By now, you know I love a good DIY gift and this Mother’s Day was a great opportunity to try out something new! I’ve been seeing lots of cool photo transfer projects lately and thought I would try my hand at one as well. My awesome mother-in-law lives in Austin, Texas and the facts that A) she is a lover of bags and B) by law you have to use reusable bags instead of disposable bags in Austin, made me think that a customized photo tote bag would be a fun and functional gift for her.
Making it was easy… maybe too easy. All you need to make this project is a tote, a bottle of Modge Podge’s Photo Transfer Medium (the one I bought included a foam brush), some wax paper or tin foil and a photo printed onto normal printer paper (take note – if your photo includes words it will need to be printed as a mirror image as seen in my photos below).
The instructions on how to properly complete the photo transfer are written out on the Photo Transfer Medium’s container (and you should read that in full) but the short version is:
- Print photo
- Cut it out
- Lay it on wax paper (I used tin foil though) to protect your work surface
- Cover liberally with Photo Transfer Medium
- Pop it on your bag face down and smooth out air bubbles
- Wait 24 hours
- Wet a rag or sponge and LIGHTLY rub at the paper until it pills and rubs off your photo
THAT’S IT!
I was so worried it wouldn’t turn out but this was one of the easiest and cutest projects I’ve done in a while. It’s got my creative juices flowing and I foresee many a photo transfer project in my near future.
so, i'm a homebody 