continued adventures with Mod Podge: a DIY wedding gift

Some of you may remember that I attended a bridal shower and bachelorette party earlier this month.  I was originally planning to give the couple one of Edi's custom engraved frames at the shower and make something later this spring for the wedding.  But I got inspired to get something made for the shower and will save the frame for the wedding.

Here we are with the couple back at our wedding.  Maks was in our wedding party, and Amanda was a huge help at the reception.  We've been friends with them for a long time now and felt like we needed give them some special wedding presents.

A few insights about this project:

• I completed this before I made my coasters and had not yet learned how to keep the words from smearing.  The effect is pretty minimal and if you aren't a perfectionist like me, you won't even notice.
• It's important to layer your paper and buttons in stages so that you can make touch ups as needed before adding more.
• The buttons on the wreath added a lot.  I love having this dimensional effect.
• It is really hard to apply Mod Podge evenly over the buttons.  It definitely requires some patience.
• I have no idea why the canvas warped so much in the middle.  That is really my biggest frustration with this piece.  I glued the word mattes with scrapbook glue and applied thin layers of Mod Podge to adhere and seal them as you normally would.  Any insights on this would be appeciated.
• I have made several projects with Mod Podge this month.  I know so many people who rave about it endlessly.  I am still not entirely sure that I'm convinced.  Am I the only one?  Maybe I just need more practice.
• Aside from the basic wreath shape, I had no idea how I was going to put the words and buttons together for this until I had glued most of the wreath and am really happy how the final result came together.
• Amanda was really pleased with it so that made me feel even better about the result.

I have not put together any more button wall art pieces yet, but I bought a bulk set of these 12x12 canvases.  I would like to add a few more similar pieces to my show inventory.  I love to make jewelry and don't have any problem getting sales at shows because my work is unique.  However, there is still the reality that there are simply more jewelry vendors than spots at most shows.  The more I can do to set myself apart, the better.  The button theme will obviously still tie in very well with my current inventory.

What designs, quotes, color combinations, etc. would you like to see for these kind of pieces?

I am happy to create custom work like this one, but I'd like to have some general ones people can purchase and take with them, too.

new collage wall art project: the photo version

As evidenced by my Scavenger Hunt photos this past week, I've been working on a handful of brand new projects the past couple weeks.  The first one is a photo collage.  I thought that with the plethora of Mod Podge tutorials out there, I would find a great tutorial for what I wanted to do, but I didn't.  I found a couple similar tutorials and put together my own plan of action.  I'm pretty pleased with the result so I'm sharing it with you today.

Before I get into the tutorial, I'm going to give you a little back story about why I developed this collage.

This is what the frame looked like originally, except that it had photos from Jake's med school graduation and my little sister-in-law's high school graduation.  I know that I'll get questions about this so I'll say it: The photos in this frame are from one of my cousin's bachelorette party and wedding a couple years ago.  We haven't hung this up yet and now I'm afraid to because of what happened.

A month ago or so, the graduation frame fell off the wall in the middle of the night.  It was scary and then was upsetting when I saw what had happened to the frame.

The good news is that the rest of the frame was fine.  All of the glass, matte backings, and photos were fine.  Any ideas for what I can do with these mattes and glass?

I had spent $20 on the collage frame not 6 months ago and wasn't really interested in shelling that out again.  I was determined to find a cheaper way to make a collage that was just as aesthetically pleasing.  This is what I did.

Supply List

• One 16x20 canvas (I used Artist's Loft)
• One can of black (or the color of your choosing) acrylic paint (I bought a 16 oz. can of Apple Barrel paint.  You won't need nearly that much.  Spray paint will probably work just fine, too.)
• One small foam paintbrush
• Matte finish Mod Podge
• Matte acrylic spray (I used Krylon)
• Nine 4x6 photos
• Hanging materials of your choosing (I used two sawtooths)

I bet that many of you who work with Mod Podge frequently have a lot of these materials on hand already.  If you do need to buy supplies, you can find everything at Michael's except for the hanging materials.  You may find them there, but I got mine at Target so I can't vouch for that.  Glossy finishes for Mod Podge and acrylic spray will work, too.  That's completely your preference.

The first thing that I did was arrange my photos to make sure that they would fit okay on this sized canvas.  I took a picture in case my memory escaped me later.

Paint your canvas black.  Make sure that you paint the sides.  I did two coats over everything and then had to touch up a few areas.  It was not uniform, and I obsessed about this for a while, but once you get the photos on there, you won't notice.

Use your foam brush to paint the back of each photo with a thin, even coat of Mod Podge.  Glue the photos on your canvas.  Make sure to smooth them down evenly so there are no bubbles.  Touch up any corners that need extra glue.  Leave the Mod Podge to dry for at least an hour.

Cover the entire top and sides of the canvas with Mod Podge.  I layered this pretty thin.  It's up to you how thick you want it.  Either way, make sure that you're applying it evenly with long strokes.  I decided to use two layers.  Allow at least one hour of drying time between layers and an hour afterward.

I do not have a picture of this, but I finished the collage with a couple layers of spray acrylic.  Follow the instructions on the acrylic.

When everything had dried, I attached the sawtooths on the back and hung it up.  Here it is finished.

I know that I'll get questions about this if I don't show it.  I had trouble finding a good angle for this shot, but this is where we're hanging the collage in our dining room.  I know that it looks tiny.  I promise that it isn't.

If you make this project yourself, please leave me a link to a blog post or send me pictures (randomcreative28@gmail.com).  If you do write a blog post, please link back to my post in it somewhere.  Thanks!

What new projects have you been working on lately?

I included this post in Michelle's Delicately Constructed Friday 3/23/12.