Happy Birthday Dad (a little late) Part 2

I finished my dad's birthday present finally!  It all seemed to just flow together just perfectly!  If you don't remember my previous post about what I was making for him you can find it here.

Well, I started this Monday night.  I sat on the floor in the basement while we watched TV to do this.  No stressing on my end!  (ok maybe a little as I have never used Mod Podge before and I didn't want to ruin his gift before I even started it...)

I jumped right in!  First I decided to mod podge my paper to the canvas.  I figured then while I cut out letters it would have a chance to dry...

It was going well.  Until there was a wrinkle.  Then another one.  I did my best to straighten them out and thankfully my paper is forgiving (the pattern).  Then bubbles.  Ugh one after another popped up.  Then I remember seeing someone else's blog about taking something along the paper to squeegee the bubbles out.  Well I didn't have anything within reach.  I grabbed the lid to the mod podge.  Don't do that.  LOL...  I put a hole in the middle of the paper.  CRAP!  I tried out the framed picture, phew it is covered.  Crisis averted!  I keep moving the bubbles to the end of the paper with my finger when they popped up while I did the next step.

Next I cut out the letters for my saying.  Now I should have done this another way.  Not really sure how though.  I think I improvised quite well...

Now I laid out what I was trying to do.  This is when Jake said... "How are you going to get the letters straight?"  Crap I didn't think of that...  Here is my laid out thoughts:

Ok back to the mind spinning decision on how I was going to get the letters straight.  Jake suggested painters tape.  I first thought genius, but then my thoughts ran to this is paper, its semi wet from the mod podge, and finally it will rip.  So back to the drawing board.  This is what Jake and I came up with:

Yes interesting isn't it.  What is it you ask?  Ear plugs tied around the board and rubber banded so I can move it up and down.  It was pretty easy to see if this was not straight so I was happy with what we came up with and I moved on...

Now to start applying the letters.  This was very scary.  I didn't want to put them on crooked.  I didn't want to accidentally bust a letter trying to put it on straight.  I had to just go for it... 

One word down.  I kept going.  It got easier as I went along.  I felt like I was getting into a grove and it seemed to be falling into place. 

Next was mod podging over the entire project to seal it.  This was crazy.  It is strange to spread "glue" over everything.  This is what it looked like:

I applied it and let it dry 20 min.  I applied 3 or 4 coats.  I can't remember.  (It was late, sue me) 

Once the last 20 minutes was up I laid the picture on the board to admire what my finished product would look like. 

I then wanted to cover the edges of the panel.  So I took my ribbon and did a rough measure around it.  I used the mod podge to attach it.  I put a strip of glue on one side and just started to wrap it around.  (excuse my foot it was hard to hold this, take a picture, and keep the ribbon tight)

When I came to the end where the ribbon was already applied I snipped it and then put a little mod podge over the corner where the 2 ends met together.

Here is another picture of the side of the panel:

So here you have my final project: (Jake attached the frame last night.  We decided on glue...)

If you are wondering what is at the bottom right hand side of the panel:

I thought it was special to write my dad a little note on it.  The inspiration has it typed out.  I thought it would be better if I personally hand wrote the message!  It must have been a good idea because Jake really liked that part the best! 

So there you have it.  My dad's finished birthday gift and my first experience (certainly not my last) with mod podge!

Until tomorrow!!  (I'll be talking about week 2 of the 52 Week Organization)