The Crafty Adventures of The Naughty Bear: A Penny Saved Is A Penny Urned...A Vase Upcycled With...Pennies!

I really, really, really want my kitchen backsplash tiled with pennies. I have seen pics of floors and backsplashes tiled with pennies and I love the different shades of copper, from a muted, aged copper to the bright, shiny glow of new pennies. I love the way it glitters and glows and changes, depending on the angle. It would look perfect with my counters and cabinets. But, alas, my husband does not share this passionate love for penny tiling. In fact, I believe the words "Hell no!" were used. So, I decided to try to cover a beat-up vase. At least I might get some sense of gratification.

Now, this vase has seen better days. It's dinged, scratched and just looking sad. And I hate to blow money on a new one, because I'm ~~cheap~~ frugal. Besides, why buy a new one when you can pimp out an old one? This is a metal vase painted to look like hammered copper, which looked good when I first bought it, but, like a die-hard sun worshipper, isn't aging so well and could use a face lift.

All you need are a vase, some pennies and glue. I used Gorilla Glue super glue cuz I like Gorilla Glue. Just make sure your glue is made for bonding metal to whatever surface your vase is. This means reading the backs of many glue labels. And I used some wheat pennies too, after I made sure they weren't the valuable ones (unfortunately, none were).

Some of my pennies were kinda yucky, so I washed them in a solution of vinegar and baking soda. I didn't really measure; I poured vinegar into a bowl to cover the pennies, then dumped in some baking soda and watched it fizz. I think the vinegar alone would've worked fine, but I like to watch the baking soda fizz. I let them sit, then rinsed them with water. Some were still really yucky, so I cleaned them with Tarn-X. I washed my vase with soap and water and wiped it down with rubbing alcohol to make sure the surface was clean.

And now, we glue...

I spread an old sheet on the floor so I would not get any glue on the carpet. I have never gotten super glue on the carpet, but it's not something I would like to experience. Read the instructions on the back of your glue to see if you need to hold your pennies in place. My glue said to clamp pieces together for 10 to 30 seconds. I just dabbed a drop on the vase, set the penny on and pressed lightly for a few seconds. I did have a few pennies I had to hold longer, but overall, it was pretty quick.

As you can see, there is a rim around the bottom of my vase, so I centered the pennies and glued them down alternating heads and tails. Then above the rim, I lined up the pennies with the rim and started alternating them too. And for all you idiots who say, "You have way too much time on your hands if you can sit around and do this!" I say bite me. While you're sitting on your butt watching your shows and snack-a-lacking away, I'm sitting on mine watching my shows and doing this stuff. And I'm not porking out cuz of all those sugary, fat-laden treats. I do crafts while watching TV cuz I love, love, LOVE my sugary, fat-laden goodies. A lot. And this keeps them away from me.

Seriously, this did not take long at all, once I got into the groove. Just one episode of Adam 12 and two Dance Moms.

As you can see, if you turn your head sideways (!*#%$*! picture) I alternated the pattern. You don't have to be that obsessive. I'm just anal retentive like that.

As you can see below, the back of the vase is messed up, cuz the pennies don't go around the vase evenly. But I figured I'd just turn that part towards the wall and no one would see it. I could've cut pennies to fit, but seriously, I'm not that anal.

And now, she is done. I just sprayed it with a coat of acrylic sealer to keep the pennies from tarnishing. All the instructions for penny tiling floors and backsplashes use several coats of poly to protect the pennies, so I figured I would too.