Okay, so as many of you know, I replaced my iPhone screen and back recently. And while it was an easy fix, I sure don’t want to have to repeat it any time soon! So my girly but not-very-protective case was due for an replacement.

I found a very inexpensive “rugged” case on eBay ($2.99 shipped!). But it was a bit plain. [The one I ordered is like the above, but I have white instead of black rubbery surround; the black section on the back is the same though.]

I grabbed some washi tape and simply put strips of it across the black semi-rubbery section of the back of my case.

Then I scored around the edge of the section with the scissors tip and tore off the excess tape.

The black part of the case is raised a little, so it offered the perfect clean edge against which to score.

I burnished the tape with my fingertips to make sure it was well-adhered and was left with a fun little pattern striped back…

…And a couple of strips down the plastic sides add a little more fun.

So now my phone can have the nice protection that those rubbery corners provide (not that I ever drop my phone, ahem), AND a fun case to boot. Function and beauty, huzzah!

In other news, I thought I had a spare screen protector to add to my new screen, but long story short, I didn’t. so not wanting to buy or wait for another, I decided to try to reuse my cracked phone one… I washed it off (yes, with soap and water–I didn’t want ANY itty bitty shards of broken screen glass left stuck to it!), then patted it dried with a towel…[It will not lose its sticky!] BUT once I but the protective cover sheet on my new phone, it had air bubbles galore! [Okay, maybe not as copious as pictured above, but still! Grrr.] So… After trying to push those little air bubbles out, reapply the cover, and otherwise wrestle with it. I wondered if maybe it just was not meant to be… But before giving up, I googled the dilemma (something like “remove air bubbles phone screen protector”) and found this…

They weren’t air bubbles at all! Just specs of dust! So a quick once over with a couple of strips of scotch tape, and the screen went on like a dream, huzzah!

So now my phone is all fixed, protected, and decorated, yay! {I’m glad the washi tape solution occurred to me, too, because I was on the brink of spraying the plastic piece with paint! YIKES!