cheese sticker coffee table...

a couple of weeks ago i went back to idaho for my step-sisters graduation from college.  i took some pics, but not too many.  i'll probably stick them up on their own post tomorrow.  anyway...my mom had found this cute, kind of crappy looking little coffee table.  and since i really like to cover wooden furniture with cheese stickers it came home with me be covered.

here it is before i did anything to it:

usually, i just use cheese stickers to cover the whole thing, but my mom sent home a bunch of bird and flower magazines with me so i got the bright idea to decoupage birds and butterflies on there also.  here's the ones i decided on.  

i figure one for wrapping around the base of each leg and 2 for the top of the coffee table.  i want to do this double fan design i thought of and that will give the corners an even better focus point.  and i thought that the birds would also kind of blend in with the cheese stickers my mom wanted, kind of like how birds blend in with trees and bushes at the same time they stand out in them.

i even managed not to slice my twinkies up using an x-acto knife:

i did the legs first just to get them out of the way.  here they are, drying from the ceiling after i put the first coat of modge podge on them:

i really like how they came out.  the birds and butterflies wrap around the bottoms, so you have to go all around them to see the whole thing.

then here are the stickers my mom wanted for the top of the table:

she really only told me about the oval ones.  i chose the green to make a nice checkerboard pattern for the bottom.  i have the oval ones on my kitchen table that i covered years ago.  you can kind of see the pattern in earlier posts with ravioli :)

but then i also chose a different sticker for the diagonal line down the middle and the edging around the coffee table.

here's my drawing of my guide lines for sticking the stickers on:

looks like a spiderweb.  apart from these lines, everything else is just stuck on by eyeballing it.

then almost halfway done putting the top stickers on:

now here is the bottom:

i like to do checkerboards on the bottom of tables and chairs.  it's easy and always looks nice.  even though you don't look at the bottom of tables and chairs, i can't leave them undone.  i'll know that it's totally finished.

and the final product!!!:

now i just have to put a million coats of clear finish on it.  that should take a couple of weeks.  i always coat it first with the modge podge and then with a clear lacquer of some kind.  this time i'm using a water based polyfinish.  the only problem is that it isn't very thick, so you gotta put like 30 coats on.  no shit.  takes forever.

but i really like how the birds came out with the stickers.  i hope my mom likes it...i think she will!!