Personalize You Child's Play-food

when my daughter received a cooking and dish play set for Christmas, I immediately started looking for food to complete the experience. There's some cool products out there but the expense wasn't worth the cheap plastic, one day I came across a cheap basket of play food and snatched it up. This is how I transformed cheap play food boxes into a customized experience for my kid.

You'll need a few basic supplies, aside from the boxes you want to cover.
· Scrapbook paper
· Mod Podge Matte
· Printed labels (you can find pre-made labels here ---> https://www.etsy.com/listing/230866506/play-food-labels-in-chalkboard-style )
· Scissors, a pencil, sponge applicator, tape (only if you have some tricky corners).

Mod Podge is a bit messy, lay down a protective barrier between your table and project. Have everything within reach to prevent frustration while you do your project.
This project is easy to leave and come back to so take your time and enjoy creating.
My tip with Mod Podge is to use wax paper as the barrier so if you end up getting your stuff sticky you won't thin your project.

Carefully take the boxes apart, if anything does rip, don't worry.
On a flat surface lay the box on top of the scrapbook paper, make sure the paper is flipped over with the patterned side facing down.
Use your pencil to trace the box, I flipped the edges that tuck into the box up as I traced the boxes.

Cut out your pattern, line it up to the box to see if you need to trim any edges.
On the backside of the paper put a small layer of Mod Podge with you applicator. Set the paper aside and ppt another thin layer on the box face.
Lightly lay the paper on the box face and line it up. Once everything is lined up gently press the paper into the box.

Using a brayer or anything tool, press the paper to the cardboard. This wool squeeze out excess glue and flatten wrinkles. If you don't have a fancy tool such as a brayer, you can use a small plastic bottle or your fingers.

Fold your boxes while the glue is still setting. You can press any corners while you fold and add Mod Podge to and areas that you missed.
I had to tape the carton style boxes because they didn't fold back neatly.

My labels were last, I put some Mod Podge where I wanted my label then placed the label on the glue. You have a small window of time to adjust the label. Put another thin layer of Mod Podge over the label and the paper on the box.
You can just put the Mod Podge on the front of the box or over the whole box, like I did. The Mod Podge gives the paper a waxy look making it seem more authentic to me.
Let the glue set for 24 hours before play for the best result.

Grab your toys and play restaurant!
Visit my Etsy shop for fun printable play cafe supplies such as you've seen here!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CrowsRebellion?ref=hdr_shop_menu