Making over an old piece of decor or furniture and giving it new life is simply the best. Especially when you first contemplated just throwing it away. Once you give something old a little love and a little elbow grease, it can turn into one of the cutest projects ever! That’s totally what happened with my lazy susan. I inherited this simple plain wood lazy susan from my dad and for a long time it just sat in the garage, dangerously close to the Goodwill pile. I’d never used a lazy susan before and didn’t think I had a need for one so there it sat, unused and unloved, for months and months.
But when Christmas came around and I got a Silhouette Cameo, inspiration struck! Over the past couple weeks I’ve been playing around with my Silhouette and came up with a few cool projects, like my geometric fox art. Since I’m now hooked/obsessed/addicted to doing tons of projects with my Silhouette, I knew that the Cameo could help give this lazy susan a new life, too!
Lazy Susan Makeover:
I started out by opening my Silhouette software and finding these cute Swiss crosses that I had downloaded sometime ago as part of my free monthly designs. Then I sized the page settings to what I wanted and made sure most of the crosses fit within the red cut line like so:
I then sent my project to the Silhouette using gold foil sticker paper (if you use this type of paper, set your blade to 6 and make sure to use a cutting mat!) and let it do it’s thing.
When the Cameo was finished cutting I was left with beautiful shiny gold crosses like so:
Lurve!!! I have a feeling that I’m going to use this gold foil sticker paper for EVERYTHING. So be prepared 😉 This sticker paper is nice and thick, too, thicker than vinyl, so it gives a nice professional finish to any project that you’re doing. I peeled the Swiss crosses off and then stuck them onto my lazy susan, after I had wiped it down with a damp rag to get the dust off.
These stickers actually adhered really well to the wood and are basically permanent. I say basically, because if you wanted you could pry them up with an edge of a knife or something, but for everyday use they’ll be nice and secure! I thought that my lazy susan looked super great like this and could totally have stopped there if I wanted to, but I decided to kick it up a notch and go even further by adding a phrase with some black vinyl!
Back in my Silhouette software I opened a blank document and spelled out the phrase ‘Let’s Eat’ using the Great Vibes font for the ‘Let’s’ and the Market Deco font for the ‘Eat’. I believe these were fonts that I had personally downloaded to my computer (the software automatically pulls up any fonts you have installed on your computer!) so if you don’t have these and want to use them, I believe I got one or both from a site like fontspace.com. Once I set my page size and let the Silhouette know it was now using vinyl instead of sticker paper (switch your blade to 2 and click ‘vinyl’ in the media type tab!) I once again hit ‘send to Silhouette’ and let it work it’s awesome magic. You don’t have to use a cutting mat with vinyl – you can load it while it’s still on the roll!
Oh, Silhouette, how I love thee! I could probably write a sonnet about how much I love this thing. Seriously. I don’t care if it’s weird to love a machine – I’m in love, I’m in LOVE and I DON’T CARE who knows it! After it finished printing, I carefully transferred my phrase over to my lazy susan. And here, friends, is the end result!
Eek! It’s SO much better than before! What I once considered throwing away is now something I’m proud to display on my table! Funny how a little time and effort can do that. Doesn’t it look adorable with my little owl salt and pepper shakers from my bloggy friend, Breighanne??
I will definitely be bringing this bad boy out for all my future cocktail and dinner parties as a fun (and functional!) piece of decor. Black and gold just look so glassy when paired with natural wood and I’ll be looking for more ways to use this combo in the future!
 Do you guys ever use lazy susans? What Silhouette projects should I try next?
Perfect!!! I love it and I’m so into swizz crosses!
I totally thought of you when making this!
That should say “Swiss” 😉
Haha I like Swizz – it sounds more thug 😉
This is fabulous!! I seriously need to get a move on with my Silhouette. At least I bought some gold foil paper and hooked it up to my computer. Progress right?! I need a virtual kick in the butt!
Come on Bre, join the party! 😉 haha. Hooking it up and buying supplies is absolutely progress! It was a little intimidating to start, but once I realized how quick and easy it was to do projects it became a lot easier to pull it out and use it more often!
LOOOOOOVE it my friend! You are definitely inspiring me to get mine out of that box!
Doooooo itttttt!!! Come join the Silhouette party with me! 🙂 🙂
ohmigosh… that is adorable!
Aw, thanks Jen! 🙂
IN LOVE!!! This thing is INCREDIBLE! I can’t wait to see what you come up with next. Can I send my two lazy suzans over that are soooo close to getting kicked out of storage too?! I love it!!
Haha bring ’em over! This thing is seriously so fun – you need to persuade Michael to get you one! They totally pay for themselves after a couple of projects!
You are really convincing me that I NEED a silhouette too! Great job on the makeover and yes, those owls are adorable!
Katie you SO need one!! They are so much fun – you’d never regret buying one! 🙂
Ok, this machine of yours is pretty dang sweet! I have an aversion to things which require software and graphic design just like you said you have to power tools though. How is the learning curve on this guy?? Is it pretty straightforward to figure out? Since it seems all the cool kids are doing it 😉
I was totally intimidated at first and let my Silhouette sit in the box for like a month, but once I actually got it up and running, it’s surprisingly easy to use! And there are lots of video tutorials on Silhouette’s site and youtube for everything from setting up the machine to specific feature tutorials! It’s totally worth it to invest in one, promise!
OMG I looooove this! Erica, it is too adorable. And I totally LOL’d with Leigh Anne’s “Swizz Crosses.” The owls look amazing on there, too. SO CUTE!!!!
Thank you and thank you for the sweet little owls! 🙂 And hahah Leigh Anne is a total gangster! She tries to play it down but we all know she’s a straight up G 😉
So smitten with this lazy susan!! It’s so dang pretty.:) You did a great job, Erica! Also, just saw a nice piece of round slab wood at Home Depot that would work well for this project too.:)
Aw, thanks so much for your kind words, Shannon!You should totally got get that wood slab – it sounds amazing 🙂
Erica, you need to open up shop and sell these!!! I totally want one.Take my money!! OMG!
Haha, that’s exactly what my husband keeps telling me! Lol maybe I really should open up a shop… and I’d be more than happy to take your money 😉 haha
How stinkin’ cute is that?! I now have a new mission to search for a lazy susan at the thrift stores!!
Aw, thanks Trisha! This was definitely a fun makeover – I’d love to see what you come up with!
I love when you can re-make something you had previously written off – so satisfying. I LOVE my Cameo. I mostly use it to create stencils, but I may have to get some of that foil sticker paper – love the effect!
It totally is a satisfying feeling to salvage something and make it pretty! I haven’t tried making stencils yet but it’s definitely on my to-do list! Thanks for stopping by, Erin!
So pretty! I’m in love with your silhouette too, and I want my own!! You’re cranking out some really cool projects with that thing!
Thanks Amy! I now think I am certifiably obsessed 😉 You should totally get one!!
so, so cute- I love it! If you find yourself getting obsessed with cutting vinyl, there’s a way to arrange all your cut images together that will utilize the least amount of vinyl possible so you have less waste. I’m a vinyl hoarder so I had to figure that out, lol.
Thanks for the tip Stephanie! Most of my vinyl cuts have been huge and take up most of the space, but I will definitely learn how to put them all together when I start doing smaller cuts! Super good idea 🙂
Such a greta idea! I have a lazy susan that I was thinking of painting but now I need to get myself some vinyl. Thanks so much for sharing. I’ve included your tutorial in my Five on Friday post today. Have a great weekend 🙂
Thank you so much for including me in your Friday round-up! I’m flattered 🙂 And totally get some vinyl! It is just too much fun 🙂
I’m jumping on the bandwagon with Sarah too — you ought to sell these. I’ve been trying to find a lazy susan for the center of our big square kitchen table and yours is perfect. Love, love, love this, Erica!
Aw, thank you! Once I find the time I definitely think I’ll open up a little shop of some sort! That’d be really fun 🙂 I hope you can find a good lazy susan for your table!!
hi I see your lazy susan does it turn or swivel on bottom just wondered love this will have to try to make one also
Hi Sharon – yes it is on a little turntable on the bottom, so it spins all around! Have fun making your own!
Ok this is waaaaay too cute. Your are making me seriously SO jealous. I need to come up with some cash fast so I can get one of those amazing machines!!
Haha I don’t mean to make you jealous!! You should definitely get one though – they are just too much fun! 🙂
Love this! I love the contrast of the gold and black on the natural wood. So cute 🙂
I am still hoping that Santa is going to make a late stop with my Silhouette I have been begging for! 🙂
Thanks a billion for stopping by and linking up at Talented Tuesday!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Kristina, and for the great party! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Santa makes a late delivery for you!! 😉