big metal tanker desk(top) remodel : : before and after

well, i finished my desktop... what do you think?

i layered brown craft paper in between the glass and desktop, and i decorated the brown paper with my hand carved stamps. the mushrooms are from geninne's book "making an impression" and are in white ink. the arrows were inspired by an image i saw online and are stamped in a brown ink (circling around the outside of the mushroom prints). as you can see below... with all of the light coming in from those windows and the way it reflects on the glass... the mushrooms are actually really subtle. 

it was a bit hard to photograph the rubber top in this light. i feel like i didn't really capture how awful looking it is with these photos... but you get the gist. that white looking square in the photo below is actually where the rubber is all cracked and faded. 

ordering the glass cut to fit the top solved the usability problem (that rubber was not going to clean up easy with my creative messes). but i wanted a little more... i wanted it to be "pretty" too. although i was not sure how i wanted to accomplish that. then i was inspired by a scrap of brown paper i found with white scrolls and flowers on it. i wanted that under my glass. then it hit me... i had brown craft paper... i had white ink and stamps... i could make my own pretty paper!!

i rolled the paper i had on hand across my desk and it was the exact depth of my desk... perfect. so i cut it and taped down the sides. i tested out a few different inks, stamps, and patterns on a scrap piece. then i went for it. after the ink dried, i placed the glass right on top with the paper still taped down, and then i took my exacto and ran it around the edge of the glass.

now it is done... it was really easy... and possibly the best part... i can change it any time i want.