Upcycling Part II: The discovery of Mod Podge

What a busy weekend! As well as being a domestic goddess, feeding 3 boys for 12 hours (a bigger job than it sounds) a bit of gardening, a visit from a friend and lovely baby cuddles, I have also been on fire in my craft room.

So yesterday I made a new needle book. I also made a lycra body sock. As you do. Thankfully not for me, for my lovely class at school to play in. Honestly it's a real thing! Here's one on ebay for £35! Mine comes in at £20 for materials, bargain. Lycra however, is not my favourite fabric. A few tantrums happened.

 

This morning I sewed all the badges onto our Guide camp blanket.

And then I started on my next upcycling project. Boy oh boy - what a difference a day makes!

I am super chuffed with this one!

I had an old cabinet that my Nan and Grandad had given me a few years ago, that I keep some of my craft stuff in.

This morning it looked like this...

 Definitely in need of some attention!

I had already bought a new handle for it, but that wasn't quite enough.

I had looked into painting it, but it seemed pretty difficult and expensive to find paint suitable for veneer.

So I settled on the idea of decoupage, which basically is just a posh way of saying "sticking something to something else".

And this is where Mod Podge appeared (the name just makes me laugh). Universally recognised as THE glue for decoupage. Now I was pretty dubious about Mod Podge, as I thought it was pretty expensive for glue, but after reading a few reviews and looking at some recipes to make your own I decided I was just going to have to pay out for Mod Podge if I wanted something that would work properly and last without going discoloured or drying out. It's actually a glue, sealer and finish all in one.

And what do I think now, after my first attempt using Mod Podge?

I will never look back.

Nothing will ever take the place of a Pritt Stick in my heart, but this stuff is good.

 

This project called for quite a lot of planning and measuring. Not something I often do. But for those people who know me and don't believe I did it - here's the evidence:

 

I chose to decoupage with fabric, which works really nicely but can be tricky to get neat edges in places. Thankfully the bits that weren't so neat can't be seen from the outside.

I used a patterned fabric for the door and top, and plain calico for everywhere else. I also put a rose from the patterned fabric onto both sides.

 

And here it is, finished:

So all in all, £5.95 for a new handle, probably less than £2 in fabric, and about £9 for a pot of glue (of which I used about half - including a rather monumental spillage - oops) and the cabinet is better than new!