Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Quick, Easy & Affordable

Here's a quick and easy gift idea to give to friends, neighbors and loved ones this Christmas season. It would be a cute present tucked into a gift basket with a variety of goodies as a pre-Christmas gift, but I think in the spirit of "less is more" this little gift could stand alone! Here are the specifics:


6 3/4" Square Wooden Plaque @ Hobby Lobby: $.89 w/40% off coupon
Acrylic Craft Paint or American Accents Spray Paint: approx. $.10
Modge Podge: approx. $.20
Scrapbooking Paper: $.20
Also, collect the following items:
paintbrush
distress/brown ink pad
paper cutter (optional)
sandpaper

Paint your plaque with acrylic craft paint or spray it with American Accents Rust-oleum spray paint. As the paint dries print the "saying" onto a piece of scrapbook paper that coordinates with your paint. Trim the saying to the correct size of your plaque and distress the edges with an ink pad. After the plaque has dried, Modge Podge the front of your plaque and the back of your scrapbook paper and apply the paper to the front of the plaque. After the glue has dried use sandpaper to rough up the edges of the plaque and the paper, then go over those edges with a distressing ink pad, brown shoe polish, brown acrylic paint, or whatever else you have to make them look a little distressed and more "vintage." Finally, liberally apply a finish coat of the Modge Podge over the entire front of the plaque to give it texture and sheen. For under $1.50 you have a cute, meaningful plaque to give a friend or neighbor. (You can't buy a bag of chocolate chips for that!)

FYI: My computer savvy son created the lettering for the plaque and I have it in a word document. If any of you are interested in making one of these, just email me (my email address is on the sidebar of this blog), and I will be happy to send you the saying as an attachment in an email.

Today I'm linking to "Toot Your Horn Tuesday" @ A Silly Little Sparrow.
Check out the ideas at "Get Your Craft On" at Today's Creative Blog.
Also, "Show & Tell" at Blue Cricket Design.