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Hide-A-Shrine
So you love ReBoot, but sometimes... Sometimes you love it so much that you scare people. When you get tired of all the pointing, whispering, and calls to the mental hospital it may be time to tone it down a little. On the outside, anyway.

This shrine to your favorite ReBoot character has a built-in disguise. That means you can look at the pretty pictures while all the rest of the world sees is a desktop organizer.

YOU'LL NEED:

  • a hinged wooden triptych (you can buy one from a craft store or make your own)
  • metallic acrylic craft paints
  • paintbrushes
  • pictures of your favorite ReBoot character (print them from the Web if you don't have any on hand)
  • decoupage medium (like Mod Podge)
  • a cork coaster
  • thumbtacks
  • yellow and black electrical tape
  • clips
  • strong glue

Note: There are probably a billion possible variations on this project. (For example, you could add a magnet strip to hold paper clips or cover the outside in chalkboard paint.) I'm just going to walk you through what I did. You crafty kids can change the instructions however you want to suit your office-supply needs and level of ReBoot obsession.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Paint your triptych. Paint your cork coaster in a coordinating color. Let dry.

2. Cut out your ReBoot character pictures. Use the decoupage medium to glue the pictures all over the inside of the triptych. Coat the pictures with more decoupage medium to seal them.

Step 2

3. Decoupage one ReBoot picture to the outside of the triptych. (My logic: one picture's enough to let other ReBoot fans find you, but it doesn't make you look like a complete nut to non-fans.)

4. Use strong glue to attach the painted cork coaster and several clips to the triptych. The coaster will work as a small corkboard. The clips can hold notepads, pens, or to-do lists.

Step 4

5. If you can't resist adding just one more ReBoot-ish touch to the outside, you can make custom thumbtacks: Cover the tops of your thumbtacks with yellow electrical tape. Use pieces of black electrical tape to make the tops of the thumbtacks look like icons. (See below.)

Step 5

6. You're done! Use your Hide-A-Shrine by setting it on your desk so that you can see the character shrine side while everyone else just sees the desktop organizer side. In school you could stand it up in your locker with the organizer side out, and flip to the shrine side for a quick bit of ReBoot-worship between classes.

Left side          Right side

Nope! No insane ReBoot fan here!
Heh heh...

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