I had gone to Pintrest to started gathering ideas back in the spring when we first thought to plan a party. I had it all planned out.....
But a week before the party I still had nothing ready and not a lot of time to go shopping (we also did not have any pictures of the couples so that ruled out my favourite ideas). So I started looking around the house to see what I had on hand that I could use for decorations.
I remembered one of my first pins:
This would be perfect! I had everything I needed on hand....except I didn't have any pictures. After some consideration I decided on a simple sign with "and they lived happily ever after.." It seemed perfect for a 40th anniversary, and would be great for photos.
I wasn't 100% sure of the technique above since I was not transferring a full picture. Looking around for other techniques and suggestions and found these:
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| Source: matsutakeblog.blogspot.com |
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| Source: unexpectedelegance.com |
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| Source: diddledumpling.blogspot.com |
In the end it took a lot of trial and error, and a lot of clean up. I didn't find a technique that would work for me. Since I was working with what I had around the house I may not have been working with the best tools. I can't remember how old my Modge Podge is, but I am thinking my purchase was more like a decade then a few years ago. Also the paint had a bit of a glossy finish. I gave it a light sand, but that may have not been enough.
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| Modge Podge and rubbing paper off - did not work |
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| Elmer's Glue method worked better (with Sharpie help) - but I now need a new printhead for my printer |
The Elmer's Glue method worked the best, though it gummed up my printer, and left a glue residue that I was not happy with. So I decided to scrap it and try an old-school carbon copy method. I printed off what I wanted, flipped the paper over then took a pencil and rubbed the back to leave the carbon behind (when you flip the paper back over and trace the letter it leaves a carbon imprint). But after I finished rubbing the pencil over the back I lifted up the paper and found the ink had rubbed off on my desk. So I tried again rubbing the mirror image words on my piece of painted wood. Success!
It came out light, but I coloured in it with the Sharpie and it looked great. This is similar to the water and rubbing method, just less smudgy.
To add to the decorations I picked up some red balloons and napkins (the 40th is the ruby anniversary) and a few 40th items from a party store. Since my in-laws already had anniversary plates on display I decided to add to their collection by creating a 40th Anniversary plate guest book (approx $3 for the plate and $10 for 5 ceramic pain pens at Walmart).
