Back in the Crafting Room

I'm not even going to mention my obvious and prolonged absence, just gonna jump right back into posting and hope nobody noticed the egregious violation of craft-blogging manners.
One of the very first things I bought years ago when I started paper crafting (less pompously known as: making holiday cards) was a set of wooden shelves from IKEA.  I'm sure you've all seen them, but for those two non-IKEA fans out there, they look (looked) like this:

Imagine my horror when I discovered that IKEA had discontinued this gem of a product.  Who makes these decisions?  I've found that at restaurants I love, too.  I go back with my digestive enzymes all wearing happy hats only to find that they've "retired" my favourite dish.  WHY?  WHY???  

I need a snack.

So, in honour of these drawers who I hope are somewhere sunny and warm in their retirement, I finally got around to giving them the snazzing up they've been begging for since they first entered my life.
The before:

The after:

Whadya think?  I don't think this warrants a full tutorial, because it's pretty self-explanatory, but I've included some captioned pictures below with some details of my doings.  This took a couple of hours scattered throughout one weekend.  But now I'm starting to look around the house for any other unfinished wood that I can slap some nice paper on; and in the absence of unfinished wood ... ooooooh, Seeeeeeelma!
In leiu of a tutorial, just a couple of pictures of the process, though, as I said, it's fool-proof

Template-Making 101.  No measurements were taken during the making of this project

 

I hope it's clear that there is some gluing happening under this heavy book.

One strong recommendation: after gluing, sand edges and corners.  It makes a huge difference.  I am not one for extra work, but this step not only makes the whole thing look more finished, but makes sure you don't have any extra paper flaps that might catch and rip the whole thing off.  Right side is sanded, left side is unsanded, see the difference.  Sponge sanders may be the best thing in the entire hardware store!

Unlike the sanding, the "distressing" is entirely up to your discretion.  I find that I'm ambivilent towards the whole "shabby chic"/antiquing trend.  I do it because it's a cool crafty thing to do (and I'm nothing if not cool and crafty), but the Egyptian in me just thinks, "Why would you want to make something new look old???"  You decide.