Alrighty, folks. I just can’t seem to step away from the Mod Podge. I find it a fun medium to work with but also extremely frustrating. It is very forgiving when you are randomly placing papers on a surface. But for a single large image on a standard surface, it is difficult to get right! Today we are trying again – this time on a serving tray and with a very cool map of Paris I found that is actually giftwrap and a tray from Ikea. We are on Day 10 of 12 Days of Projects and in the home stretch! Let’s git ‘er done…

Materials:
Wood tray (this one is KLACK from Ikea, don’t you love their Swedish names, ha!)
Mod Podge
Brush
Xacto knife
Ruler

Instructions:
Step 1. I decided to take apart this tray as it has the perfect bottom to decoupage and I thought it would be easy to just cover that surface without the walls of the tray limiting process.

Step 2. Putting the screws back in loosely with the bottom removed, you can then position the tray how you like to find the best portion of the paper to use. I wanted to include Sacre Coeurs, Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame.

Step 3. Trace the area to cut using the bottom piece of the tray and cut out your image using a ruler so you make sure you get very straight edges.

Step 4. Start your first layer of Mod Podge by brushing it on the backside of the paper in a thin layer covering the entire surface. This is easier said than done, my friends. Mod Podge is messy, and you best have some Kraft paper down so you can brush off the edge. You also need to move quickly as it dries fast and behaves erratically if you add wet to dry areas, etc.

Step 5. Next you need to position the paper over the upper side of the tray bottom. This is also a little challenging due to its fast-drying nature. So do your best to get it right the first time. And then you need to rub with your fingers and maybe a squeegee tool (like an unused credit card) from the center out to remove as much excess Mod Podge and bumps and bubbles as you can. (This is the area I need some serious help in, not so good).
Step 6. And now it dries. If you followed my other post on decoupaging glass coasters, we need to wait at least 5-10 minutes to let the glue take hold. Mod Podge does best when you let it dry completely between coats.
Step 7. Next we need to apply the top coat using the same brushing technique and thin layer. Once again, we wait to let this dry – more like 10-20 minutes. And then apply more coats. For these trays, you’ll want to apply 4-5 coats to properly seal so you can use for serving beverages. I did not, but you certainly could, also apply a more robust sealant product if you know it will get heavy use.

And now we are ready for our tea, s’il vous plait!

After yesterday’s “giant” project of figuring out every option possible for printing on fabric (phew!), I’m super taking it down a notch for Day 9 of the 12 Days of Projects. Today I’m making cute and simple (with infinite variations possible!) Cocoa Gift Mug sets… or coffee or tea or or or…

Materials:
Mugs (or tea cups/saucers, wine glasses, anything!)
Cocoa (or coffee or tea, you get the idea. If you’re an over-achiever, make your own hot cocoa mix. There are tons of recipes on the interwebs – I just went with Starbucks cocoa packets for these.)
Ornaments, candy canes (or spoons or marshmallows or…)
Twine (or ribbon or wire or…)
Cellophane bags
Gift basket filler

Instructions:
Open cellophane bag, insert cocoa and candy canes.
Tie bag shut with twine.
Hook ornament onto twine.
Fill mug with gift basket filler. Badabing, badaboom! Could not be easier.


These are great as small gifts for a Christmas exchange, teachers, mailman, etc. Have fun creating, my friends!

Well, hello there. So glad you’re still with me as I plug away with my 12 Days of Projects. This has been a good journey – both a lot of fun, and motivating to get things done! Maybe I should approach everything this way. 😉 Somehow sharing with you all makes me very committed to getting it done. We are on Day 8 of 12 Days of Projects… let’s go!

Today I’m having fun? (more like wrestling) with fabric transfers. For some reason, I thought it would be possible to accomplish what I wanted with readily available products. I have some Ikea kitchen towels that I wanted to spruce up with some text and graphics. I now know why screenprinting exists – I’m pretty sure it is the most effective way to print on fabric. But if the internet isn’t for finding this stuff, I don’t know what it is… hence, let the Googling commence…

1. What I found is that you can try printing on fabric with your inkjet printer – this frightened me, as I didn’t want to ruin my printer plus it seemed like the tutorials I found required cutting freezer paper to the size of your fabric (which also had to be 8.5 x 11 to fit through the printer) – too many limitations. So I skipped that.

2. I moved to iron-on transfers. I bought some paper (expensive at $10/pack of 7 sheets) at Walmart for my first attempts. I’m not sure what all variations exist for iron-on transfer paper, but this product is really only suitable for some very basic transfers. It produced essentially a polymer square not pliable at all and very plastic-looking right after ironing (can’t use to dry dishes!). Fail.

3. I found a great tutorial about printing right onto freezer paper (cheap!) that could produce a soft aged effect and thought, perfect! That’s what I want, and my first attempt wasn’t bad (you will need to cut paper to 8.5 x 11). It’s just that it’s quite light (I’m washing now to see if it will completely fade). But because you are printing on a non-porous surface and essentially transferring that ink, if any little jam happens in your printer – ink shmear everywhere! Fail. Frustrating, because this would definitely be the cheapest method. If you try it, know that freezer paper is not wax paper (I did find it at Target, though for $3+ a roll!).

4. Enter Lesley Riley’s TAP: Transfer Artist Paper. I read only good reviews of this product and successful tutorials! Unfortunately, it’s a little expensive ($10+ for 5 sheets!) and I had to buy via Amazon (couldn’t find locally). But the results I got were quite good and the closest to official screenprinting. Apparently you can use this paper for multiple surfaces, too…I will definitely be experimenting more.

Materials:
Graphic (I used one from http://thegraphicsfairy.com/)
TAP transfer paper
Kitchen towels or fabric for transfer
Iron

Instructions:
Step 1. Iron your fabric on a hard surface covered with a pillow case or towel. Use the iron on the highest setting (no steam) and remove wrinkles.
Step 2. Print your graphic in reverse. Graphics fairy has reverse versions. If I did a custom one, I would just flip horizontal in Photoshop and save a PDF. Cut around the graphic. This paper is expensive so you might want to try printing multiple graphics on one sheet, etc. I’m not sure how long it lasts between printing and ironing, though.

Step 3. Place the graphic ink side down on your fabric. The instructions say to iron ~20 seconds, but I found that ~30-40 worked a little better (maybe it’s my iron). You want to keep moving in a random paper around the paper (so it doesn’t burn). And when you think it’s ready, pull up one corner – if it pulls back easily it’s done. If it doesn’t, iron until it does (you won’t ruin the paper by ironing longer).



Et voilå, you are done! Looks pretty good and the polymer is a little bit noticeable but way better than the initial iron-on paper. I also decided to wash these to test the fade on all of them and maybe soften them up a little bit. Here’s the final result (including after washing):

I think these could have a lot of potential once I perfect the technique and maybe get a little better at ironing, ha! I hope you enjoyed this post – happy project’ing’! 🙂

Hi, friends! I feel like yesterday was hump day of the ‘ol 12 Days of Projects and we’re keepin’ on truckin’ with Day 7. Today I want to share a fun project that is really super easy and quick and has … lots of possibilities. I say that a lot, don’t I. 🙂 But anyone who appreciates hard-core etching, like sandblasting done by Leandra Drumm, will appreciate the simplicity of this technique. We’re going to use a product called Armour Etch to create some customized glassware.

Materials:
Armour Etch
Glass
Brush
Stencil (preferably peel and stick)

Instructions:
Step 1. Prepare your stencil and adhere it to the glass. Peel and stick stencils are great because they allow less seep on the edging of the stencil and produce a cleaner line.

Step 2. Open the Armour Etch and using your brush, dab on the etching cream to the etching area.

Step 3. Wait. The instructions say 1 minute, but I feel like 5 minutes gives it a denser result. About 3 minutes in, move the etching cream around to make sure it’s spread evenly on the stencil.
Step 4. After 5 minutes are up, wash the glass/stencil in warm water in the sink.


Step 5. Remove your stencil and voilå – you have etched glassware customized how you want!



Maybe use your initials or a favorite symbol or create a collection with a theme like game night, etc. Whatever you do, have fun!

I’m excited to share this project with you today – we are officially halfway through 12 Days of Projects – it’s Day 6! There’s just something about shadow boxes that seem to tell more of a story than a regular picture. You can include a picture, of course, but you can also include other ephemera related to the theme or not. You can showcase a memorable vacation or event in your life or how about that thimble collection you’ve accumulated over the years. And using a shadow box as a vignette for a particular scene evokes childhood art or science projects for me. I saw a similar idea to this on the internet (here) and wanted to try it. So get out the glue (more on that later), some fun objects to tell your story, and let’s create our scene…

Materials:
Shadow box frame (this one is from Ikea)
Cardstock paper
Small bottle brush trees
Small car of choice (this one is 1:64 scale)
Twine
Glue (hot glue or E3000 or ??)
White paint pen

Instructions:
Step 1. First of all, I have terrible handwriting. Second of all, I work on the computer most days. So I didn’t think I could handwrite the phrase I wanted. I decided to create the framed portion of the picture on my computer, reversed white on black, printed on cardstock, and cut to fit the opening of the frame.

Step 2. Make sure the frame is clean and free of dust particles. Have fun experimenting with how you might arrange your vignette. We are keeping this very simple with trees and car.

Step 3. Heat up your hot glue gun and glue the pieces onto the inside of the frame. Now here’s what happened with the glue – the hot glue wasn’t always great, it worked for the car but not the trees. I finally used E3000 to glue the trees to the frame; hubby also suggested good ‘ol Super Glue. I do want to hang this on the wall, so I wanted the pieces to be permanent. If you want to switch them out, of course don’t glue the pieces down.

Step 4. Wait for the glue to dry and then attach the matte and frame backing to the frame. Make sure everything is good in your vignette and push down the backing clamps.
Step 5. Using a white paint pen, paint little snowflake shapes randomly on the front of your frame.

And there you have it – a super cute winter scene! The possibilities for shadow boxes like these are really endless – let your imagination go and have fun!