Friday, November 18, 2011

My Version of the "Picture Collage Monogram"


It's another day and I have removed another Pinterest project from the bucket list and added it to the checklist! Check and Check.  This idea originated (for me) on Pinterest via this website http://alittlemoore.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/mod-podge-family-monogram/.  Now that I have completed the project, I thought I could add a few more words of advice from what I learned.


1)  Unless you are in a hurry, more than likely you can get your pictures for free.  I was able to use two Walgreens deals within the space of a month to get a total of 65 pictures for free.  Since the pictures were printed in black and white I wasn't worried about color quality as Walgreens is rated one of the poorest for color quality (although previous freebie color pictures have been fine,IMO).  The paper tearing and crinkling in the two different blogs I saw with instructions for this craft worried me, so the free pictures were the way to go for me.  I used pictures on the front of the M and the outside edges.


2)  When picking pictures, close ups aren't your friend.  One or two close ups will be fine, but any more than that and you will struggle with cropping.


3) Joanne's Craft Store has these cardboard letters dirt cheap.  Their online store has been out of stock for most letters for quite some time, but my dear sister purchased this "M" for me at her store.


4) Buy your Modge Podge (Liquid and spray) with a 40% coupon at Michael's or Hobby Lobby, it's cheaper than Walmart.  I bought one, then dear hubby bought one.  I bought the Matte finish liquid and finishing spray, along with the .29e sponge brushes in the art section.


5)  I had black matte spray paint handy to paint the inner "lines" of the M, I chose not to place pictures there, I think I would have lost my Jesus if I had tried to place pictures on the inside lines (Don't ask me what to do if your Monogram is a Q or a B).  I also used the black spray paint on the back and top of the M, and I wish I had used it on the bottom of the M where I instead placed pictures, I think it would have looked better without pictures on the bottom.  The edges of the pictures were very white and I ended up taking a black sharpie to make the picture edges black, as the bottom of the letter was very uneven and it was difficult to make the edges of the photo lay as flush here as they did on the outsides of the letter.






Painting the edges of the M, after
I had cut my pictures to the size
that I wanted.

I chose to cut the pictures precisely
the size that I needed, the overlap
was too messy as I chose not to
use paper, but real photos.
Thank goodness for my Creative
Memories supplies and my exacto
knife, they were invaluable for
cutting the pictures!


Modge Podge under, easy-peasy
Modge Podge on top, oh dear
Lord, I was worried.....

I cropped all the pictures to the exact size and didn't allow any overlapping.  I also used the Modge Podge finishing spray to finish this project as I am mailing this cross country as a gift to my sister-in-law.
















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