Revamped Mouse Pad

Recently I was given the task of cleaning and organizing the storage closet at work. While doing so, I found a big box full of old, tacky looking mouse pads. We had no use for them since they had outdated promotions and logos on them, so I was told we could just throw them away. I felt so bad just tossing them, and I figured that there must be something you could do with them! I went to my infallible source of knowledge, Google, and searched for ways to reuse mouse pads. There are some really unique ideas out there!

My favorite idea was to just give the mouse pad a new look. I had a pretty plain and boring mouse pad at work and had looked into buying one, but I didn't feel like I could justify buying a $20 mouse pad just because I didn't think mine was "happy" enough. This was the perfect solution! I feel like mouse pads are the kind of things that everyone has somewhere in their basements or garages along with all of the old keyboards and floppy disks we might need someday... you never know, right? Anyway, I have made several and loved how they turned out, so I wanted to share this project with you!

All you need is:

• A mouse pad

• Mod Podge (I used glossy)

• A foam brush

• Scissors

• A pencil

• Decorative paper at least size 8 1/2 x 11 (I have used regular paper as well as cardstock. Personally, I prefer cardstock because I've noticed that it's harder to get regular paper to dry completely flat and smooth.)

Most of the ideas I found for this project involved using fabric. I thought paper would be a better solution because it would be a lot easier to get smooth on the surface and edges, and you wouldn't have to worry about sealing the sides to prevent fraying. Not to mention that a single piece of paper is a LOT cheaper than fabric.

Step 1

First I took my paper and traced the mouse pad on it to give me the right size and cut it out. I traced it onto the right side of the pattern to make sure the design wouldn't look crooked. (This doesn't matter if you're not doing anything with stripes or geometric designs) Don't worry if it's not exactly the right size. It's better to have it too big than small because we can trim off the excess later.

Step 2

Then I applied my mod podge to the top of my mouse pad. This kind of mouse pad really sucked it up, so I applied it very generously.

Step 3

Then I applied the mod podge to the back of the paper and attached it to the mouse pad. If you don't get it right on there exactly, you can kind of slide it around when it's still wet. At this point you can go around and trim of any excess paper around the edges.

Step 4

Now you apply mod podge to the top of the mouse pad. This will keep your new mouse pad looking adorable longer as well as preventing the paper from wearing down or protecting against any moisture/spills (I have spilled coffee on my laptop three times, so this is a very important step for me). I wait for it to dry for a little bit, and then apply another coat. I also applied a little around the edges just to keep the paper from curling up or anything getting caught on it and pulling the paper up. This step is totally up to you. If you do use regular paper and notice that you can see any kind of color or pattern on the mouse pad through the paper while it's drying, don't panic. You can't see it once it's dried.

Now you just let it dry and you are able to show off your adorable mouse pad that cost you almost nothing!

You can also do the same thing and make coasters! The only difference is that you can trace out your desired size and cut the mouse pad down. I used a large mug to trace a circle so I knew that it would be big enough to hold all of my cups. I'm the kind of person who LOVES having different styles of coasters for all of the holidays and seasons (Yes, I know that's excessive and perhaps obsessive), and now I can have coasters coming out of the wazoo because they are so easy, cheap, and fun to make!

#mousepad #modpodge #diy #decoupage