Mod Podge Rocks!

I’m Amy, and am pleased to be here guest posting today. I love polka dots, the color blue, and Mod Podge. In fact, I run a Mod Podge appreciation blog called Mod Podge Rocks! If you’ve never tried to decoupage before, you really, really should. It’s pretty easy, and immediately satisfactory. You’re going to be pleased with the results. I promise.



We are going to turn this simple brown frame into something quite fantastical. It’s hot where I live, and so I’m trying to summon autumn with my choices here. Maybe you like what I did, but you might also have your own tastes and color palette which is completely fine and actually encouraged. I always want people to choose what works for them! Let’s get started. You’ll first need to gather these supplies and tools:

FolkArt® Acrylic Paint
--Glazed Carrots
--Dark Brown
Mod Podge® Gloss
Darice wood frame – holds a 5” x 7” photo
AdornIt Scrapbook Paper – Fern Collection, Owl Hoot A
Celebrate It! Basic Ribbon – Owl, 14 inches
Brown Ribbon, 14 inches
Orange Ribbon, 28 inches 1” & 1/2"Flat Paint Brushes
Buttons from my stash, about 15 – 20
Bo Bunny scrapbooking flowers in orange and brown
Alphabet letter stickers
Craft Glue
Craft Knife and Mat
Ruler
Scalloped Scissors
Mini Screwdriver

1. Before starting, use the mini screwdriver to remove all of the hardware from the frame. Separate the stand from the frame. I always paint the frame and the stand separate colors. That’s just how I roll! Using the paint brush, basecoat the entire front and back of the frame with Glazed Carrots. Paint three coats for complete coverage. Set aside to dry.

2. Paint the stand Dark Brown. Paint three coats, just like the front. Set aside to dry.

3. Now you need to cut the paper. Grab your craft knife, cutting mat and ruler. Choose a width that you want your paper to go across your frame. Since I wanted to put my paper vertically in the large area to the left, I chose to cut my paper approximately 3” wide. There’s no science to this for me – I eyeball it, folks. Cut the strip of paper with the craft knife. You’ll notice I just used the polka dot part of the paper and not the design. I’m gonna save that design for another project!

4. Take your strip of paper and trim it down each side with the scalloped scissors. To make the scallops match, cut the right side up like you see me doing in the photo below. Then FLIP over the paper and cut up the other side, starting at the same point on the scissors.

5. This is my favorite part, really it is. Grab your (now) orange frame and spread Mod Podge where you are going to lay down the paper. Spread a relatively even coat, medium thickness.

6. Lay the paper down and smooth with your fingers or a brayer (like I did). Allow this to dry for about 15 – 20 minutes.

7. After this has dried, spread the Mod Podge over the paper and the entire frame, front and back. Do the brown stand you painted too. Give everything at least two coats of Mod Podge and allow to dry for about an hour. You can do it under a fan if you like.

8. Now I will demonstrate see a very scientific part of the process – the embellishments. By scientific I mean this process has little explanation and is totally at random, but I will try my best. Here’s what I do. I lay everything out and then shift it around until it looks good. A little ribbon here, a little ribbon there . . . kind of like the picture below. When I’m happy, I take a picture since I’m going to have to remove the embellishments to glue them down.

9. Use the craft glue to secure stuff down (note my cute green pants). I started with the big ribbon, placed the owl ribbon on top, and then glued the orange ribbon on either side. I used Aleene’s glue. Oh, and did I mention that I love owls? Yes. I do.

10. Wrap the ribbon around the back and press down. My frame is going to hang so I don’t care if the ribbon goes around the back. If you like, you can trim the ribbon at the top. You are done!

11. Allow everything to dry for at least 24 hours before using your frame. I’d like you to notice that after I glued everything down on the left, I added a piece of paper on the right with some buttons. It just needed something! I added “Who’s That?” with adhesive sticker letters, and then I put a picture of a cute little kid in the frame. Who’s that, you ask? Me, of course!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and I hope you are inspired to try decoupage. Come see me at Mod Podge Rocks! when you have a chance. I have a new project nearly every day, and I love to answer questions about projects. See you soon!