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!

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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 Fancy Glass Trivet

Ages ago, before we moved in together, I bought Hubby a little glass trivet from a dollar store.  Recently the paper backing had started to peel (but damn, this thing has lasted a decade!).  He's kind of sentimental about stuff from me, especially because we don't exchange gifts anymore, so instead of saying good-bye, I gave it a little makeover. 

First, I soaked the trivet in soapy water to get the rest of the backing off, but you know how sometimes one end of something comes lose and then refuses to come lose on any other part?  Yeah.  A little goo gone, followed by more soapy water and some scrubbing did the trick.

For a new backing, we picked out a fun scrapbook paper together.  It sounds all cute, us at the craft store pondering paper, but it was agony because the selection was too big and we kept trying to force the other to pick.  I traced the glass trivet on the back of our (painfully selected) paper, cut it out and . . . guess I'm having an off week, huh?

Crap.

No worries.  I remembered I had some pretty wrapping paper leftover so I cut a circle from that with no problems.  Horray for little successes!!

I used spray adhesive left over from when I used it to (temporarily) affix the poem stencil to my antiqued mirror.  This stuff is so versatile because if you only spray one side, it remains moveable for ten minutes, but if you spray both things you're trying to stick together, let it dry to tack (about a minute) and then smoosh them in place, it has a super strong hold right away.

And voila:

It won't be dishwasher safe, obviously, but it's still wipe-able and perfect for holding Hubby's mug of tea with lemon, situated on the little table beside our tweed chair, far, far away from me because the last thing I need is his cold too!

Much better!

P.S. I spotted (and pinned) a tutorial from Better Homes and Gardens, for the same kind of craft, but using a decoupage medium instead.

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