Grandkids photo display plaque tutorial

Mother's day is this Sunday and I wanted to make my mom something special. I loved the idea of this photo display because she can change out the photo's if she wants as the kids grow or add to it. And I could make it to match her decor. 

What you will need:

1 wooden board or plaque. (This one was purchased from Joann's on sale for $5.99.  It measures                                                      6x24 and was found in their wooden crafts area.)

Paint (I used Folkart chalk paint in sheepskin and parisian grey with a coat of white wax on top. 

A paint brush

sanding block or sandpaper

Vinyl

A personal cutting machine (I used a silhouette cameo.)

Twine

A staple gun

small clothes pins

adorable pics of your kiddos! :)

This is what I started out with. 1 blank board:

I painted a coat of sheepskin on the entire plaque then I let that dry and painted over it with the parisian grey letting some of the sheepskin shine through in some areas for a distressed look. 

Once that was completely dry I took my sanding block and went around the edges lightly sanding off a bit of the grey to expose more of the sheepskin.

 

Then I took my white wax and painted it on wiping off the excess as I went with an old cloth diaper making sure to get in every crevice. This helps seal in the chalk paint and gives it a really nice finished look. 

Then I opened up my Silhouette design studio and found the fonts I wanted to use. I make my screen the size of the area I am going to be placing my design so I can imagine better what the fnal product will look like and play with different arrangements. Once I settle on my fonts I rearrange them in whatever way saves me the most vinyl.  In this case I was using 2 different colors. 

Then I fired up my Cameo! Cut baby cut!

Once cut I weeded my vinyl and then using transfer tape I applied my vinyl to the plaque making sure I centered the words before pressing it all down for good because once it's stuck, it's stuck. 

to add the string I used a staple gun but that didn't seem to hold so what I ended up doing was using the staple to tie my twine around. 

Then to keep it in the spot I wanted it to stay i used a small piece of washi tape but this is totally optional. 

I used these mini wooden clothespins as the clips to hang the pics from

Add a picture hanger to the back and those adorable pics and you are all set! You can find a 5 pack of the hangers at Lowes for less than $2 here

Now I just have to wrap it up!! 

Happy Mother's Day!!!