wooden photo plaque

I made this as a wedding shower gift and can finally post this blog post without ruining the surprise. 

I made this wooden plaque for Evan and Kari's (2nd) wedding shower gift. 

It was quite a hit. Everyone thought that I bought it on Etsy; nope I made it! I had to explain it a few times to people, so this is my last time explaining it.

I saw a photo on Etsy similar to what I designed above for $20+ and almost bought it. While I was contemplating the purchase I looked up skyline photos on Google images. I ended up deciding that I could make it myself and save myself some money since my original idea would also involve me buying a frame of some sorts to put the picture in. I found the Detroit skyline as seen here on Google images and saved it to my phone.

Then I used some of the photo apps I have on my phone to add words and the heart. 

I printed the picture off in black & white and in color to see what I liked best. Eric and I voted on the black & white version so that's what I went with. 

Once I had the picture printed off I knew what size I needed to cut my wood board to. I had some leftover wood sitting around so I had my dad cut me a piece. He had taken the leftover wood from my house to his for firewood; so no, I am not lazy enough to have my dad cut it... It just happened to be at his house and his saw cuts a lot better than mine.

I brought my piece of wood back home and sanded it down to make it smooth and round the edges a bit. Then I spray painted it with some leftover spray paint that I had at home. I didn't buy any because I had brown and figured it was a good color to use considering the colors of Evan and Kari's home. 

Once the spray paint dried, I mixed up some Elmer's glue and water to make a modge podge mixture. It dries completely clear and my aunt and I have used it on vases before so I knew it would turn out. I spread the mixture on the wood with a small paintbrush and then centered the photo on the wood block. Once the photo was centered I painted the mixture over the photo as well, being sure to cover the whole photo generously. 

It honestly turned out better than I expected. The wood grain shows through the photo which adds a lot of character; at least I think it does. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I actually plan on doing something similar with actual photos and then hanging them up in a gallery wall going down my staircase. 

They do make an actual modge podge that transfers the photo to the wood instead of gluing the photo to the wood. With this project it worked out because I used a dark spray paint and a dark background photo. I might try the modge podge with the photos, but who knows.