Design on a Dollar Guest Post

Hello Wood Connection readers! My name is Michelle and I blog over at
Design on a Dollar. After you read this post, head over to my blog to
enter for a $25.00 gift card graciously donated by The Wood Connection!!

Have you been to The Wood Connection lately? It is overflowing with all things Fall/Halloween…..so I know it feels a bit early, but I couldn’t help but get into the spirit of the holiday. You really have to work on your projects in September anyway so that you can enjoy October.

I’ve been dying to try a technique on how to transfer photos to wood. I’m going to guide you through a fun project using that technique as well as a fun little 99-center that you can use when hosting all of those fun fall parties.

Let’s get started…

Supplies:
From the Wood Connection:

8×8 wood square…if you ask, they will drill a second hole in the top to be used for the finial
wood finial
wood dowel
wood base
black acrylic paint



Rather than go through a full tutorial, I am going to connect you with an article I used online with terrific instructions. It is REALLY IMPORTANT that you use a LASER PRINT–this will not work on an inkjet…I got mine done at Office Max for a whopping 30 cents.

Click here for the tutorial link from digital photography school

It worked like a charm; however, I did have a little bit of difficulty getting all of the paper off without taking off the print towards the end…I used a rag at first and ended up doing a lot of rubbing with my fingers when things got more delicate.



I used this acrylic gel medium from Michael’s Craft store. It is 3.99, but you can use a 40% off coupon (if you have a smartphone, they will scan it right from your phone!). Here is a link if you want to see what it looks like: Acrylic Gloss Gel Medium

I painted all my wood (with the exception of the printed side) in a gloss black and used a black stamp pad to distress the edges a bit.

Here is my finished product:

The picture is my adorable 4 year old (she was 3 in this picture). Doesn’t she look mischievous? I bet she’s got some good spells in that book

For my second project, I used this fun little wood label. The possibilities are endless for projects you could use these on! I decided to make it into a re-usable drink dispenser label. I used a jewelry chain (also from Michael’s at $3.99 and a perfect fit!) to match the other silver elements on my dispenser (see pic).

First, I painted the sanded edges (which are only on one side) black. I wanted an off-white label with black distressing peeking through–this is a simple technique to achieve that look.



Then I applied a couple of coats of Ivory paint. Did you know that they make chalkboard vinyl now? You can buy it from the Silhouette store online or try your local sign shop. I decided to make it double-sided…on one side, I just cut an oval out of the vinyl. For the main side I traced the label, took a picture of it with my phone and e-mailed it to myself, then imported it into my Silhouette software. From here, I used the trace function to get the outline of the label. (Silhouette has tutorials here if I just lost you). Then, I did a quick copy paste and made my second image smaller to my liking within the full-size label–make sense? (I only cut the smaller one…to fit within the actual size of the the wood label). Cut them out and stick them on. In hindsight, I would have sealed my wood before applying the vinyl to give it a nice waterproof protecting coat (with either modge podge or a sealant spray). If you subscribe to my blog, I will send you a free file with the shapes all ready to go.

I just used a sanding block to lightly distress the edges on the sanded side. On the other side, I used the end of a paintbrush to make little dots around the oval.





Here are the two finished projects in a nice little party table display I love how everything turned out!



Here is a great little punch recipe for your drink dispenser:

I put water in some latex gloves and tied them off like a water balloon to freeze…the glove slips right off if you run a little water over them Don’t use the kind with powder inside!

Ingredients

• 1 (46-ounce) can red punch (recommended: Hawaiian Punch)
• 1 (46-ounce) can apple juice
• 1 (48-ounce) bottle cranberry juice
• 1 (2-liter) bottle ginger ale
• Ice cubes

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large punch bowl or pot. Add ice and stir.

Recipe Source: The Food Network