For Mother’s Day this year I wanted to make something both personal and practical, and that my daughter could help out with. My wife works in an office, and I was trying to think of something I could add photos to that would also serve as a useful desktop item. I finally settled on a classic hinged-top box design, but modified with a cutout to serve as a post-it note holder.
To personalize, I used Mod Podge to affix family photos to each side (done before cutting for a borderless effect) and added a custom drawing by my daughter to the underside of the lid. It was a bit of an experiment, but it turned out great, and mom was very happy with it!
What a great idea! I’ll have to make one for my husband. See, yet again, something I would not have thought of, but seeing it I can now make him one. As someone that uses her GF for myself (as in not for profit), this is why I really appreciate others sharing ideas. I’m not very creative but when I see something I like I will figure out how to recreate it to fit my needs.
Can I ask- did you print the photo yourself like on a home printer? Laser jet or ink jet? Regular paper?
Photo printed from the photo lab (old school ). I don’t think inkjet color would have been vibrant enough, at least not with my budget home printer. Since it’s a “photo” cube I wanted the images to have the best quality possible.
May I also ask did you laser this before or after you put the photo on? If after did you mask it at all?
I started with a full sheet of MDF and drew layout lines with pencil so that the photos would end up straight. I rolled out a thin coat of Mod Podge, then laid out all of the photos on that using my pencil guidelines. Once those set up, I then applied another layer of Mod Podge directly over all of the photos to coat. Try to minimize brush strokes over the photos (I think a wide foam brush would work best to avoid bristle lines). Mine ended up having some brush texture, which is OK, but I think the smoother the better. Once the Mod Podge was completely dry, I masked the entire thing with a sheet of stick-on masking paper. The paper was thin enough to be able to see the photo outlines well enough for laser alignment.
). I don’t think inkjet color would have been vibrant enough, at least not with my budget home printer. Since it’s a “photo” cube I wanted the images to have the best quality possible.