messed up, I’d have another chance to fix it! Otherwise, I’d have plywood to use for another project later!

I played around with the boards, laying them out in different patterns until I was fully happy with them. It’s important to dry fit everything first to make sure there aren’t any issues with the layout. Sometimes you’ll find a piece of wood is bent or warped, so dry fitting ensures that you don’t try and glue things together that just won’t fit!

Once everything was perfect, I took it all apart again and started the process of gluing it together. Shiplap comes with a tongue-in-groove appearance, so I simply used my wood glue in the grooves and then stuck in the tongues! Now, if I did this again, I’d probably do two boards at a time and use some clamps to hold them together. But since this was totally a spur-of-the-moment project, I simply glued every piece together, one after another, and hoped for the best.

One thing to remember is that when you’re gluing the two short pieces on, you want to make sure you glue them together in the middle before attaching them to the long pieces. It’s something that’s easy to forget. I should know because I forgot to do it!

Once the pieces were all glued together, I set the whole piece aside, standing up, so that it could dry. I left it for an hour or two, but you should probably give it at least a day. As I said, I was fired up and had no patience for waiting!

Once I lost patience and couldn’t wait any longer, I set about attaching the shiplap top to the plywood. I wanted to ensure that the desktop was very sturdy so that it could stand up to whatever I might use it for. Since there was every likelihood that I would abuse it in some way, I figured the sturdier the better!

I took the plywood piece that I’d had cut and laid it down on the floor. I used my handy wood glue, dumping out as much as I could all over it, and then I set the desk top onto it.

Now here’s something to consider BEFORE you attach. The shiplap has two sides to it. One side will have grooves in the tabletop, and the other will be smooth at the seams. It’s important to decide which side you want showing. I had originally intended to have the grooved side up because it was so pretty. But I ended up gluing the wrong side and had a seamless tabletop. Thankfully I was happier with that, but you should probably make sure you’ve thought about it beforehand!

Anyway, here again would have been a great time to consider the use of clamps. It is really important that the shiplap top fully adhere to the plywood, so clamping them together would have been smart. But since I am CLEARLY winging it at this point, I started grabbing all the heavy items I could find and putting them on top of it. This included an inverted coffee table, a five gallon bucket filled with rocks, and several cases of bottled water. I’m a secret genius, clearly.

At this point, due to my realization that I am kind of an idiot, I decided the best course of action was to leave the whole project for 24 hours. It was nearly time for my husband and kids to come home anyway, so I set the whole thing aside and allowed it to cure.

The next day, I removed all the weight and checked out how it looked. It seemed to be fine, all the shiplap had adhered nicely to the plywood. But there was one issue that stood out. The shiplap was not square to the plywood. Each end stuck out slightly in a jagged pattern, which wasn’t ideal. I wanted it to be more even.

I tried first to use my little hacksaw to go through the ends…. It did not go well.

Then, I brought out my circular saw (the one I’d bought years ago and was still brand new in its packaging) and attempted to saw the ends. Once again, I was kind of miffed because it turned out the saw blade wasn’t attached correctly. After an hour of trying to figure it out on my own, I finally called my dad to ask him for help. After he got done laughing at my incompetence, he talked me through it, and I was able to attach the blade properly and set to work.

Finally the ends were nice and even… though please don’t measure the corners, as they are definitely NOT totally square.

Ahem.

My next step was to use some sandpaper to sand down the ends so they were a bit smoother, and I wanted to make sure the top was nice and smooth, as well. Once that was done, I could choose my finish!

I ended up having a few colors mixed for me at Home Depot. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go for a dark top and paint the desk frame or to leave the desk frame dark and have a lighter top. In the end, I went for a Minwax color called Pearl Gray. It was a sort of blue-gray color that I thought looked really nice.

I made sure I had gloves on, and I used an old washcloth to apply a coat of the stain.

I wasn’t sure what I thought of it, so I kept going until it was finished. But once I’d had a couple of coats applied, I was pretty sure it wasn’t exactly what I was going for.

I thought the final look was a bit too dark, and I also wanted something that looked a bit more battered. So I grabbed an old tester pot of white paint, watered it down and used my stain-soaked washcloth to sort of rub it in. I didn’t want it to look white, but for the colors to sort of blend and give it the look of an old seaside cottage. Does that even make sense? Whatever, I liked how it turned out.

I think the paint kind of got in the grooves, as well as making the grain of the wood stand out more. It gave the whole thing depth instead of a flat appearance, and I was pretty happy.

I let it all dry, and then I finally set it on top of the desk frame. I love the contrast of dark wood and light wood.

It looked great in my office, especially paired with my favorite chair. It felt really sophisticated, but also really kind of country chic.

I set about decorating it a bit to see what worked on it.

As I said, it’s been almost a year, and it’s still in perfect shape, working well and doing duty as desk, photo backdrop, homework station, drawing space, and on one memorable occasion – sawhorse.

Despite all my amateur DIY mistakes, it came out GREAT and was really so simple to make. The best thing was that it cost so little to make! The shiplap was on sale, so each board was about $3. I got 6 of them. The plywood was only $10. And everything else I already had on hand from other projects. So in all, it cost me less than $30 and a couple of afternoons. If you don’t have a desk frame already, you can buy them cheaply at IKEA or other stores. Or even grab some old crates to stack up as your desk frame!

You’ll also notice I put the whole thing together in my home office without making much of a mess. The worst part was sawing the ends off and the little bit of sanding I did, but both were easy messes to clean up.

I hope you all enjoy the project. Let me know if you attempt it yourself! I’d love to see finished projects!

The post Amazing and Inexpensive DIY Shiplap Desk appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

In every house we’ve lived in, I have tried making one room “mine.” I have always wanted a space that was pretty and comfortable and filled with all the things that I love. But in every house, I had to settle for some dank space that would inevitably get used more for storage than anything else. I have never had that one special spot that was kid-free, husband-free and totally my style. Until now.

Last month, I decided enough was enough. We bought this new house in November, and I immediately claimed the corner room in the basement as my own. It is a nice big room with a surprisingly nice picture window, a walk-in closet AND the cold storage room! I knew that it would be perfect because I could still store all the random stuff I never use in the closet and keep the room itself pretty and functional for my needs.

I decided to set a budget of $1,000, which seems like a lot, but you’d be surprised how little it can actually get you when you are buying everything new! In fact, that was my main mission. I’ve only EVER bought second-hand furniture, so nothing ever matched, and everything was kind of rickety and old.

For the last five months, this is what the room looked like. Not bad, mind you, and perfectly usable, but it was not the cool, funky, eclectic space that I wanted.

I scoured Pinterest and created an Office Inspiration Board to figure out exactly the kind of style I wanted. Part of the problem is that I couldn’t really change certain things. Firstly, it’s a basement, so light is sometimes an issue. Then, the doors and trim are in a beautiful rustic wood that I can’t really change. It would be terrible to paint them, but it limited the scope of the room. I really REALLY wanted everything to be a stark white, but it wasn’t really a possibility. I thought about painting the walls, but it wasn’t worth fighting with my husband (he’s terrified of me accidentally spilling paint or doing a terrible job). And finally, the floors… the oatmeal carpet is kind of a downer. I would LOVE wood floors (which we have elsewhere in the house), but it wasn’t practical to tear it out. So I had to plan.

I knew I wanted to keep everything as monochrome as possible, using black and white for the main room and getting pops of color where needed. I began with my desk. I knew IKEA would have what I was after, so I bespoke a nice L-shaped desk with drawers so that I’d have a space for my computer, as well as a nice space for crafting. The glossy white was exactly what I envisioned. While at IKEA, I found the PERFECT black and white area rug to go with it. I also bought a couple of little side tables for things like my printer and other incidentals.

I originally bought a beautiful (and expensive!) pink chair from Cost Plus World Market to go with my desk, but it turned out to be too low to work comfortably. So I revamped an old office chair and relegated my pink princess to in front of my book shelves, and I now use it as a little reading nook!

In the middle of two sets of shelving is a vintage hope chest which I picked up on a local garage sale page for $50. I will likely repaint it somewhere down the line, as the top has various stains on it. But I love the charm! I added some throw pillows to make it a little bench seating area, and I created a little DIY bulletin board behind it.

The other book shelf has a few decorative bins, but it’s mostly just a space to house some of my frequently used craft supplies.

In the corner of the room, I used the shelves that used to be in the room to make a little corner nook. I kept the black wall shelf for little nicknacks and art, and I bought a super cute little picture display to hold some of my kids’ art works.

I keep various art supplies, snacks and other things in these shelves. I love the super cute dish chair in front. It’s a great little chair for the kids to curl up in and play on their tablet when I’m working. But most of the time, the cat uses it as his own little bed.

I keep another little IKEA side table there to house some of my recent magazines and other reading materials.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tree silhouettes that I got ages ago from Target. They were an impulse buy nearly a year ago, but I never had anywhere to put them until now. I think they look awesome. It adds a touch of whimsy to the room, which I LOVE.

A lot of the little accessories were bought from either Target or TJ Maxx. I’ll try to find links for everything, but I literally just walked around in store and found things I thought would work in my room. It’s a work in progress, and I add to it all the time.

I really love my DIY Inspiration Boards above my desk. I took three Target bulletin boards and refinished them with Mod Podge and wrapping paper, and I think they look FAB.

The difference in the room is really amazing, I think you’ll agree!

Here’s a list of some of the items, price and where to buy. May contain affiliate links.

Sillerup Rug in Black and White (6’7″x9’10”) – $129 IKEA (not available as of Nov 2019)
Linnmon Table Top in High Gloss White (47 1/4×23 5/8″) – $34.99 IKEA
Linnmon Table Top in High Gloss White (59×29 1/2″) – $45.99 IKEA
Godvin Leg in White x6 – $60 IKEA
Alex Drawer Unit in White – $79 IKEA
Lack Side Table x2 – $16 IKEA
Ranarp Work Lamp – $27.99 IKEA
Fuchsia Nina Chair – $299.99 Cost Plus World Market (not available as of August 2021)
Threshold 9-Cube Organizer Shelf in White x2 – $160 Target
Room Essentials Sherpa Dish Chair – $45 Target (not available as of August 2021)
Room Essentials #loveit Lumbar Pillow – $16.99 Target (not available as of August 2021)
Threshold 17.5″ Copper Wall Clock – $29.99 Target (not available as of August 2021)
Xhilaration Decorative Bin x3 – $18 Target (not available as of August 2021)

Check out some of my other projects:

The post My Home Office Makeover appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

Recently I have been in the process of creating myself a beautiful home office. My tastes are quite eclectic, and I’m not one to be very matchy matchy, but I’m working on it, and I’m pretty happy with what I have so far. But one thing that wasn’t working for me was my office chair.

Now, I will tell you that as part of my office beautification, I did spend a buttload of money on some new furnishings. I’ll write about it all another time, but one of the biggest splurges was when I bought an amazing Fuchsia Nina Chair from World Market. It was $300. Woops! So you can imagine my mortification when, after a month of trying to make it work, I realized that I just wasn’t going to be able to keep it as my desk chair. All was not lost, however. I was able to re-purpose it as part of a reading nook, but my hubby was not best pleased that I’d spent so much on what is now essentially a very pretty cat bed.

But having blown my budget on that chair, I knew I couldn’t justify the expense of getting a new one. I couldn’t bear the thought of getting one of our cat-scratched, yogurt-coated old ones in my beautiful new room. So I did what any crafty woman would. I decided to DIY it.

Here’s what I started with. I have better chairs than this, but my husband said that I was not allowed to brutalize the good chairs in my quest to make them pretty.

Having no experience at all with reupholstery, I decided to try and wing it. I knew that I would have to take the chair apart and recover it with… something. I was brainstorming for a few days when we had to make a run to Walmart for something. As I was rushing around trying to find batteries, I came upon the craft section. There were two aisles dedicated to amazing fabrics! I immediately spied several that I thought would work, and I bought several yards of four different fabrics. At less than $3 a yard, it’s amazing how much you can get for your money! I also bought some batting on a whim, as I thought it might come in useful.

I’ll be honest. I probably could have used a print from my own fabric stash and saved some money, but I fell in love with some screen print fabrics and just had to have them. Whoops!

I finally got a spare couple of hours this afternoon where I could try and figure out how to make over my office chair. I tried to take pics because I knew that if it turned out well, I’d want to share it. But I wasn’t able to get photos of every step because it’s very hard to work one handed.

Besides the fabric and batting, I gathered together some fabric scissors, a staple gun (with extra staples), an allen wrench, and some pliers.

I began by taking the chair apart. It had four bolts on the bottom, holding the legs on. It also had four bolts on each arm rest, which held the whole chair together.

Weirdly, the back of the chair had a zipper on the bottom, and when I unzipped it, I found that the whole piece of leather came off, exposing the padding and the wooden support. This made me very happy, as until then I wasn’t totally sure how it was made.

I decided to keep the existing padding as it was quite durable foam. I then sort of covered it in the batting, wrapping and stapling it until the whole thing was covered tightly.

Now I knew that the best thing would have been to figure out a way to sew the cover so that everything was nice and neat. But my sewing machine hasn’t been unpacked since our move in November, and I’m not totally sure where it is. Plus, my hand sewing is not the best. Finally, I’ve never sewn anything like this, so I figured I would just wing it again.

Here’s what I did. Firstly, I cut off enough fabric to cover the front and back of the chair with about two feet of extra just in case. Pulling it taught and starting at one end, I stapled the fabric to the back of the seat (where the wood was most easily accessed) about 2 inches down. I made sure it was secured with about 8 staples across. I then made my way all around the seat back, pulling fabric so that it was tight and even. I folded the corners as neatly as possible and made it all the way around. I removed all the excess fabric.

Here’s where I had to stop taking photos because I literally could not manage to photograph and think at the same time. It took me several tries to figure out how to make the back work. As I said, sewing would have been preferable, but you work with what you have. I wanted to make it look as finished as possible, but it is surprisingly difficult to do that! But with my trusty staple gun in tow, I did my best.

First, I set the fabric over the back of the chair, making sure it was long enough to cover all of the stapled bits. Starting at the top, I folded a 1 inch seam all the way across. To secure it, I placed a line of staples all the way across INSIDE the seam. I knew that I’d only be able to do this for one side, so I chose the top as it would have the most eyes on it. Then, I made my way around the rest of the back, folding each side/seam and then stapling as close to the edge as possible. It actually isn’t very noticeable that there are staples there, so I am happy enough. The hardest part was the top corners. When folding and stapling, it’s hard to see if you are even. Mine came out VERY uneven, but again, it’s not something you will notice.

The finished back looks pretty good, and it’s hard to tell that it’s not sewn. Putting the staples underneath the seam at the top REALLY made it look as if it had been sewn, so I am happy with it.

As for the seat, I’ll tell you, it was pretty easy after the struggle with the back! I simply pulled more batting over the entire seat, stapling it to the underneath. I didn’t remove the leather here, partly because it did not come with a zipper like the back had, and partly because I knew there was no need. Once the batting was in place, I placed another bit of fabric across and stapled it into place, as well. The hardest party (and it’s not even that hard) is making sure you have your pattern going the right way and that it is fairly centered. I just trimmed off the excess fabric at the end, and voila!

One thing to remember on both the seat and the back support is to make sure your bolt holes are uncovered. I did this with the batting AND with the fabric. The holes need to be clear so that you can reattach the arms (which are what hold the back and seat together in this chair).

Double check the holes are still clear before you bolt. On one of my holes, a TINY bit of batting was in the way, and as I screwed the bolt in, it twisted the batting until it was impossible to get the screw in! I had to remove the arm and re-clear the holes. It was frustrating, but easily solvable.

And that’s it! Once you replace the arms (I cleaned mine thoroughly first to make sure there were no more yogurt stains!), the chair is a chair again. In the future, I MAY try and sew some padded arms for it (staples wouldn’t work on the hard plastic), or I might even try painting the arms and legs. But for now, I am very happy with the seat, and I think it looks great in my new room!

What do you think?

Check out some of my other projects:

The post My $20 Office Chair Makeover appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

But have you ever tried to spread the magic around? St Patrick’s Day will be here very soon, and I’m ALL ABOUT these fantastic little Leprechaun Houses! Similar to the gingerbread homes, these little shacks are made from graham crackers, so there’s no baking involved. Just a lot of creativity! Plus, it’s the perfect chance to talk to your kids about their Irish roots and the legend of St Patrick.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Green Candy Melts
Spice Drops
Mint m&ms
Skittles
Air Heads Xtreme Bites (rainbow gummies)
Spearmint Leaves
Apple Licorice
Wilton Sparkle Gel in black, green & white
Green Colored Sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water
graham crackers

Hint: You will need four crackers to make one house. Buy extra because they often break in the package.

You can also make royal frosting for these.

Directions:

For each house, you need four graham crackers. Break two in half so you have four squares to make the roof and sides. Using a bread knife, gently saw two large graham crackers as shown to create the sides of the house. Repeat until you have the desired number of house parts.

Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of water and stir well to remove any lumps. Spoon into a piping bag and seal. Cut the tip, pretty small and begin to assemble your houses. Place a short square graham cracker on a flat surface. Pipe frosting on each side and affix the longer sides of the houses. Finally, affix another square side to create a cube shape. You may need to wait a minute for the sides to set to continue and add another. Or, prop the graham crackers up with something for about a minute.

Set half assembled house on a plate. Affix roof with remaining two square pieces. Let set for a few minutes for icing to harden.

Attach to the plate using icing. This step is strongly recommended to prevent the house from moving.

Decorate as desired and wait for your little leprechaun to move in!

How stinkin’ cute are these?? I love them so much. I think it is important to keep the leprechaun theme by using LOTS of green and LOTS of rainbow colors. They are such adorable little houses, and your kids are going to ADORE putting them together and decorating.

You can really let your imagination loose with these, creating not just the house itself, but bushes, trees and even grass! This is the perfect edible craft for schools, daycares or for parents to do with their kids on a rainy weekend.

The post St Patrick’s Day Leprechaun Houses appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.

Today, I wanted to show you this super fun and affordable craft that is PERFECT for kids. I think Christmas stockings are one of the most important parts of this big holiday. I have many happy memories of grabbing my stocking from the mantle and finding it filled with chocolates, little presents and always always always an orange in the toe! We each had our own stocking growing up. I think my grandmother made them with some glue and glitter. They still are very special to me.

But in this day and age, everyone seems to have really expensive designer stockings – which is lovely. But I love the idea of letting the kids build their OWN stockings each year. And with just a couple of dollars, you can make it happen.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Dollar store felt stocking
Green and white felt
Scissors
Hot glue

Measure across your stocking and cut out a few strips of white and green. Using hot glue, paste the strips onto the stocking in a nice pattern.

Take your green and white felt and cut out a few half circles to use across the top of the stocking. Hot glue them in a scallop pattern right under the white trim.

Obviously, you can change up the colors and patterns, letting your (or your kids’) imagination run wild! Try adding some jingle bells on, or even follow grandma’s lead and grab some glitter to write names on them!

This is such a wonderful family activity.

Will you give it a try this year? Let me know if you do, I’d LOVE to see the results!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. If so, please don’t forget to like, comment and share! And come back tomorrow for another awesome Christmas post!

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This Felt Christmas Tree is so simple to make. And it really does make life so much easier for moms because kids will play with it over and over again.

Here’s what you’ll need:

12 x 15 3/4 piece of green felt
Yellow, blue, white and red felt
Velcro stickers
Scissors
Black marker

This is super simple to do. First, draw your Christmas tree shape onto your green felt. You can make this as big or as small as you like. If you only have smaller felt and want to make it bigger, you can use tape or sew pieces together and then draw your shape. Go ahead and cut it out.

Then, with your other colors, draw different sized circles and cut them out. You can do different shapes if you’d like. Whatever you think the kids would want.

Cut out wavy pieces from the white felt to use as garland. And don’t forget your yellow star!

Then, simple stick on some velcro stickers to the back of each decoration, and they are ready to be fixed to the tree, and they’re simple to remove.

You can affix the tree to the wall if you want to keep the kids in one spot, or you can just let them do it on the floor. They will love making their tree beautiful!

You can do this same type of craft, but create a felt fireplace! Cut out red bricks they can stack to create the chimney, orange, yellow and red fire, brown logs, various stockings, etc. Felt is fun!

If you liked this post, don’t forget to like, comment and share! And check back tomorrow for another awesome Christmas-themed post!

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I found this super cute little table at our local DI (that’s Deseret Industries, a church-run thrift store chain found here in Utah) for $5 last summer. It has been used in various places in my home, and it’s looks good pretty much anywhere. We’ve used it as a kid’s dining table, a craft table, a coffee table and even a bench! The wings fold down so that you can have it as a circular table or more rectangular.

It really needed to be refinished, as there were lots of scratches and stains on it. But since there’s a lot of wood in our house already, I wanted something a little bolder and more fun. I originally intended to just use chalk paint and distress it, but that still didn’t seem like it would be enough. But I was stumped on what to do. I decided to just paint it white and see what ideas I could come up with.

I started with the underside, turning it upside down and painting underneath. I didn’t bother with the middle, as I knew it would never be seen, but I made sure to do the wings.

I used some white chalk paint that I found at Walmart, but I would not use it again. It was super thick and didn’t spread well at ALL. It also lacked coverage. I didn’t mind too much, though, as I knew I wasn’t going for an all white look. I figured whatever white showed through at the end, I could just distress it a bit and make it look intentional.

Once the underside and legs were dry to the touch (about an hour), I turned it over and painted the rest. I then left the whole thing for about four hours until it was completely dry.

Once I saw it full white, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. I had found several rolls of black and white wrapping paper in various patterns at Michaels for $1 each. I had polkadots, chevrons, and even Moroccan print. I decided that the polkadots would be easiest to match up, so I grabbed my roll and my tub of mod podge and went to work.

I folded down the sides and focussed on the top of the table first. Since my roll of wrapping paper was exactly the same width as the table, I just laid it lengthwise across the top until I had a piece big enough to cover the whole thing. Since the ends were rounded, I knew I’d have to trim it, so I made sure there was enough overhang to reach every spot.

I then used my brush to give the top of the table a nice layer of Mod Podge. I put it on somewhat thickly because the wrapping paper was very thin, and I wanted to get good adhesion the first time. I knew if I had to pull it up to redo it, the paper would rip.

One of the big problems that I had is that the paper (being so thin) wrinkled spectacularly right away. And as I used scissors to cut the edges, I found that the wet paper kind of tore a bit making it look a little jagged. I didn’t mind too much, as I like when things look a little distressed, but if you are fussy about these things, you’ll want to be very careful. It may have been smarter to let it all dry before cutting the excess.

Once everything was trimmed and smoothed out the best I could get it, I added another layer of Mod Podge right on top. I made sure to go over the edges so that the ends would stay down and not curl over time. I then let it dry for about an hour before moving on to the wings.

I followed the same steps for the wings of the table as I had for the top. I laid down my layer of Mod Podge, and then I laid my paper on top. But this time I had to take extra care to line up the paper correctly so that the polkadots would be seamless. It wasn’t very difficult (one of the reasons I chose the polkadots!), but as mentioned before the paper tears easily, so preparation is key!

I did both sides of the table, making sure to finish with a layer of Mod Podge. I left it to dry for about four hours and then added one last layer of Mod Podge to the top of the whole table.

Finally, I left the whole thing to dry for about 24 hours to ensure it would not be sticky or gammy in any way.

When I was satisfied that it was dry, I took some black chalk paint, and I went around the outer edge of the table, where the paper looked jagged. Unfortunately I no longer liked the “distressed” look and thought it was quite sloppy. The black paint made it look a lot more polished.

I also used the paint on the legs where there was a tiny little detail around them. It broke up all the white quite nicely.

In the end, I loved how it turned out. I learned a lot from this experience that I can take with me into my next project.

It looks really great, whether the wings are up or down, and it really jazzes up the space. It is super cute and whimsical, which makes me so happy!

I think if I had to do it again, I’d be a little more careful with the painting of the edges, using a smaller brush and some painter’s tape to make sure the lines are crisp. But I still think it looks wonderful as is, and since I had everything on hand, it was such a cheap project to do!

What do you think? Isn’t it an amazing transformation!? I can’t wait until I can pull up the ugly carpet and paint the walls and make the rest of the room as cute as this table!

The post Amazing $5 Table ReVamp Using Mod Podge and Wrapping Paper appeared first on It's a Mother Thing.