So please let me apologize for my lack of posting! I have several blog topics for posts coming up! Today, though, let's talk about Mother's Day! I can't believe it's already May! YIKES!
I went on a search for cute, handmade Mother's Day crafts the other day and I settled with some subway art and canvas tote bags. Today, after v1.6 got on the school bus, I came back home determined to get at least one task accomplished AND blog about it! All in one day!! YAY! Now, onto my little subway art boards!
I got inspiration for this post from many blogs, but How Does She had a great tutorial that I followed for these! I didn't do everything exactly the same way, but you'll find exact details below on how I did these.
First, you'll need some tools!
I found everything I needed at A.C. Moore. Any craft supply store should have these materials though. I went to A.C. Moore because I had a coupon!
Materials Needed:
2 sheets 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook paper (you can get plain or patterned - your choice)
2 wooden plaques (the ones above are 4x6)
1 foam brush (I bought 2 because I'm a nutcase and wanted to be overly prepared)
Mod Podge for paper (note about this below)
You'll also need access to a computer and printer.
The first thing I did was go on a hunt for some chalkboard-esque fonts. I found an awesome site that has free fonts called Fontspace. The font I used in the boards is called Mom's Diner.
Next, I opened a blank Microsoft Word document and started playing around. You can use whatever words you'd like to describe your Mom, Grandma, Aunt, etc. These little boards make great gifts! Here's a screenshot of my Word document:
I would recommend printing a draft copy of this first on a plain piece of paper to make sure it will fit on your board. That's what I did and I'm glad I did because I had to go back and make everything just a tiny bit smaller.
In hindsight, I could have added a ton more words, but I like the simplicity of this AND I was working with text boxes in this document. They sometimes don't always like to cooperate and like to overlap, etc. So I tried to keep it simple.
After I had everything where I wanted it, I printed it out on my scrapbook paper. Then I had to figure out how to cut it out so it would fit. Since the top of the plaque's edges are beveled slightly I flipped the plaque over and traced it, as seen in the photo below.
It didn't turn out too bad, but I really should have dug out my scrapbook cutter and cut the edges with that rather than scissors. If you don't have access to a scrapbook cutter then just go ahead and use scissors - just make sure you cut inside the lines. I ended up having to trim a little off the edges to make it fit, but they still turned out cute!
Next, I applied a thin layer of the Mod Podge to the back of the paper and then stuck it onto the plaque and pressed firmly to get it to stick.
Here's my note about Mod Podge - I have never once in my life used the stuff and when I was standing in the Mod Podge aisle with tears in my eyes because I realized there were literally twenty different types of the stuff, the hubs calmed me down and pointed out that there was Mod Podge specifically for paper. I gave him a big hug, dried my tears and then went in search of the next item on my list. That being said, I have absolutely no idea if regular Mod Podge would work with this project, but from seeing other people's posts about DIY crafts - I'm pretty sure the stuff is versatile! Now, the real question is...did I just waste $8 by purchasing the 'paper' version or should I have just bought the regular stuff? I don't know if I can use the 'paper' version on photos or other items? I have to do my research I guess!
So that was it - I repeated the process for the second board and it literally took no time at all to make these. Looking back, I really wish I would have painted the wood before sticking the paper on there because I think they would've looked even cuter with a white distressed paint, but oh well! Lesson learned! If I do these again for Christmas gifts I'll know to paint the boards first, and I may just sponge some white paint around the edges of the plaque to jazz it up a bit! Who knows!!
Next, I'm onto canvas tote bags personalized with an iron-on transfer! My aim is to have these done and post about them on Thursday! I'll try my best!
Tell me, have you had any fun adventures or made any cool crafts with Mod Podge?
Ciao for now, bellas!
No comments:
Post a Comment