new iPhone case

A few months ago at a tradeshow, I was given a rubber iPhone case. I've been using it because it's practical but I wasn't thrilled about the logo. So boring! I stumbled across a few different versions of puffy painted iPhone cases (like the one Crafty Chica made, below) and inspiration hit!



So I took up my logo'd case...



And used some acetone to remove the logo. I used acetone made for nail salons (pure acetone, not drugstore-type nail polish remover, although that might have worked too) and a Q-tip and started rubbing.



The acetone loosened the screenprinted logo pretty easily and little scrubbing circles with the Q-tip removed it completely in about 10 minutes.



After it was totally clean, I got to work! Using my theory of "anything that holds still is an art table" I pulled a piece of saran wrap around a cat food box and set to work. I decided to use a bright blue because it makes me happy and I used my dot painting technique to create a circle pattern. I used a glossy acrylic craft paint which I already had on-hand. If you needed to purchase some from Michaels, you'd pay about $1 for the 2oz. bottle.



It all came together pretty quick. From start to finish, I was done in less than one episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun (recommend TV viewing while painting!).



Ta da! For a total cost of nothing and under 30 minutes of work, I completely customized my phone case. Now it looks like MY PHONE and has a bright burst of happy color!



My two cents: I really like the outcome of the craft paint vs. puffy paint. Puffy paint leaves a peaked "kiss" on the surface which gives more texture but because I stuff my phone into a zipper pouch in my purse, I was afraid they'd snag and lift off or the peaks would tear. The acrylic gloss holds a textured dot but it's flatter and there are no "kisses", so it has a decent texture for gripping (on the arm of the couch, say) but won't snag on my zipper pouch.