Crafty Mom: DADcoupage

Father’s Day is right around the corner and I was looking for a gift that my girls – well primarily my five-year-old – could make for Daddy this year. We love presents as much as the next family but in our house, the real “present” on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day is that the honored parent gets to pick what we do as a family for the day. I tend to mix it up a bit on Mother’s Day but my husband always chooses the zoo. So, I thought this year it would be fun for them to make a zoo-inspired gift that he could actually use.

My older daughter happens to be big into collages these days (more on that and why it’s a great family craft in a future post) so I proposed to her that we take it to the next level and suggested a few items that she could collage or technically decoupage with animal pictures and words. She chose a box for his dresser because when you’re five, you can never have enough boxes to keep all your treasures. But I thought I would share the other decoupage options we discussed and of course, any of these ideas could be done in a different theme – sports teams, pages from an old dictionary for a Dad who loves to read, nature themes. You get the idea.

You will need:
1) Old magazines (or new if necessary) Optional materials would be pictures from books, pages from dictionaries, tickets stubs, newspapers, etc. Really, the possibilities are endless so use your imagination and don’t forget that you can make copies of things if you don’t want to destroy something for this craft.
2) Mod Podge or other similar glue/sealer. Mod Podge works as both a glue and a sealer and is non-toxic. I’ve been using Mod Podge for as long as I can remember and it’s super easy for the kids, cheap and cleans up with soap and water.
3) Paint brush
4) Item to decoupage

Basic decoupage directions:
1) Get cutting. Cut out shapes, pictures, letters. Tip: Include younger children who can’t count in the hunt through magazines for good pictures and letters.
2) Tell your child to do a practice layout if they are particular/impulsive/cranky/tired because once it’s stuck, it’s stuck.
3) Apply thin layer of Mod Podge to backs of pictures/letters and position on frame/box in whatever way your child desires. Smooth out. Tip: It really looks best when the layers of sealer are thin. Otherwise you get bubbles and clouding. I say this in case an adult tries this project but don’t get stressed if your kid is doing it because it’s supposed to be fun and is a gift from the heart. Perfectionist moms need not apply.
4) Let dry.
5) Seal the decoupaged area by painting a thin layer of Mod Podge over the whole thing following the directions on the bottle. Tip: If doing a box, make sure not to have it closed because it will get sealed shut.
6) Let dry.
7) Repeat.
8) Give to Dad.

Dresser Catch-All:
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in our house. My husband is also a collector…of junk that ends up on his dresser. She’s making this for his dresser but this could be used at work or really in any room where Dad keeps his treasures. You can buy the boxes at your local craft store. My daughter is using a photograph of her and her sister with Dad at the zoo last year in the middle of the top of the box. Putting Mod Podge right over a photograph can get dicey, particularly if you are sensitive to maintaining the exact the way it looks. If you choose to use a photo, I would definitely not choose the only copy of your favorite photo but you may also want to laminate the photo first or only seal the area around the photo. We’re going to throw caution to the wind and seal the whole thing because we’re crazy like that.

Picture Frame
By far the easiest and least time-consuming. This is a great gift for a Dad that works in an office and has a place to display picture frames. Just buy a plain wooden frame, follow the directions above and insert photo. I have decorated old frames using this technique and bought the frames at Goodwill/yard sales for next to nothing but it’s hard to find old frames (especially last minute) that have a good surface area for a project like this so I think it’s just as easy to buy one at your local craft store.

Car/Truck Organizer
OK, I loved this idea of making a car/truck trunk organizer for a gift but I’m not a fan of the cardboard box suggestion here because it’s impractical – one loose water bottle top after softball or a day at the beach and it’s garbage – so I think this would be great to do with a wooden box like those that fruit gets delivered to the grocery store in. This photo represents some vintage ones that are actually quite collectable but I recently made some shelves for my mom and they are easy to get (for free!) at your grocery store. Just ask the produce manager. Had my daughter chosen this, we would have painted the box, cleaned off the label (as long as it wasn’t vintage) and done the decoupage on the wooden ends only. My husband coaches her softball team and keeps all the extra bats, balls and gloves in his car and this would have been a great gift, so I would have encouraged her to do a softball/baseball theme on this but…maybe next year.