Fab 'n' Funky ~ The Space Race

Hey there my lovely blogging pals. Sorry I've been a bit MIA, but my kiddos started their new year at school, so I've been caught up with all that entails. My sweet niece turned 1 on the 6th, which is our Waitangi Day here in New Zealand and it's a National Holiday, so we have a long weekend, which is a nice way to ease the kiddies back into school. Two short weeks in a row! It also marks 3 years since our return from the UK. I can't believe we've been home 3 years already! My heart definitely has two homes!

Today though, I'm here to tell you all about our new challenge at Fab 'n' Funky and I am hostess this week. Our wonderful sponsor is Sassy Studio Designs and we have some fabulous images to work with this week.

Have you seen the recent Star Wars release? We're all a little nutty for it in my house. My youngest was crestfallen that he couldn't see the movie, but he's only 5 after all! Georgie really enjoyed her special 'date night' with Mum & Dad at the movies though. So I've been inspired to make this weeks challenge a 'Space Race' challenge. Bring out all your stamps and goodies that have anything to do with 'Space', the aliens, rockets, spaceships, let your imagination run wild!

Our lucky winner this challenge

may choose 4 Sassy Studio Designs

Digital Images. Woohoo!!

My awesome teamies have pulled it outta the bag and created some 'out of this world' creations to inspire you. So do stop by their blogs for more details. We all love reading your comments too!

For my DT creations, I've used the fabulous Sassy Studio's - Space Princess Honey and Sassy Studio's - Yoda Honey. I was inspired to try making a bedroom door plaque for each of the kiddies, as we're about to separate them into their own rooms. They've loved sharing up until now, but our eldest is growing up and with the five year gap between them, really needs her own space now. So it's time for a room each and I thought it'd be fun to celebrate this by making them door plaques. What better images than Yoda and Princess Leia?!

I had some fab paper I picked up in a bargain bin at a local craftstore, which I thought could work well for these plaques. It's from the Carpe Diem collection of the Reminisce range. I did really want some starry dark paper, so I could maximise the Star Wars theme, but I had NOTHING that would work. So I went for a different feel altogether. I love the way Yoda sits atop the world on my son's door plaque. I've always loved that Dr Seuss quote too.

I have a little tutorial that shows my process for this make, as it's a first for me using Mod Podge and I really had no idea what I was doing! I tried to google using Mod Podge on alcohol ink coloured images and couldn't find ANYTHING! So this is why I thought I'd add a tutorial. Just click on the 'read more' link below the post to see the tutorial.

I'll catch you all again soon, and look forward to seeing what you do for our 'Space Race' challenge. Big hugs, Wends x

Challenge Entries:
Allsorts Challenge: #349 ~ CAS
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: One Layer

Crafting From The Heart: #98 ~ Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create: #162 ~ Anything Goes + Option of Single Layer

Creative Moments: Anything Goes + Option of Love (Love for Star Wars! LOL)

Mod Podge Tutorial ~ Creating A Bedroom Door Plaque:

• I used an old scrap piece of fibreboard which was big enough to cut into two even halves.
• I had the wood cut at my local DIY homestore
• I painted the wood using acrylic paint, a couple of coats only, as I was covering the wood completely with paper. I would have done more coats if any was going to be left showing.
• I sanded the wood before painting and after each coat, so that it was a nice smooth surface to add the paper to. I wiped the wood down after each sanding with a microfibre duster.

• After allowing the paint to dry completely, I placed the paper over the plaque (which was not evenly cut by the bandsaw) to ensure I allowed for the slightly wobbly edges and left no part of the plaque uncovered. I used my fingers to trace the edge of the wood and then cut the paper according to those fold lines, which accounted for the uneven edges.

• Once the paper was cut and ready to stick down, I painted Mod Podge onto the wood in an even thin coat and set it aside.

• Next I painted Mod Podge onto the back of the paper and then carefully laid it over the still tacky wood, which gave enough slip to easily move the paper into the right position before setting it aside to dry.

• Once the paper was dry enough, I painted Mod Podge onto the front of the paper and onto the back of each letter that I'd diecut using a Lawn Fawn alphabet set called Cole's ABC's to add my kiddies names. 
• I added the letters before the main area was dry. 
• I painted the back of the images which I'd previously coloured with alcohol ink and carefully pressed all these pieces down before the glue dried, so there was still a little slip for repositioning. Fiddly and messy work.

• Finally, I added another layer of Mod Podge over the entire piece and was careful not to move any pieces as I did, because I really didn't allow enough time for the drying process before I did this bit. 
• I found that the paper the letters were diecut from wasn't colourfast, and started to bleed colour into the Mod Podge, so I very carefully worked in towards the letters, rather than away from, so I didn't draw the colour out over the rest of the paper. 
• Because I didn't allow enough drying time before this last coat, I also made the paper really 'waterlogged' and soft, so it started to lift in places. My worst mistake was on my daughter's plaque, where a whole section lifted, as I took 'one more pass' with my brush, when I just should have left it alone! So I had to add another little patch of paper to repair it. Not a perfect repair sadly.

• I was really concerned that the Mod Podge would ruin the images that I'd coloured with Alcohol ink, as I couldn't' find any reference to the use of Mod Podge with Alcohol Ink coloured images. But the were completely fine and there was no shift in the ink at all. So apart from not leaving enough time between Mod Podge applications, I think this all went rather well, certainly for a first attempt.

• In the pic above, the Mod Podge still has a Milky film over the plaque, but it dries completely clear and the Matt version was the one I used so it has a lovely silky shine when it dries.
• Thanks for reading through my process, creating these bedroom door plaques. My kiddos are so excited to have these on their room doors! So I'm a happy mama.