Sunday, February 17, 2008

Gadget Corrall

It's amazing the number of little things we have in this house that need to be plugged in to charge. Technology may be amazing, but it's also a pain! I am forever losing the cords when I unplug my phone etc. and the plug falls behind the table I use for charging. I picked up this little wooden tray at Hobby Lobby ($1.50!) and thought it would be perfect with a little modification and a bit of alteration (of course) to keep these things organized. I started with the same Rich Espresso metallic paint from DecoArt that I just love and use on everything and then added papers from Daisy D's. I edged around the inside bottom with a dimensional writer from DecoArt too. I took some of the scalloped clips from Making Memories and painted those as well before attaching them (with E6000) to the corners to attach my cords to. Voila! A nice attractive place to plug in my phone, etc. where I won't ever lose the cords!

The only problem is that I planned on also putting things like my son's Gameboy there, but now he wants one of his own, lol! So much for color matching...yes, the Gameboy is in blue and my Bluetooth matches the darker red shade, etc., which is one of the reasons I picked this paper!




PS - Stop by tomorrow morning and I'll post some details for a giveaway!

10 Comments:

Mimi said...

That's awesome! Great idea!

scrapperjen said...

That is SO cool! I love the papers you used too.

Tranquilita said...

Dear Jenna... What a great idea!! I'm waiting to see tomorrow's post. Thanks for stopping by :D

Diana
Merida, Mexico
The Crafty Me

Unknown said...

What an awesome idea! I really love all the things you have been altering! TFS!!!!

Samantha said...

Ok, this is just beautiful! You do great work. I myslef buy lots of stuff to alter and then never seem to get around to it!

Jen said...

Hi Jenna,
I love your gadget corral. You're so talented! I'm pretty new to altered art, only having made a couple clip boards & a clock (I have some pix buried in my blog)A couple of q's- how did you adhere the clips? & are you using it on a flat surface or hanging on a wall? Could you hang it? I love checking on your blog to get ideas - I'm a big fan of the functional pieces you do. http://ourmdfamily.blogspot.com

Jenna Franklin said...

Aw, thanks, everybody! You know, my phone rang last night and I KNEW WHERE IT WAS, lol!

Jen - I adhered the clips using E6000 - I can't recommend that adhesive enough (and I think it's on sale at Hobby Lobby this week but their website is having issues at the moment so I can't check for sure) for adhering anything to altered items! Use it in a well ventilated area (the fumes are horrible). It's goopy, but once it dries, stuff won't ever move again, ol!

I use it on a flat surface. I suppose it could be wall mounted, but would require some pretty extensive modifications to get it to hang (would need to be bolted securely, you couldn't use a picture hanger or anything as it's not stable enough to be fiddling with the cords) and also to keep the items from falling out. To do a wall mounted organizer like this I think one of those box shelves (looks like an open square or rectangle) would work better - just drill a hole in the bottom big enough to feed the cords through. Or even just a shelf - drill a hole and add some clips!

Jenna Franklin said...

Well, it won't let me edit my own comment, lol, but yes, E6000 IS on sale at Hobby Lobby this week (for $2.47 - they're listing it with the jewelry supplies)! Also, I forgot to mention. E6000 takes a while to set. You can do each corner by itself and wait 20-30 minutes (yea, right, lol), or if you have something to clamp the clips in place so they don't slide while drying. OR (and what I did), you can add a dot of a second adhesive that dries faster (my favorite is Beacon 3 in 1 glue) so that holds it in place while the cement-action of the E6000 sets up.

Andrea Amu said...

I love this idea! I think I may need to make one of these for all our gadgets! TFS!

Sarah Coggins said...

Looks so pretty! What a clever idea. :)