The 'magic' of Mod Podge...

This is what I've been working on lately. A booth for the local business showcase that I had to decorate this morning. This year's showcase theme was 'Magic.'

I've done this several times over the years. My booths are never the award winners, but they're respectable.

I love that mod circle fabric in the foreground. I bought a small remnant of it hoping to use it somewhere, and it fit perfectly on the top of the counter-height table we're using. I wanted to use magic interlocking rings hanging from the backdrop, but that got complicated. So I found these brightly-colored plastic plates and applied circles cut from foam sheets to coordinate them to the fabric. After trying several unsatisfactory methods to affix the foam to the plates, I found that Mod Podge worked great. They're strung together with fishing line.

As usual inspiration struck at the last minute. I had already purchased all the fabrics. And I had some top hats from a previous project. But yesterday the thought popped into my head (it really is like a light bulb going on in a bubble overhead) that a giant Magic 8 Ball would be a fun prop.

This was at about 4:00 yesterday afternoon. So when I got off work, I went out to pick up a few last minute things, and the superstore had it's springtime toys out. Enter a giant bouncy ball...light blue in color.

Give me a few hours, and a few layers of Mod Podge and black tissue paper, a teeny bit of white paint, and a giant '8' printed out on the computer...

...and voila!

It even has interchangeable messages that 'appear' (via double stick tape) on the message window (a furniture slider glued on the bottom of the ball). I think it turned out great. It's my favorite thing in the booth.

I'm happy that decorating is DONE! ...for this year...