Jelly jar cabinet redo: How to decorate a worn piece of furniture by decoupaging with scrapbook paper

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DECOUPAGE A JELLY JAR CABINET WITH SCRAPBOOK PAPER

I picked up this jelly jar cabinet at our local thrift store for $8. It had seen better days for sure. It had layers of paint, a bit of an odor, but a lot of life left in it. For under $10 I was willing to try and save it, although the clerk at the store thought I was crazy. It was cheap enough and small enough that chances were I could sneak it past Major Rugged (yes, seriously the hubs nickname).

Immediately after I started painting the cabinet, the paint began to peel off in certain places.I think the original paint must have been a type of oil based paint? I used Americana Decor Chalky paint, which I've used before and have been pleased with. The peeling was mainly on the top so I decided to protect it further by decoupaging the top.

I picked some fun scrapbook paper I had on hand and cut to size. I placed a thin layer of modge podge on the top of the cabinet as well as the paper and smoothed it on. I made sure to burnish with an old starbucks gift card (that had zero $ left on it--make sure you don't use a good one!). After about 20 minutes I coated a thin layer of modge podge on top of the scrapbook paper. Again, spend a lot of time being deliberate about pushing air bubbles out with the gift card. You want to get the scrapbook paper as smooth as possible. Finish with 1 or 2 more coats after the paper has dried.

I thought this fun cabinet would look great on one of my sewing tables. It is the perfect size to hold serger thread.

I love that by buying a pack of scrapbook paper, I can use coordinating prints and not the same print on each shelf. It really adds to the fun!

I finished the cabinet by putting on a coat of American Decor Creme Wax. This will keep any other areas of paint from flaking off in the future.
What do you think? Was it worth saving?