Penny Redo, First Edition

Happy Monday, readers! I finished a penny redecorating project this weekend with this small, army-green metal drawer chest that I got for free from my grandpa's garage.

Here's a before picture, after pulling out the drawers to scrub all the grime off --

After washing & drying, I measured and cut contact paper, then removed the sticky backing and applied. It was pretty difficult to keep air bubbles out -- you have to go very slowly and keep smoothing with your fingers. I tried using a putty knife, but it was too rough on the paper. I left about a 1/2" border around the edges of the bottom and back to keep the paper from peeling.

The only cost for this was a $5.99 roll of shelf paper, which I chose because of its sticky backing. I used a fraction of the roll, and will save the rest for another project.

While talking about the project with my grandpa, he told me that the metal chest had originally come from my great-grandfather's newspaper office, and then been used in my grandpa's dental office. I wrote the story on a label, and then placed it on the inside of the drawer.

I think that this had been used by my grandparents for photo storage at some point, too. I found the negative for a baby picture of me and my mom behind the drawers!

The chest is going on my desk to help organize things like eBay delivery confirmation slips. What a pretty way to organize!

Wrapping Paper Reuse: Ornament Tutorial

I'm really excited about how well this turned out!




What I used: a sheet of used wrapping paper, cardboard, masking tape, double stick tape, curling ribbon, packing tape, razor blade

First, make a box pattern using a pen and ruler. Something with 6 sides, with attached tabs to stick the whole thing together.


For the box base, each square was 1.5"x1.5". Use this general shape, with plenty of tabs. Much easier to cut tabs off than add them later.

After cutting it out, carefully score the fold lines with a razor. Tape the tabs to other sides as you assemble for support as your form your box. Use masking tape, so that it can be moved around a little. After the box is satisfactory, seal with mre tape.

For wrapping, I used permanent double-stick tape underneath the wrapping paper to avoid any ugly taped seams. I folded the paper around the box, and then unfolded just long enough to add tape and stick it down.

After wrapping the package, I wanted it to be more festive, so I added ribbon. I cut the curling ribbon in half down its center to make smaller curls for my mini-present.



After curling several pieces ribbon, I tied them together with a longer, straight ribbon (also cut in half). The cluster of curled ribbons was tied in the center of the long ribbon. For my box that was 1.5" in each dimension, the long ribbon was about 10" long.

I looped the long ribbon around the box, the tied the two ends near the curled ribbon. (This means I was tying a long ribbon tale with a short ribbon end.) Be sure to double knot.

I put a piece of clear packing tape over one of the sides to hold down the long ribbon. You could probably use less tape, but there was one side that wasn't all that well wrapped (oops), so the tape made it a lot more secure.

Using another double knot, make a loop at the end of the long tail from which the ornament can be hung. Use an ornament hook (or a bent paperclip, like I did) to hang the ornament and admire.



Voila!