Mod Podge Transfers...

...or as I like to call it: The. Coolest. Thing. EVER! I know, I know, I say that a lot. But sometimes you stumble onto something that opens up a whole world of possibilities, something that takes your creativity to a new level. That is what Mod Podge transfers have done for me, so I want to share them with you. Maybe you won't find this technique as life-changing as I have, but if you try it out I promise you will at least find that it is very, very fun!

It all started one day in April as I was lurking around Full of Great Ideas. She has so many fun ideas over there that I can't even remember what I was originally looking at when I stumbled across this project. I was immediately lured in by the idea of subway art (which I have fallen in love with) that doesn't use a vinyl cutting machine (which I don't have...yet). As I read through Stephanie's post I was completely, COMPLETELY, completely amazed. I had never heard of such a thing! How could I have never even heard of something like this that is just pure, unadulterated awesomeness?!

Stephanie's step-by-step tutorial is superb, so I'm not even going to try to make a tutorial on this, but I will share some tips and tricks that I have learned along the way. Some of them are mentioned in Stephanie's tutorial but are so helpful that they bear repeating. Some of them are just things I have learned the hard way. So check out some of the fun things I have been able to make since my miraculous discovery :)

For Mother's Day, I asked each of the kids to tell me 3 things that they love about each of their grandmothers.

I started with blank 8x10 canvasses and painted each one in a shade appropriate for its recipient. I made up the artwork in Word using lots of different fonts (tip: use a different text box for each word/phrase so you can edit and move the text independently from the other words/phrases) then printed it out in a mirror image (under print properties on the print menu). Since I don't have a laser printer, I copied each page on a copier. After applying the paper to the canvas with MP, I think it works best to let it dry completely before removing the paper...like, overnight if you can stand to wait that long.

On this one for Mimi, I used a metallic champagne color for the background. It's pretty, but I won't use metallic paint as the background for a transfer again. If there are any places where you leave even an infinitesimally thin film of your paper when you rub most of the paper off, those places will not have a metallic luster and it looks a little splotchy. Honestly it probably wouldn't be noticeable to anyone except the crafter, but still, you know how those little things can drive a girl crazy!

Wrapped up with tulle bows and ready to present! A couple more tips before we move on: First, choose your fonts wisely. It's hard to tell in these photos, but see that font at the bottom ("creative" and "fantastic")? Inside the letters is all of this really neat filigree-type design work. The problem with using this in a transfer is that all of those teeny tiny fine lines are very delicate and rub off pretty easily. Second, if you do happen to rub off some parts of your image, do as Stephanie says in her tutorial and touch it up with a black Sharpie. The black won't match exactly at first, but once you put a top coat of MP on it will look perfectly perfect.

Used here to personalize a decoupage frame.

 

I found a similar quote online, credited to "author unknown," changed the wording in a couple of places and made this little cutie for Little CC's ballet teacher.

Sorry for the glare. This one shows the color a little better. In real life, it's not quite so pea-soup-y. I made this one with an unused canvas that I found tucked into the back of my closet. I couldn't remember what I had originally planned for the canvas, so I used it for this project (doesn't that make it "free?") I ended up with more room at the bottom than I had planned/anticipated so I just added a little stamp with black acrylic paint.

Another dark photo, but here you can see that I stapled a ribbon to the back so it can be hung on the wall. You can't see it, but I also glued a ribbon all along the edge to give it a little more of a finished look. If any of you have a dancer in your life and you would like to make her a little somethin'-somethin' just let me know in the comments and I'll email you the PDF for the wording.

Can you tell that I am having soooo much fun with this?! In her post, Stephanie links to a project she found on The Cre8tive Outlet that will totally knock your socks off with its uber-awesomeness. (Yeah, I know. I used "awesomeness" twice in a single post and that's 2 times too many. I'm just so excited about this I can't help it!) I am getting ready to undertake a similar project using this photo:

The Hubs found this picture in the Wikimedia Commons. It's the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia and it is about to adorn my dining room wall. We have a wall in our dining room that is huge. The fact that the ceiling in that room is vaulted contributes to the feeling of hugeness of this wall that has been big and blank since we moved in (5 years ago). Even fairly large objects end up looking like a postage stamp when we hang them on this wall. No more, my friends! I'm going to make a seriously big - about 7' long by 3.5' tall - piece of art to (finally) decorate that space. Yippee! Of course I will share the details of that project once I get it finished :)

I hope I haven't bored you to tears with my new favorite craft. If I have, well you can take comfort in knowing that I will have a new favorite craft in about 3 days or so. Until then, I have transfers to make so I've got to dash! I hope you had a great weekend!

~B

Beth's having a party at A 2 Z. All the cool kids will be there :) Come check it out!