Magazine Holder

Hello kittens! It's been a while since a crafty post, but I have been crafting away with my little ones at Y Care.  School is over now for the summer, but I have lots of pics to share with you.  This is one, and there will be more to come!

Take this ugly magazine/periodical holder:

And turn it into this:

I must say, looking at that brown cardboard thing (and its cousin, not pictured, equally hideous white with red cross hatch) made me want to fall asleep.  What to do? We could have painted it, but that seemed boring.  We could have stickered it, but that would be too kitschy.  Finally, I decided to bestow upon my charges the awesomeness of Mod Podge.  

Supplies:

-Magazine holder

-Brightly colored paper

-Mod Podge

-Foam brush

Time:

Varies; as little as 10 minutes (plus drying time), or as long as you want

Steps:

1.Gather brightly colored paper and ugly as death magazine holder.  Slather the surface of the cardboard with Mod Podge using the foam brush.

2. Place the first section of paper (mine was the yellow) and press down, eliminating the bubbles.  Continue with each additional section until done.

3. Cover the whole thing with a coat of Mod Podge.  Let it dry.

4. Behold your awesome new magazine holder! Be prepared for dozens of questions: "How'd you DO that?" He he he.

 

Tips:  

First, measure and mark horizontal lines for later guidance.  

Start with the lightest color first, layering the shades by light to dark.

Wrap corners like a Christmas present wrapping to avoid bunching.

Earring Storage Solutions

I have a confession to make.  I love me some dangly earrings. LOVE me some dangly earrings.  There's just one problem to owning lots of dangly earrings and being too broke to buy a fancy-schmancy earring holder - they get all tangled. And you can't see them all to pick one. I guess that's two problems.  Well, two problems are about to be solved! 

Behold, the Shoebox-lid Dangly-Earring Holder!

It was extremely simple to make, once I figured out what to do and how to do it.  I literally spent like 2 hours staring at my craft room, trying to figure out an answer.

I don't have step-by-step photos for instructions, but my readers are not idiots and so you can figure it out.

1.  Take a shoe box lid and punch holes in the one end of the lip.  I did this with an exacto-knife, but you can do it with any sharp object you may have laying around. (My readers have lots of sharp objects lying around.)

2. Punch holes in the front of the box where you want the earrings to hang (see above photo).  You may want to use a ruler of some sort, if you're OCD that way. I did two rows of close-together holes at the top for my earrings that aren't dangly.

3. Find a ribbon and tie a double knot on one end.  Thread it through the first hole from the inside to the outside, and then again from the outside to the inside on the second hole. (Confusing much? Just look at the picture.)

4. Adjust the ribbon length so that it hangs at the level you want it to.  Hook it on a nail/screw/pointy thing on your wall. 

5. Presto! You're done. I kind of like the logo black/white look. Although, I have considered painting it so it doesn't look like a shoe-box.

Note: No sooner did I get this project finished than my mother sent me a real dangly earring-holder. And it's super pretty. *facepalm* 

At least my vast amounts of earrings ensures that I have to use both of them. And this pretty one doesn't do non-dangly earrings at all.