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penny for your project

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Penny projects have been all the rage for a while and I have even done my own. You can find tons of projects to do with pennies all over the internet. I have collected a few of my favorites with the help of Hometalk.
If you click the photo you can check out some of the clever penny projects I have on my hometalk board.
I love pinterest but for new projects in the house and garden hometalk is really my go to spot. Hometalk is the best of facebook and pinterest put together for DIY home projects. On hometalk you can post projects you have done with pictures, descriptions and people can contact you directly with questions. You don’t have to have a blog to participate just a project and a camera. Hometalk also allows you to create boards so you have have all of your ideas in one place by clipping projects that are already on hometalk or you can clip projects from the internet.

lucky penny or pennies

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Welcome back to the second week of DIY May-nia. This week we are showing off our garage sale or thrift store finds. I have had my find for months. So long that it was on my DIY list for the year. So not only did I get the challenge done I also got to cross something off my list.

I am beyond excited about this one. I have been itching to share this all week. Even posted a few sneak peeks on instagram just to cure the itch to spill the beans. Truth be told I was so excited that if it had been done for the pinterst challenge last wednesday I might have put it there and found something else to do for our challenge.

We bought the table at a Urban Ore which is a salvage place in Berkeley. The sell everything from doorknobs to toilets. I have purchased a few items there over the years. When we bought this piece it was because we like bi-level side tables. It was obvious by the linoleum type material set into the table that this wasn’t a collectors item so I knew we would be fixing it up. Problem was I just didn’t know how. I wanted a solution that would allow us to just set our drinks on it and not worry about coasters. We have had this table for about 6 months without any progress.

I thought about grouting some thin tile in the area. Even went as far as buying all the supplies. Guess that will go to another project now. We really couldn’t figure out anything we loved. The inset isn’t very thick so it had to be something the would lay in there and be some what level. After hours and hours of pinterest I realized pennies might be the answer. I laid out the pennies to check the spacing before I did anything else.

Tom thought the blue color that is in our living room rug would be a great color for the table. I brought home a bunch of blue paint chips and I thought that Martha Stewart Plumage was the closest. I think it came out pretty close.

The process is pretty simple. I sanded the table and put a quick coat of paint on. Then came the gorilla glue and the pennies. Learned a couple things here. 1. gorilla glue gets air bubbles 2. a little goes a long way 3. when the glue seeps out around the edges either clean it immediately or just leave it to dry clear. I tried to fix some of the glue mistakes and it made it look very messy and I worried I had messed it up. Luckily once I put the resin on you couldn’t see the blemishes any more.

I taped around the pennies before pouring the resin to protect the table. The resin was very easy to work with. I poured in the center and used my grouting tools to spread the resin so it was a level thickness. Use all the patience you have to not move the tape until the resin sets for a few hours but don’t leave it until it is completely hardened or your tape might be part of the table.

The Super Glaze was super easy to use (couldn’t resist that one). I had read some reviews that weren’t as favorable as I hoped but this is the only one Home Depot sold so I went with it. I followed the instructions and had no problems at all.

I let it cure long enough that it wasn’t oozing out when I pulled up the tape.Then taped off the resin so I could sand some of the resin that got on the table because I wasn’t patient and checked to see if it had dried a little too early. I put on a second coat of paint and it was complete.

The copper against the blue is the perfect combination.

Now I have a place to put my current sewing project, some magazines and I can set my favorite Kate Spade coffee cup right on top sans coaster.

Plus, I think it looks great in the living room and is a good spot to display my fantasy football trophy from this past season.

I also linked up at Inspiration party and Liz Marie Inspire Me Linky Party and 52 Mantels and Chic on a Shoestring Decorating and Organized 31

Now for the audience participation part of the the post. Link up and show us your great finds and transformations.
The Rules:
- please link back to one or all of our blogs (handy button add to make that easier)
- no linking to shops, stores, giveaways or other link parties
- link directly to the specific post
- make a point of checking out other blogs and giving out comments. This is a party after all and if an introvert like myself can mingle so can you.
On Thursday we will all be featuring our favorite projects so come back and check it out.
Next week we will showing off outdoor and BBQ projects I hope you come back and link up again.
Feel free to use this button during the link-ups, for easy linking back to your host. Just copy the text in the box below, and then paste it into your blog post.


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