Goodwill Challenge: Wallpaper

This week, (as mentioned here), I challenged myself to find some creative and useful ideas for some thrift store wallpaper that I had on hand.

With the striped paper, I decided to do something that at first, seemed a little difficult. I gathered my supplies - large canvas (see other projects I have made with these canvases here), scissors, homemade Modge Podge (see the recipe here), and wallpaper.

Since chevron is all the rage right now, I decided that these stripes would be the perfect candidates for a creative chevron project. I folded the paper in a 45 degree angle.  You will need to do some strips folded up and some down. Otherwise, all your stripes will be going the same direction instead of forming right angles. I know this may seem like muddled instructions, but once you start cutting and making the stripes into chevron patterns, you'll understand what I mean.

Using my homemade Modge Podge, I began gluing the paper strips down to my canvas.

It was quite the puzzle to try to match everything up perfectly.

In the middle of my canvases, a few of my stripes went a little wonky. But since I knew that I would be covering the center of the canvas with something else, I didn't let it stress me out.

I had purchased a map from Amazon about a year ago, hoping to use it to creatively track our travels. I simply Modge Podged the map to the center of the canvas and let it dry. 

I was very pleased with my finished product. Stay tuned to see how we track our travels on this map.

I also used some wallpaper in some other ways this week. Since it was a "challenge" I decided that one project wasn't good enough. I had purchased these adorable little travel coffee mugs from the dollar tree.  They were specifically for children to color the inside label. I simply replaced the label with some pretty wallpaper.

I also used some of the paper to wrap a birthday present.

For $1 per roll, this is definitely cheaper than regular wrapping paper.

I had another friend (who actually had the same paper that is picture above) share with me how she's used her wallpaper.

She filled a photo frame with it, using the frame to display some wedding mementos.  The wallpaper jazzed up some college storage drawers, hiding the drawer's contents. And it looks beautiful to fills some photo coasters with little pieces of the wallpaper.

My friend, Lydia, also "participated." I approved her amended supply item. She still created something awesome out of some supplies that she had on hand. Check out her jewelry storage idea using burlap. It's creative and adorable!

Did any of you find a creative way to use some wallpaper? If so, feel free to comment with a link to your project!

Goodwill Challenge: Who's going to join me?

Sometimes, a little push from a friend can motivate me to complete a project twice as fast as I normally would. Joni and I had a self-declared Goodwill Challenge last month. See what we made out of some $5 dime rolls here and here.  We gave ourselves one week...and we actually finished on time!
This time, I may be in this alone. But I am betting that a few more of you out there have the supply item that I am hoping to find a great use for! Or I am hoping that you will rush out to your favorite thrift store to commandeer a roll for yourself because you are so inspired by this challenge.
What could the mystery product be?  

WALLPAPER!!!!!

Last weekend, I found a roll of navy and white striped (where I come from this is a two-syllable word...stripe-ped) wallpaper for 99 cents! When I came home, I realized I had a second roll of awesome wall paper that belongs to my neighbor/bff. I think I had originally borrowed it to maybe paper my closet. But I have since stuffed our closet and don't feel like removing everything just to make the walls look a little different. I will definitely see if she wants to participate. And if she does, I'll give her roll back.

I'm dreaming up a better use for these rolls - and I'm giving myself one week to complete the project. Who's with me?

"How do I participate?" you may be excitedly screaming! Simply comment on this post, letting me know that you're up for the challenge. Then, either dig out some wallpaper that you previously picked up from a thrift store/garage sale/random basement - it's time to find a clever use for those beautifully decorated papers.

Once you have completed your project, email me (sothecooksaid@gmail.com) a picture and a brief description of your idea. Or, if you have a blog, email me the link to your post that describes your cleverly used wallpaper by next Thursday (March 5th, 2012). I will your creative ideas in the big reveal post on Friday, April 6th.
I can't wait to see what you come up with! Let the googling and Pinterest searching begin!