WIMW - Grandma's Birthday Gift

Don't worry, she's already received it, so I am not in jeopardy of ruining any kind of surprise. :~) Also, pretty sure my mom doesn't read my blog anyway, or she would have already seen the pictures included in the gift! Anywhoo, a while ago (before Christmas) I came across this pin on Pinterest.

Original Pinsperation

 I had every intention of making something like it for Christmas presents, but I never actually got around to it! Thank goodness, my mom's birthday is in January so I hadn't already forgotten the pin. There isn't a link to any kind of tutorial with the pin, so I kind of had to come up with my own. In the original, it looks as though it was simply a wood plank painted or stained and then the words must have been PAINSTAKINGLY applied by hand (NO WAY I was going to do that!!!). Here is my version of the project. I will explain, roughly, what I did after the jump. I was running behind as usual, so I didn't take any "during" pictures. Also, sorry for the poor picture quality, it's really quite ridiculous.

My version.

Okay, so I am going to try and explain how I made this (in ten simple steps). Here goes nothing.

1) I bought a raw wood plaque from Hobby Lobby.

2) I measured the face of the plaque (the whole rectangle, I worried about the corners after the fact).

3) I created a document the size of the face of the plaque. (I use PhotoShop, but MS Publisher would be just as easy)

4) I added a background to the document, but really, if you wanted you could just print text on scrapbook paper or something like that, and I added the text.

5) I printed the document on linen look cardstock, placed it onto the plaque and folded the corners to see where they needed to be cut.

6) I uses Mod Podge to adhere the document to the plaque, covering the back and the front of the paper completely (note, the red ink runs....boo). I also Mod Podged the edges of the plaque.

7) After the Mod Podge was dry, I painted the edges of the frame (and slightly over the edges of the paper).

8) When the paint dried, I Mod Podged over the entire project again.

9) Next, I used Amazing Goop Craft Glue to attach the tiny clothes pins to the plaque.

10) Finally, I painted the top of each clothes pin and embellished them with (you wont believe this) clip on earrings with the backings removed!!! The earrings were in a bucket of old costume jewelry which didn't sell at a friend's garage sale. So glad I picked it up!

My mom really seemed to like the gift. Hopefully this little project will spark some creativity in your life as well!