Please Welcome My Guest - Doreen

My sweet friend Doreen from HouseHoneys has offered to help with a guest post while we are moving this month.  

Please give Doreen a warm Kathe With An E welcome!

Hello Everyone! I'm so happy to be here guest posting for my friend Kathe while she's in the throes of moving. We moved not too long ago and I can tell you I'm so glad it's her not me this time around ;). 

I'm excited to share this super easy, super fun and super cheap project with you all. In fact, it's so easy and so pretty I made two and will most likely make another one soon, AND as an added bonus, you can even get the kids involved!

        

 WHAT YOU'LL NEED

1. Glass or ceramic bowl in your size of choice
2. Plastic Wrap
3. Modge Podge
4. Disposable brushes (3 should be enough)
5. Translucent Rice Paper
6. Dried leaves and/or flowers (I used leaves that were embedded in handmade paper and cut out the leaves)
7. Plastic gloves. Optional, but if you don't want Modge Podge on your hands I recommend them.
8. Hair Dryer. Optional, but it helps to speed up the drying process if you're in a hurry.
9. Knife or thin spatula. Guess what? Yup, optional, but it definitely comes in handy when you're removing the wrap from the bowl. Trust me on this one.
10. An old towel or sheet to cover your work surface (definitely NOT OPTIONAL).

So...I started out with four different kinds of paper but ended up using three. You will need only two, but I had some paper left over from the previous Modge Podge Bowl I did and didn't know what I'd end up using. I kinda ad-libbed my way through this.

 

The paper with the circles was the primary player at the party. This bowl is staying at our rental which has a more contemporary feel than the cabin and I think the geometric design definitely gives it a more modern vibe. I didn't use the paper with the brown leaves at all for this project, but will definitely put that to use for the cabin.

The first step is to cover your bowl completely on the outside with plastic wrap. Then tear up your translucent paper into strips of varying sizes and start applying a generous amount of Modge Podge onto the strips making sure to fully coat them and place them on the outside of the bowl. Continue until the bowl is covered to your liking and let dry.

When dry, gather your leaves or flowers and place them on the bowl using Modge Podge to adhere them and then add more of the translucent paper over them to secure them. You should end up with at least two layers of translucent paper around your bowl. Let dry.

When dry, gently pull the wrap away from the bowl. This is where the spatula will come in handy. I used an icing spatula which worked great. Work your way around the bowl slowly and gently. It will take about 10 minutes to separate the bowl from the wrap. Do what I did. Sit in front of your tv watching Barefoot Contessa make several desserts while you're doing this. If nothing else it will make you hungry.

 

 

Here's a picture of the first one I did that is at home in the cabin. It's a bit smaller but it really adds a pop of much needed brightness to the space.

 

WHAT I LEARNED THE SECOND TIME AROUND

• A bowl with a wide opening is easier to work with when it comes time to remove the plastic wrap
• There's a balance between not letting the Modge Podge dry enough and letting it dry too much. The first time I used a hair dryer to speed the process along because I was at the cabin and in a hurry. We're only there on weekends so my projects have to be quick and easy. This time I let it dry overnight and I actually think that's too much. It made it difficult to remove some of the plastic wrap because it had gotten glued to the paper in parts. So my advise is if you're not using a dryer, a couple of hours of drying time should be enough.
• When removing the wrap, you may experience some tearing of the paper. I did the first time, but not this time. If that happens, don't panic! Just get yourself some more paper and patch it up.

You know what I think would be really pretty? Different sizes and shapes of these bowls on a lighted shelf. They really have an artsy quality to them and are totally worthy of that. They're not durable though, and just for decorative purposes only so be gentle with them! Last weekend we had our grandson at the cabin and he picked up the bowl and put it on his head! I guess it makes a unique hat. I hope you give one a try and if you do, please tell me about it.

Thanks so much Kathe for letting me share this project with your readers! 
I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you. 

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