This Holiday Season, I wanted to try some DIY tutorials that are all over Pinterest. Some of them worked, some of them didn't and some of them I did a different way (that was said wouldn't work). So, this tutorial is all about what will happen so you don't have to waste time!
It is so hard in our family to find something for everyone. They seem to have everything so my sister and I wanted to make some things for the family. This year I jazzed up plates to make serving plates, made wine glasses, coffee mugs, pictures on wood and tried to make some pendents and this is what the outcome was...
For the Picture Lover
Last year my sister and I tried to transfer a picture onto wood. It didn't come out. That tutorial said to use pictures printed from a photo lab. This year I tried the other tutorials that say to use an inkjet printer to print your picture out. I don't think we have an inkjet printer and I have no idea what the difference even is. I used a regular printer and regular paper to transfer pictures onto wood and it came out great!
Wood
Printed picture from your printer
Sponge brush
Gel medium
Modge Podge
Find yourself a piece of wood that will fit your picture. I found my wooden plaques at Michael's and they range between $2.50 and $15. Use your sponge brush to apply the gel medium to the wood. You can find the gel medium at a Michael's or any place like it in the paint supplies. The gel medium transfers the ink to the wood so put on a generous amount but don't over do it. Then put your picture on the wood, ink side down. Make sure that you reverse your picture if it has any words on it so it will come out correctly. Press your picture out using another sponge brush or even a credit card to get all of the air pockets out and making sure every piece of the paper is pressed down to the wood.
All of the tutorials I read said to leave the picture overnight to dry. I left one overnight and the other one I finished out after it was dry. The one that was not left overnight came out a lot better in my opinion. The ink didn't rub off as easily and was a lot easier to get all of the paper off.
Once the gel medium is dry, get a cup of water and a sponge brush. Paint on water all over the paper so it's saturated. This make is a lot easier to get the paint off. Gently scrub the paper away in a circular motion. Seriously, GENTLY! If you scrub too much it will take the ink off of the wood. Keep dipping your sponge into the water to keep it nice and sopping wet until it looks like you have gotten all of the paper off.
Wipe all of the excess paper off and pat it dry. Let the wood dry to see if there is anymore paper you need to get off. I didn't do this with the first one, slapped on some Modge Podge then when it dried, I saw all the paper that was still stuck to the wood. Woopsies!
If there is still paper, put more water on it and gently scrub it off then pat it dry and spread a thin layer of Modge Podge all over it to seal the ink in. Once dry, hang it up and enjoy!
For the Hostess with the Most-ess
The next thing I tried is plates and mugs that are painted so you can put your own spin on it then you bake and it's ready to go. This came out great and it's easy to personalize for each person.
Materials:
Plates and/or mugs
Paint pen
Head over to your local dollar store and pick up some plates and mugs then get your paint pens at Michael's, Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart. Clean them off so you don't have any dirt or dust and figure out what you want on them and go to town. Once you have what you want on your plates and mugs, let them dry and go over them again. Some colors may need another coat. Once all the coats are applied, put them in a preheated oven at 300 for 25-30 minutes and enjoy!
Some tutorials have said you can use Sharpies, but I think using paint pens helps to make a smoother look and stays on better.
Using this technique I made my Grandma and In-laws serving plates and made some mugs for my Uncle and his future wife. Everyone loved them...I still need to make my sister some but I was going to put some glitter and Modge Podge on it and see how it came out. I'll let you know what happens.
For the "Wine-o"
This next one, I made for my Mom. We're both "Wine-Os" so I thought some new wine glasses to put on her bar would be perfect. I love this one so much that I thought about keeping them for myself. I never found actual tutorials for this, but only "tutorials" saying "use some paint on the glass." Not very helpful. Are you supposed to bake them like the other things or leave them be? Anyways, here's what I did:
Wine glasses
Paint
Paint pen
Modge Podge
Sponge brush
The glasses I used are from the Dollar Store, such a great deal! Then get your paint and paint pens from the craft store. I started off with painting the base, the stem and the underside of the base. You're going to need to put a few coats (like 4!) to make sure it's not translucent. Let the paint dry in between coats and once the last coat is dry, put on some Modge Podge. The Modge Podge made it look great. I always use a gloss and it brightened up the stems and base drastically. The Modge Podge also helps seal the paint.
The next step is to paint whatever you would like on your glass. I put little dots on it and spread them out going up. After my Mom opened her present, they were used that night and they look even better with a red wine in them!
I didn't try to put them in the oven to bake the paint in since you typically don't put them in the dishwasher, so doing it like this is is hand wash only.
Not so Great Pendant
The last thing I tried was thumbprint pendants. All the tutorials or shall I say pinterest pins say use salt dough, put your thumbprints in it to make a heart and bake for 2 hours, then paint. This does not work. I wanted to make some thumbprint pendants to put on a chain of my daughter's thumbprints to give to her Gammy and Mimi. We went through all the hassle making this salt dough, trying to get my 2 year old to put her thumbprints in the shape of heart and baking them for absolutely nothing! First off, baking for 2 hours is crazy. It takes about 20 minutes. If you ever make a salt dough to make things out of, let it sit for a while and it won't be so sticky. If it's still sticky add some more salt. If you don't want to wait for it to set, add the same amount of salt as flour.
I am going to try this again using an applesauce and cinnamon dough. My Mom use to have us make ornaments and different things out of it and from what I remember, it takes imprints a lot better. Now, to get the recipe from my Madre and I'll let you know what happens.
I hope this tutorial has helped! It always stinks when you find something on Pinterest that looks awesome then it doesn't work out and you're out hours and money working on it.
Stay crafty and have a Happy New Year!
Stay crafty and have a Happy New Year!
Please share and follow the Make it, Love it DIY on Pinterest at makeitlovediy!
I will be working on my Step-daughter's Prom dress so posts will not be frequent if any until this thing is done. I'm constructing all the patterns for it and first doing a mock-up then buying all the expensive fabric to make it look fabulous! Keep your fingers crossed for me that there is nothing horrible that happens to it. I'm still debating on making a tutorial for that dress or not. It will just depend on how difficult it turns out to be.
Tori has requested an all black lace dress with nude lining, a high neckline, open scalloped back with a hi-lo skirt with small train and a huge mid-thigh length tulle skirt underneath...I think this dress would look awesome so hopefully she won't change her mind again!
