"I can do hard things" plaque

My husband's best friend from high school and his wife just recently found out that their sweet little girl, Paige, has a brain tumor. They are in Salt Lake City at Primary Children's Medical Center with her and will be there until December giving her chemotherapy. I have been so sad for them and praying a ton, hoping there baby can be strong and get through this. We recently went to a fundraiser for them, that went really well. I wanted to make them something that might help get them through this hard time. I came up with this:

I love this saying....it has helped me through some hard times.

This is what it looks like all wrapped up as a gift.

I printed my picture at Costco, and got the plaque at Walmart.

All you need to do is paint around the edges and the back of it. Let it completely dry.

When it is dry glue your picture on the board

Then with a finger that has no glue on it make sure that you press it completely flat with no bubbles. I just kept running my fingers over it for a couple of minutes.

Then use a mini roller to mod podge the top of the picture. I like the look of the roller over a brush, but you can use a brush as well.

Make sure that you get the sides as well.

Then I added the vinyl saying that I wanted, and then mod podge over the whole thing again.

Then I hot glued some ribbon on the back for it to hang.

And added a bow

I absolutely love how it turned out! I want one for myself. One thing that I have learned is that we all go through hard times, but we can get through anything with the help of our Heavenly Father. We can all do hard things. I wish the best of luck to Paige and we will keep her in our prayers!

"Lucky" decorative board

This is my "Lucky" decorative board (I don't know what else to call it)

I kind of thought this up as I went along, but I absolutely love how it turned out!

I started off with some scrapbook paper, paint brush, mod podge and the bottom of an old dresser. It is just some particle board. You could use any wood though.

The first step is to cut your scrapbook paper into squares. It doesn't matter what size, just as long as they are all the same size.

Now you should have several different colors of squares

I first laid them all out on my board to get an idea of how I wanted it to look

Then I started to glue them on the board.

Make sure you are getting all the bubbles out as you go. Use a finger that doesn't have any glue on it to spread the paper flat.

Then once you have all your squares glued on I turned my board over and trimmed off most of the over lapping paper, leaving about 1/2 in.

Then I glued what was left to the back of the board, so the sides were covered in paper as well.

This is what you should have so far.

Now start spreading Mod Podge all over the front, I was pretty generous with it too. I wanted it all covered really well.

Then let it dry completely.

I wanted a little bit of a rustic look, so I took some Minwax wood finish to it.

I took an old rag and dipped and spread it all over the board. I wiped most of it off, but I liked the rustic look.

I then took a piece of brown 12x12 card stock and added my the vinyl that I wanted.
I just glued it on and added more mod podge over all of it.

I wanted to give it a more framed look, so I took some brown ribbon and glued it all the way around.

I added a little jewel to the shamrock
I think it turned out pretty cute! I think I am going to keep this up year round!!!