My fiance and I wanted all of our switch plates to match, so we literally unscrewed all of the old switch plates and installed brand new ones in our house. I was about to throw away the old ones because I thought making new and exciting covers for them would be too difficult and time consuming. Actually, making switch plate covers are really easy!

Earlier, I wrote a post titled DIY Switch Plate and Outlet Cover Tutorials – which will give you TONS more ideas for making covers! This post is just about what I did with mine.

Materials:

• Switch Plate (I used a metal one)
• Sandpaper
• Primer Spray Paint
• Color of your Choice Spray Paint
• Images/stuff to Mod Podge your Switch Plate
• Scissors/X-acto Knife
• Mod Podge and Brush

Instructions:

Step 1: Sand the switch plate all over with your sandpaper, so that the paint will stick to it better.

Step 2: Lay out a big piece of cardboard that you can use to spray paint on outside. I had a lot of switch plates, so I just did them all at once! Spray paint with your primer.

Lay out your switch plates

Spray paint with your primer - I also altered a tin

Step 3: After the primer has dried, take your colored spray paint and spray paint it the same way you did with the primer. Let it dry. For the screws, tape off the “screw” part and paint the tops of the screws the same way you did with the main switch plate part.

Step 4: Pick out clip art or anything else you’d like to Mod Podge to the switch plate. I used a vintage image. Cut it out and place it on your cover to get an idea of where you’d like to place it. Take your time cutting – it will be very obvious if you do it quickly! For really detailed places, try using an X-acto knife.

Step 5: Using spray adhesive, spray the back of the image to be placed onto the switch plate, and then place it. Doing this keeps the clip art in place while you Mod Podge.

Step 6: Working from the back of the switch plate, use your X-acto knife to cut an X in the rectangle where the actual switch will go, making little triangles that you can fold in from the front to the back. If your image covers the screw holes, make X’s there are well, folding them in.

Step 7: Mod Podge the switch plate and the screw tops and let them dry. All done! Easy, right?

Vintage Woman Switch Plate

I made this switch plate specifically for DIYscene’s Black and Metal October swap – the recipient loved it!

I got this crappy tin from a ‘free box’ at a garage sale during the summer. The paint was rubbing off and I hated the design, but I knew I could do something awesome with it.

Earlier, I wrote a post titled Tins, Cans, and Aluminum Metal: What Can I Do With It? - which will give you TONS more ideas for altering tins. This post is just about what I did with mine!

Bless Our Country Home Tin

Side of Tin

Let’s revamp this sucker!

Materials:

• Crappy Tin
• Sandpaper
• Primer Spray Paint
• Color of your Choice Spray Paint
• Images/stuff to Mod Podge to your tin
• Scissors
• Mod Podge and Brush

Instructions:

Step 1: Sand the tin all over with your sandpaper, so that the paint will stick to it better.

Step 2: Lay out a big piece of cardboard that you can use to spray paint on outside. Then, place the tin FACE DOWN without the lid. The lid should be placed on top of the bottom part of the tin. (I hope that made sense!) This way, you can spray paint everything at once, without getting the bottom part of the tin painted on. Spray paint with your primer to cover up the design.

Spray Paint with Primer

Step 3: After the primer has dried, take your colored spray paint and spray paint it the same way you did with the primer. Let it dry.

Step 4: Pick out clip art or anything else you’d like to Mod Podge to the tin. I used black lace around the tin and a big skull with tiny umbrellas for the top. Cut all of these things out and place them on your tin to get an idea of where you’d like to place everything. The umbrellas took SO LONG to cut out!

Step 5: Using spray adhesive, spray the backs of the objects to be placed onto the tin, and then place them. Doing this keeps the clip art in place while you Mod Podge.

Step 6: Mod Podge the tin and let it dry. All done! Easy, right?

Skull tin

I <3 the Lace

Another view

I made this tin specifically for DIYscene‘s Black and Metal October swap -my swap partner loved it!

DIYscene‘s swap theme for the month of November was Burtonesque. My partner said that she loved the idea of the new movie directed by Burton, Alice in Wonderland, coming out in 2010. I decided to try something that I’ve never tried before, which was making a pillow with a character on it, made entirely with fabric scraps. I decided to do Johnny Depp’s character in Alice in Wonderland movie, The Mad Hatter.

Johnny Depp - The Mad Hatter

When starting out, I thought this pillow would be really easy to make. Actually, it took me several full days and most of the nights in November to finish it! I tried to cut out fabric according to the picture above. I worked out as many shapes as possible from the poster in Photoshop. I then cut out half of the shapes on my Cricut, and the other half by hand. It took forever to get everything to line up and look right! I had to keep altering shapes, sizes, and colors. Then, because I forgot to use the wrong Heat and Bond material (smacks head), I had to hand-sew every piece of the fabric on by hand. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out, and feel that it was totally worth making! Here are some photos that I took during the process.

If you want a better look at these photos, check out my flickr set for the Mad Hatter Pillow

Finished Mad Hatter Pillow

I do want to make more pillows like this in the future, whenever I get time! If anyone has requests for any characters on pillows, I’d be happy to take custom orders.