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Handmade Photo Cube
Published 05.07.2009 | Permanent Link | Comments (12)
Mod Podge Photo Cube
by Marie LeBaron
I remember my Grandma having one of those old school photo cubes, the kind where you can see an image from every side, slipping the photo under the plastic frame. Well, I thought I'd re-create that for a fun Mother's Day present, but with the magic of Mod Podge.
Supplies for Photo Cube:
* square block of wood - I got my wood blocks from Home Depot. I bought a 4x4 piece of wood and the nice man cut it into cubes for me! Then I sanded each one down.
* 6 photos - You can either use real photos or print some off on your computer. The real photos are best as the ink won't smear at all, but on the photos that smeared a little, looked kind of old fashioned, which I like.
* Mod Podge & sponge paint brush
1. For your wood block, you can paint it first or leave it plain. I did both, just to see the difference. For the brown acrylic painted block, I added a little water to the paint to make it more of a stained look. Or these would be cute with pink or blue paint, or even some fun scrapbook paper mod podged on first, under the photo.
2.Cut out your photos to fit the cube. I cut my first one out then matched it up to the others, cutting them all out at the same size.
3. Apply mod podge with your sponge brush to the wood square. Then press one of the photos in place. You can do about 3 of these at a time, then let them dry. Then apply and press the other 3 photos. If you dry your block on wax paper, it will come off a little easier than on newspaper.
4. Once the all the photos have been applied and dried, apply one more coat of mod podge to the whole cube in sections. Then let it dry over night, making sure it's dry and sealed.
Now it's ready for a Mom! She's going to love seeing those cute faces. But she'll probably have a hard time deciding which picture to display on top!
Have a Happy Mother's Day!
Other Mother's Day Gift Ideas:
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About this column
This is a year-round Holiday column. Kids love Holidays. As parents we have come to appreciate how Holidays seem to help structure our lives. Plus, any excuse to have fun sounds good to us!
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This column will be a place where you can get inspiration for how to enjoy time with your kids. Crafting projects and ideas will be posted on Thursdays by our brilliant contributors (see below). Other fun ideas will be posted here throughout the week as the inspiration hits us!
About our Craft Contributors
Ellen Luckett Baker is the author of the long thread, a blog about handmade goods. She has always enjoyed making things, but the flexibility of staying at home with her two daughters along with the creative inspiration they provide has led her to craft on a daily basis. Combining her love of graphic design and sewing, she has created an Etsy shop selling machine embroidery designs and sewing patterns.
Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband and two young daughters. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Master's of Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.
Cindy Hopper was fortunate to be raised in a family who appreciated the arts. This background led to a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education. With a keen eye for design and color, Cindy has continued her love of art and is now passing her creative skills on to her three children. Cindy's family and friends are the beneficiaries of her passion for fun and meaningful creative projects. Cindy's personal blog, Skip to My Lou, has taken her love of a project to new levels. Postings keep the family busy -– from testing new recipes for holiday treats to designing and building floats for a neighborhood parade to making fabric rolls to hold crayons to creating themed parties. Cindy seems to have an unending supply of ideas for gifts, parties and rainy days.
Marie LeBaron is a 30 something stay at home mom in Utah. Before life as a mother, she graduated with a teaching degree in Early Childhood & Elementary Education, after which she taught four years of Kindergarten. After her first child was born, she decided to read books and sing silly songs at home. She misses the classroom, but she now gets to bring the fun and learning into her home and ours. You’ll see her kids a lot in these projects as they are her guinea pigs and for whom she's creative. You can follow more of her projects at her personal blog Make and Takes.
Brenda Ponnay is a stealthy secret agent who juggles parenthood to her adorable daughter by day and freelance graphic design by night. Whether it's painting, baking, drawing, making castles out of card board boxes or just doing the laundry with flair, Brenda Ponnay has finally discovered (at the ripe old age of thirty-six) that what really makes her happy is being creative every single day.
Brenda lives in Southern California with her husband, daughter, three cats and thirty-seven pet birds. You can read about all her crazy adventures on her personal blog: Secret Agent Josephine.
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Comments (12):
Jan said:
Great idea. I hope I get one.
______________
Editor: Or, you can always make one for a grandma or wait and make one for Father's Day. Win-Win! ;)
Posted on May 7, 2009 11:30
Annette W said:
Very nice!! Yes, Father's Day...Christmas...birthdays...
Posted on May 7, 2009 12:09
Collagist said:
Excellent project to do with kids for any special day or just to make some photo cubes for the office. They look so lovely when they are stacked up one over the other.
Posted on May 8, 2009 15:10
Kim said:
Great idea!
Posted on May 10, 2009 21:57
Chloe Wilson said:
That's such a good idea. I particularly like the effect when they are stacked. We've had Mother's Day already here in Spain but I think my son would love making some of these. He's fascinated with photos of himself when he was younger so he could make some for his bedroom and his grandparents. I've bookmarked this as he has a 13 week summer holiday coming up quicker than I'd like so we'll get cracking then!
Posted on May 11, 2009 06:01
Lokate said:
Those are adorable! What a super idea.
Posted on May 11, 2009 19:30
Joi said:
I love this idea! I am thinking that this would be a great gift for grandparents.
Posted on May 12, 2009 17:46
Courtney said:
awesome! I so plan on making these. i have a lot of 4X4 left over from making our fence so I think it would be a great way of recycling what i have.
Posted on June 9, 2009 16:30
molly said:
I made one for my hubby for dad day, it came out great! thanks for the good idea, I see easy grandparent gifts in my future!!
Posted on June 23, 2009 18:07
Jan said:
I loved this idea and used it for centerpieces at my son's wedding rehearsal dinner. Check out the photos on my blog. Thanks for the inspiration!
Posted on October 17, 2009 01:34
Scott said:
There is a web site which will allow you to make a photo cube without the wood block. The http://easyphotocube.com site makes a paper pattern for you with your pictures and messages on it.
Posted on December 9, 2009 23:16
Sarah said:
I just found this - I had this idea in my head for a while, and I thought I knew how I would do it but decided to google instructions in case I found any helpful tips - which i did! I really liked your idea to water down the paint to make it look more like a stain, and also for using wax paper underneath. Thanks!
Posted on December 10, 2009 16:10