thrifty finds: mail holder

So I needed a place to put our outgoing mail...preferably out of my kid's reach.  I found this beat-up mail holder at Goodwill recently and thought I could fix it up a bit.

First, I cut off the ratty piece of leather that the previous owners had used to hang the holder up.  Then I spray-painted it with the leftover yellow paint that I had used on the hanging flower frames.

And yes, that is in fact the worst spray-painting job ever.  I successfully painted every single nook and cranny, but that made for some uneven spots and drips.  But I pretty much wanted a distressed look for this piece too, so I didn't worry about it too much.

Once the yellow paint dried, I lightly brushed on some brown paint and then used an old rag to wipe some of it off as I went.  I kept doing this until I had the look I was going for.

Then once that dried, I debated about what to do with the top of the holder (luckily the paint had covered up the cheesy farm scene completely).  I remembered I now have my oldest sister's childhood stamp collection (thanks, Sharon!).  I got them from my parents' house a few years ago since no one else had wanted them.  Since this holder was for mail, I figured stamps would work great as a simple decoration.  I dug through all of them and played around with the layout for awhile.  Once I had the layout I wanted, I used Mod Podge to stick the stamps down, and then put another layer of Mod Podge on top to seal everything.

I know that one that says "use zip code" isn't really a stamp, but I still had to use it.  :o)

Once everything dried, I hung it up in my mudroom, which unfortunately has horrible lighting so this is the best picture I could get of it.

So I love it.  The holder only cost me a little over two dollars, and I already had the paint and Mod Podge from other projects.  And of course I still have a ton of stamps so this may not be the last thing I use them for.  :o)

Linking up to Creations by Kara and A Little Tipsy!