Mod Podge & Washi Tape Birthday Presents

Good morning, friends -
I had to wait till today to share this one as it was a gift for my incredibly wonderful niece and I didn't want her to see it ahead of time.  :o)  Hugs and birthday wishes out to MC!

I am trying hard to give gifts we make/create/bake/etc in some way as much as possible, so it was a challenge as to what to give a 22-year-old college senior for her birthday.  I decided to go with some original things - ones you can't buy, which makes them extra special.

I started by stalking visiting her Facebook page and seeing what pictures and such she had that might make a nice gift.  She had just updated her profile to a great shot of her and two friends. I wanted to see what I could do with that new app I got (Repix- see the post here), but I realized that I needed to get it on my ipad, so I did a screen shot of it with the ipad.  Pretty good quality, all things considered!

Then, I turned the picture black and white and used the charcoal brush and the edger to give it a black and white sketch-like appearance.  I emailed it to myself, saved it to my computer and then printed it from there on a piece of regular, white 8 1/2" x 11" copy paper.

Then...it was time for the Mod Podge!  LOVE that stuff!  I purchased a package of 8"x10" canvases - perfect to work with.

Start by putting a thin layer of Mod Podge all over the canvas.  Then, lay the photo over the canvas, being careful to get it centered.

Time for another layer of Mod Podge - OVER the photo and edges.

Next, let it dry.
Here's where the first bit of washi tape comes in... the picture was smaller than 8"x10" so I had a bit of white showing.  I covered the edges of the canvas frame and the white that showed with a lovely green tape!

It is sooooo fun to work with!

Here's the finished piece:

I just have to say, she loved it - yay!!

Part 2 was a journal.  I had oodles of fun with washi tape first on the outside cover.  Just go at it!  I went with a bit of every color I had purchased from a special at Pick Your Plum.  They have daily specials of a single item or series of items every day of the week. I got the tape for a great price and LOVE it!!!

Then, I went into a woman's magazine I had sitting around and snipped out fun words that spoke to me of her.  I added them with Mod Podge as well and viola!  On the inside cover, which you can't see in the picture, I went into Tagxedo and popped in words that have meaning for her world (people, things she does, her school and such) and made a word shape for her.  Here is a sample of one I did using words from my blog:

I will work on a blog post about this by itself - its LOTS of fun to do!

Here's how the cover for her journal came out:

That was fun and she loved them both, so all good!
Hope everyone has a wonderful and creative Sunday!
Quilty hugs,
Carrie