DIY Gift: Wood Photo Transfer Gift with Deco Art

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Ever go through Pinterest and continually have the same looks catch your eye? Transferring photos onto wood is that technique for me! I finally got the chance to try this technique out for a Christmas present for my mom. While the finished piece does look good, make sure you read all the way through to learn from my mistakes and how I created the final version you see above.

Supplies:

Deco Art Americana Acrylic Paint (I ended up using black instead of the red in my original shot!)
Wood Plaque
Deco Art Decopage Photo Transfer
Photo Copied image
Water
Rags, Towel

To create this technique you need a photo copied image. Not a laser printed one from your home computer, but a photo copy from an office supply store or a helpful hubby at work. Tip: If you have any text on your image or want to remain true to the original orientation, make sure you flip it horizontally before printing.

Sand (if needed because I did) and paint your wood plaque to prep it for application. I chose Deco Art Snow Titanium White as a base color. I LOVE how WHITE it was!

They say to cut your photo copied image to the size of your surface but my image was too small. Instead I made sure it had the same size margin all the way around.

Apply a GENEROUS layer of Decoupage Photo Transfer medium on both the wood surface and the front of the photo copy image. Lay the image face down on the wood plaque, pressing out all the air bubbles and allow to sit overnight.

Now I need to #KeepItReal here and show you my first attempt where I put WAAAAYYY too light of a layer on and this was the result when I started to do the removal process:

Learn from my mistake and put on a generous layer! (To fix this, hubby just sanded the design off and I repainted and reapplied a GENEROUS layer of the medium on and we were back on track!)

Ok back to the tutorial! Once thoroughly dried, lay the plaque on a towel, dip a rag in some water and let it sit on the plaque for a minute or two. Use the rag to start rubbing away the photo paper. You’ll see it start to roll up and leave the image on the wood. Don’t be afraid to put a little force in there!

Allow it to dry a bit, review and repeat. I did this a few times to make sure I got all the white photo copy paper off and didn’t leave a cloudy look over the image. Once complete I painted the edge black, added another layer of the medium on top to seal the whole thing and lined the outside with baker’s twine (left over from our wedding invitations).