Easy, Budget Friendly Mod Podge Crafts

I wanted to round up a few Mod Podge crafts today.. These are all super easy and budget friendly crafts.. For some of them you may even have all the materials you need (or at least some) just sitting around the house. 

 Decorative Vases

@Natural Home and Garden

 These pretty vases are super easy to make.. You really won't believe how easy and inexpensive they are to create.  

Cute Paper Covered Clipboards

@All Things Heart and Home

Look at these cute little clipboards I found that were made using Mod Podge! I love the matching pens too :)

Upcycled Water Bottle Vase

@homework

Yes, you read right! This vase is actually made out of a common water bottle.  It is so pretty and super easy to make, too.

 Embellished Clothespins

 @HubPages

You can buy clothespins super cheap... You can buy a pack of 50 of them at Wal-Mart for a few bucks! Just FYI --You can get them at the Dollar Store (Dollar General) too but they didn't seem to be as good of quality as the ones at Wal-Mart.

@Design Sponge

Do you ever want to change up the lid on a glass jar? You can use Mod Podge to do just that .. It's a great way to use up your scrapbooking paper scraps! These lids turned out gorgeous .. love them!

One more thing before I end the post... I HAVE to share this awesome HOMEMADE MOD PODGE RECIPE that I found!! Mod Podge is awesome but it is kind of expensive... I don't mind buying it because it goes a long way but I'm always up for a homemade craft recipe.. She swears it works just as good as the real stuff... A huge THANK YOU to the girls over at Babblings and More :)

There are tons of other Mod Podge projects out there.. These are just a few. I'm sure I'll be doing many more Mod Podge posts in the future  :)

Buttons, Buttons and More Buttons... and a Vintage Button Guide

I shared a few weeks ago that I had purchased a bunch of buttons basically for using in crafts but also just to see what neat buttons were in the box.. well, it was 10 lbs. of buttons from Ebay.  The description read just a 10lb. box of good, old buttons.  I figured it would be a wonderland of old pretty buttons but when I finally got the box and started looking through them I had a feeling it had already been picked through which is fine but what surprised me was just how old some of these buttons were.. it intrigued me and I knew that I didn't want to ruin old buttons that may be collectors items so I did some research and wrote a guide about antique buttons.  I'm glad I did it because I learned LOTS of fascinating things about buttons.  I know buttons are a favorite among many crafters so I wanted to share some pictures of the buttons I acquired.  So here we go:

Shades of Red

Oranges

Shades of Yellow

Lots of shades of Green

 These were hard because there were so many different shades of greens to even aqua colors... which looked almost blue to me but when put up against blue they looked more green.

Shades of Blues

Just like with the greens, some of them looked more green but when I would add them to green they looked more blue.. go figure!  I thought about just making a whole new color pile of aqua-ish colored buttons but I haven't yet.

Purples

Some of these could have gone into the dark red pile but I think I'll just make one pile of maroon-ish buttons. Who knew separating buttons by color would be so challenging!

Beige, Off white and Light Browns

Shades of Pinks

Some of these were a coral color.. almost an orangey pink but when I put them with the oranges they looked more pink.

Antique Vegetable Ivory Buttons

Antique Wooden Buttons

Antique Metal Buttons

These could be my favorite buttons of them all.. I really enjoyed cleaning and shining them up.  They turned out to be so pretty and shiny especially the copper ones.. Some had this greenish patina ( I guess that is what it's called) and I'm just not able to get it off.  Some of these metal ones are very, very old. I was really surprised at how old some of these buttons were.

At first when I started researching I realized I may have some Bakelites in this 10lb box of buttons so I started testing, and testing and testing and I had a small pile that seemed to test positive for Bakelite but after a while of doing it, I gave up.. it just took so much time and it was almost as if there was one Bakelite button out of every 50 buttons.  I still am not sure if I am going to sell some of these plastic buttons or not but if I do, it's just going to have to be a mixture of Celluloid, Lucite and Bakelite and the purchaser can figure it out.  Maybe they would be better at testing Bakelite than I am. 

If you are interested, please feel free to read this Vintage Button Guide.  It tells about different buttons, how to test to see what material they are made of and how to clean them properly.

Xyron 500 Sticker Maker

Xyron 500 Sticker Maker

I want to show how neat this little machine is... but first a little bit of background on how I got it.  A while back I was looking on a site called Craigslist. In case you haven't heard of it, it's a pretty popular online classifieds ads site.  No matter where you are in the world, there is a link for your area in the world and you can click to see what people are selling.  There are different sections such as furniture, appliances, etc.. there is even a  "FREE" section and I often look to see what people are giving away.  So I responded to an ad that said lots of free craft stuff.  When I got home with the box of goodies there were two of those Xyron 500 sticker makers.. among LOTS of other really neat stuff!  I ended up giving my daughter one of them and I kept the other.  The machines were empty and just needed the refill cartridges. I got the refill and have been playing with it today and I have to say this is a really nifty little machine!!!!!!  I love it..... have a look at all the stickers I made:

Playing with this machine is so much fun! All you do is stick whatever you want to make into a sticker right on the front of the machine on the flat feed and push it back a bit, then roll the knob away from you and it feeds the shape into the machine and out the back where you tear off and Wallah!! The entire back of your shape will have a film of permanent adhesive. I give Xyron 500 an A+ :0)

Oh, in case anyone is interested here is Craigslist. 

The Best Glues for Metal, Glass, Paper, Plastic, Vinyl, Etc....

I am sure you probably may have a favorite glue that you use most often. I usually use E6000 which usually does a great job and seems to hold together just about anything.  Sometimes I wonder what other glues are out there and if some work better gluing certain things together like gluing glass to glass, for example.  I often want to experiment with different glues so I did a bit of research. I found some great charts and even webpage where you enter what you are gluing to what and then it will bring up a list of glues that are optimal for the job.. plus a few tips, too.   So if you often wonder about what the best glues are like I do, here's a few helpful resources.


This to That - This is a very neat website focusing solely on picking the best glue to get the job done no matter what you are gluing together.


Glue Chart - This is an excellent glue chart showing which glues adhere to different surfaces.


Comprehensive List- Here is a long list of glues at JewelsDesignsCreativeCorner and it explains what glues are good for certain surfaces plus lots of great tips.


Glue Strength Testing- Okay, this site is more of carpenters website and confused me a bit just with all the numbers (I'm terrible with math) but it does show how different glues were experimented with for gluing wood together. 

Some of these glues can be expensive but it's usually worth it because you can use less and it will take a long time to use it all up.  The one I use (E6000) is very inexpensive and a large tube lasts me forever.  If you are a fan of E6000 did you know there is another glue called Household Goop that is the exact same glue (same company) and it is inexpensive as well.  You can usually even find the Goop at the Dollar store.   Over the years, I've heard LOTS of great stuff about Loctite brand glues.  So if I ever get around to purchasing and using it, I'll let you know how it works.

Do you have a favorite glue? I would love to know.. please feel free to share.

I ♥ comments!