Wallpaper Craft Fail - What to do if Mod Podge Doesn't Work?

My Mom had been bugging me to get my hands on some wallpaper for a project she had in mind, so when I acquired a roll of a mid-century inspired pattern, I handed it over to her!

Photo Source

When she saw the wallpaper, my Mom wanted more - to wallpaper her kitchen!  But we had already dropped $30 on a super-sized tub of Mod Podge, so we stayed the course.  Her plan was to recover a bunch of hat boxes she bought at HomeSense years ago.  She no longer loved the floral pattern and after we snapped some "before" photos, she realized she had about seven in total.  She hoped to recover them all. 

We plotted our moves, deciding how to position the pattern of the wallpaper on the boxes.  We snipped the edges so we could fold them over neatly underneath the box.  We were on a roll!

 
Hey, did you know that Mod Podging is really flipping difficult?!?

Neither of us had ever used Mod Podge, but hours of gluey sticky smudgey mess later, we determined that the Hat Box Recovering Project was not going our way.  The wallpaper is THICK and did not want to be wrapped around a round box.  Truthfully, our beginner Mod Podge skills were the bigger issue.  The paper ended up bunchy and severely wrinkled in a couple of places.

We added some black ribbon to the lid, which looks cute, but I think this qualifies as a #craftfail.  We're actually too intimidated to even tackle the other six hat boxes...

Have any of you used Mod Podge?  Any tips/tricks for using thicker paper?  Any Mod Podge fails of your own?  This is a really humbling moment for an avid DIYer like myself ;) But, you win some, you lose some. 

DIY Bubble Bath Bomb

Because I was sick over the weekend, I was really craving a hot bath in a our deep soaker tub, but I didn't have any bubble bath or bath oil at home.  Unwilling to crawl out of the house for even food, I certainly wasn't going to leave in search of bath products. I had pinned a recipe for foaming bath soap from Paul Deen, so I gave it a whirl.  Because we shop at Costco, we have always have huge quantities of the ingredients needed, so I had high hopes for this.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup olive oil (substituted for the almond oil recommended; the recipe says olive is okay too)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 liquid hand soap
• 1 tbsp vanilla (which I doubled)

First, my honey bear chillaxed a little in a hot tub of its own (I warmed a pot of water to help soften my crystallized honey - it works!  And stays soft again for a long time):

When the honey was soft, I poured the water out of the pot and mixed the ingredients over really low heat, for a couple seconds.  I only stirred it in the warmed pot to ensure my honey really was liquid again.

After it cooled, I decanted a small amount into a washed out eye makeup remover bottle and slapped on a half-hearted label (I'm sick, I'm too tired to make nice labels, but I wanted to make sure I didn't accidentally rub this into my eyes). 

The Verdict?

I almost died.  I put a cap's worth into a super full tub (remember, mine's extra deep), which I thought was a modest amount.  It made the tub so slick I almost mugged out.  Getting out of the tub, I must have looked like a newborn fawn my legs were so unsteady!  Plus, it was so oily I felt like I was marinating.  I needed a follow up shower.  And a nap from all the effort.  I tried another bath with half the amount and while it wasn't as oily, it wasn't that special either because all of the yumminess was seriously diluted.  The sweet almond oil must make all the difference!

Although I get an A+ for effort, for DIYing with a nasty virus, I think this classifies as a DIY fail (it's not my first, and won't be my last!).

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My DIY Redemption

Even though sometimes it's ultra embarrassing and I'd really rather not, I'm honest about my DIY feats and failures.  I shared the drippy bottle bomb and the two-for-one paper mache and gift wrapping fails.  Remember when I tried to paint all the original frames for my vintage silhouettes?  I don't know if the paint had gone bad or if there was a problem with the "wetware" (what my Dad, in the computer biz, calls people because we're largely made of water and often the source of computer probs).  Whatever the problem, the frames turned out so gunky I had to scrap them and, head hung low, buy new ones.

Despite DIY successes like this and this, I failed DIY 101: spray painting!

When another silhouette crossed my path (for only $3.99 - my best find yet), I bravely decided it was time to face my silhouette-frame-spray-painting fears . . .

Ok.  If I'm being honest, I had to work with this frame because store-bought sizes didn't leave room for the awesome description of the silhouette artist who has cut over 1.5 million silhouettes, including silhouettes for folks like The Pope of Rome at the Vatican (1927) and President Hoover!

Supplies:

If the magic is in the materials, here is what I used: Rust-oleum Painter's Touch primer in white and Krylon Dual Paint and Primer in Matte Black spray paint (leftover from this chair makeover). 

Steps For Avoiding a DIY Bomb:

Before and after my bomb, I successfully spray painted many a thing, so I just did what I normally do - although I was a bit over-cautious this time, what with the double priming:

• I waited for a perfect weather day - not too cold, not too warm, not too humid, not too windy
• I used a shallow cardboard box to protect the grass
• Then I carefully sprayed on the spray primer
• I sprayed one side, let it dry for a few hours, flipped it over and then sprayed the other side
• I let it dry for 48 hours (to be extra, extra sure)
• Then I waited for another perfect weather day and carefully applied the spray paint
• I applied thin, even coats following the can instructions to the letter

And?

The frame turned out beautifully and the faux, exaggerated wood grain really pops with the new darker paint.

It looks perfect with the rest of my (growing) collection.  Plus I'm happy to report I am still loving my magnetic board! 

Now I need to actually make my own silhouette.

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DIY Bottle Dip FAIL

When I painted the wine bottles, I tackled a few beer bottles too.  But they somehow didn't look as pretty to me, so they hung out in the garage a bit, getting dirty and doing a good impression of the worst trip hazard ever.

Then I saw some cute dipped vases on Pinterest and started thinking maybe a little swim in some paint would make the painted beer bottles prettier.  But these were just thoughts.  Set to the tune of this song.

Woman's Day; Design Love Fest; Project Wedding; Whipper Berry

Because my "dipped" wooden spoons and "dipped" stool turned out so well, I got too confident.  I think you can guess how this story ends. 

I literally dipped my bottles in paint and they hung out for a bit longer in the garage, proving they could be an even more aggravating obstacle.  And no, we didn't buy this much butternut squash.



Behold the fail:

Some of my drippy-dips friggin' stuck to the cardboard . . .

 . . . and the others just looked cheesy:

Well, you win some and you lose some.  C'est la DIY.  Care to share any of your own less-than-successful projects?

P.S. Don't forget to enter my current giveaway - it's a real life saver.

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My Paper Mache AND Holiday Wrapping Fails

Can't win 'em all. 

First of all, thank you for being such lovely and supportive readers. I look forward to each and every comment and email. In light of all the positive feedback about things like my hodge:podge interview and Artful Ikea Expedit Hack (featured on Design*Sponge and Ikea Hacker), I thought I'd post two fails from this week to show you that I have DIY flops, too.

1. Paper Maché Fail

I was going for something like these:

Etsy - etco

Etsy - One Click Gallery

Etsy - Maus Home and Vintage

But here's mine:

The bigger ones split when I tried to take them off the mold.  Boo.  Two delightful evenings spent elbow deep in paste, wasted.

2. Artful Wrapping Fail

Undeterred by my flop, I used the rest of the newspaper I accumulated to wrap a gift for my wee little cousins.  I don't celebrate Christmas, but I can't not give a gift to a child who does.  That's like kicking a kitten.  But I refuse to splurge on holiday wrap so, on a "creative" roll, I did this:

I was going for shabby chic.  Apparently I don't do that look very well.  Even the ribbon can't hide the fact it looks like a toddler wrapped this.

Shameful, when I could have easily done something pretty, like this:

Mini Eco

Meh.  Someone, if not my family (it's unlikely they will find this funny) then their mail carrier, will get a giggle from this.

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My DIY Fail

You know I've been getting closer to finally hanging my silhouette collection (which, aside from two my Hubby gifted me, has never, EVER been hung).  I've blogged about silhouette arrangement inspiration twice (see here & here) so that is a good clue as to what is brewing in the townhouse.  I thought the collection would look more sharp if I painted some of the random, tacky frames (see pics below) black so they all match in colour, but differ in texture.  And, it would save some bucks (as opposed to buying new frames).  I even bragged about the saving money part to Hubby.

Before - all different frames

Here's a close up of one of the offending frames



Pouncing on a rare warm day, I set to work.  I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.  I'm no stranger to this kind of project but I tend to only buy Tremclad paint as I typically paint metal surfaces (like the base of my DIY'd desk).  But this (new to me) brand did something weird.  From afar the frames look okay:

But close up, the surface has turned all bumpy in some areas.  Perhaps the weather wasn't warm enough (the instructions suggested 10 degrees celsius + and it was . . . ), or the can was defective.  Anyway, take a look at the damage:

DIY gone wrong.

They would pass in the dark with a shove, but I just gave up & bought new frames to replace the damaged ones.  I even found the perfect sized round frame for my newest silhouette! 

BIM - Bought It Myself

Next up: I finally found a frame for my magnetic chalkboard project.  Let's hope I don't goof this up too.



P.S. Hubby was so cute: he thoughtfully helped me pick out new frames and never once laughed about my genius plan to refurbish the old frames.  He didn't complain that I stunk up the garage for no reason, or got paint on the floor, or left him with a pile of random junk to deal with when the project & I decided to abruptly part ways. 

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