Remote Caddy

Hand-made gifts are the best, aren't they? I'm always happier giving a handmade gift than any other. So I was super happy when I got ideas of what to get/make for my grand-mas this past Christmas.

I already shared the magnetic pin dish I made for my paternal grand-ma last week. That idea I got from blogland. But this idea I came up with it all on my own!

When my mom told me my grand-ma wanted a nice caddy to keep her remotes after seeing one at Staples for 15$, I thought uh hello, I can make that! and for less. I immediately had a flashback to the little wooden holder I saw at Dollarama that would be perfect for this and how I could spruce it up and make it look one of a kind with scrapbook paper. I was really excited to have finally gotten an idea of what to get my grand-ma for Christmas, and that it could be hand made; she's a picky one.

Of course I had a hard time finding the wooden holder, after that flash of genius, always seems like they run out of the one item I need at the time, but thankfully I didn't stress and I found it a few days before Christmas. That was a close one!



What I used:
~ Wooden holders; the big one I got from Dollarama for 2$ and the smaller one at Michaels for 1.50$
~ craft paint, Dollarama, 1$
~ scrapbook paper, Micheals, 3 sheets at 1$ each (I do not yet have a stash of scrapbook paper...)
~ Mod Podge, Michaels, 6$ with 50% off coupon (I think I got medium sized...?); I must've used like 1/10th of the bottle for this project, so let's say 50cents

Total: ~8$



I got the extra wooden holder at Michaels because I wasn't sure 1) if the remotes would be small enough to fit in the front pockets of the big one, 2) how many remotes my grand-ma had. I figured she would be able to put something else in the extra box if she had too much space, which is exatly what she did!

So my dad cut one of the handles of the smaller holder with his table saw, and I glued the 2 together:



Couple of hours later it was dry enough to move on. I mean, this was a couple of days before Christmas, and I had both my grand-mas' presents to make (actually, you can see the other one in progress in the corner of the above picture), I did not have time to wait for anything to cure completely.

Now you'll have to use your imagination for the next steps because I'm not used to taking in progress pictures... sorry :( And also I was doing it in half darkness while I watched TV (bonding time with the bro lol), so they probably wouldn't be pretty anyway.

So imagine me painting the edges and the bottom of the caddy. Then imagine me measuring every surface, outside, inside, and cutting out the pieces from the scrapbook paper.

There's a few things I wish I had done: cut the pieces slightly smaller than the surface, because they protruded too much from the edges of the box in the end, and also sand the edges, they were really not very smooth, especially once painted over. But they aren't that big of a deal.

Finally, imagine me Mod Podging (if it's not a verb then it really should be!) the paper into place. And voila! Pretty easy, right?







In action at my grand-ma's: she also puts her cordless phone in there, and keeps a notepad, a pen and a nail file.





My mom loved what I came up with so much she wanted me to make her one as well! So that's what I did, and gave it to her for her birthday early January.



2nd time around was much faster. I only bought 2 pieces of scrapbook paper, at 79cents each this time.

I also learned the proper way to applique paper with Mod Podge in the mean time: Mod Podge on the surface, on the paper, then apply paper to surface, smooth over paper with fingers if you don't have a roller, and let dry a bit before applying Mod Podge to seal, so you don't get bubbles!! I'm sure most of you are going, well yes I could've told you that, but after reading a lot of tutorials that used Mod Podge in the last few months, no one ever mentioned this piece of advice. It wasn't bad the first time around, it's just it was better the 2nd.









I also put small circle felts to the underside to prevent scratches.






I think I like the blue one better, because I really loved the pale blue paper I got.

Which one do you prefer? Let me know in the comments!!

Thanks for reading!



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