Christmas Idea!!! Mod Podge Plaque Tutorial

Yep! It's that time of year.

"What time is that?" you may ask.

Time to think about Christmas Gifts.

At least if you're going to make them it's better to start now rather than December 20th like I usually do.

I've got a fun, fast and relatively inexpensive one for you.

I've used some scrapbook paper that has significance for my church but any picture or scrap booking paper could be used. Even a piece of fabric would work great.

I can imagine four of these with coordinating fabric mod podged on them hanging on a wall and I think it would look fantastic!

Lets get started.

Supplies:

• Wood Plaque (mine is from Ben Franklin Craft) 12"x12" (really inexpensive if you use a 40% off coupon.
• Scrap booking paper 12"x12"
• Paper Cutter
• Black Spray Paint (or color of your choice)
• Mod Podge (I used Matte finish)
• Sponge Brush or Paint Brush
• Black ink pad
• Old Credit Card/Library Card or Popsicle stick
• Paper Towel or something to wipe off excess glue
• *Optional: Sand paper (I didn't use this)

1) Prep your wooden plaque. ie. sand and wipe dust from the plaque.

2) Spray paint the plaque. I use lots of thin layers. Make sure to read and follow the directions on your can.

3) Let the plaque dry

4) Most likely your plaque measures 12" from the outside edge to the other outside edge. My plaque was a 11 1/4" from the inside edge to the other inside edge (where I wanted my paper to go).

5) Trim your paper down to fit within the inside edge of your plaque.

6) Ink the edges of your paper by running the ink pad up and down the edge of the paper. Feel free to let the pad roll up to the front of the paper a little, particularly in the corners to give it a touch of the antiqued look.

7) Using your sponge brush or paint brush paint the mod podge all over the front of your plaque but ONLY where your paper will be.

This is a great place to let your little 3 year old help. Not much to mess up here.

8)Carefully lay your paper on the plaque exactly where you want it to be.

9)Gently smooth with your hands from the center out.

10) With your Popsicle stick or old plastic card smooth any bubbles out by pulling the card across the paper from the center out in all directions.

This also helps to make sure the paper is adhering well to the plaque.

11)Wipe any excess glue off from the edges with your paper towel.

12) At this point you could sand the edges of your paper with the sand paper but I didn't.

13)Apply more Mod Podge to the top to seal the paper.

I do this by squirting the mod podge directly onto the plaque and spreading it using the plastic card to float it all over. I find that the plastic card smooths the mod podge out mostly but leaves a few little textured pull marks that I really like.

At this point you can be done or you could attach some brackets to the back for hanging or drill holes and thread a ribbon through also for hanging.

and

Enjoy!!!

Best of luck! If you have any questions feel free to leave it the comments and I'll do my best to clarify.