Thankful Thursday - The Pinterest Project

 Today is Thursday. For that reason alone. . .  I am thankful. It seems like the weeks of Winter are growing longer and longer. I can not wait for spring, to open the windows, and have fresh air blowing through the house. But today, with the outside temp currently at 37 degrees, I am left to the endless projects I have going on.  That brings me to Pinterest. If you haven't heard about or been on Pinterest, be WARNED. It's highly addictive, inspirational, and very very time consuming. I find myself browsing at night. Which leads to inspiration, and a sudden burst of creativity. It's caused many sleep deprived nights but resulted in some pretty great projects for our new home.


Today I'm sharing my Giant Prints Project. I first studied  Sugar Bee Crafts and followed her step by step for the first one. (it's the close up of little man's face)Her's was great, had some good tips, and I'm including it here, with my changes, to avoid some of the issues that came up while I was doing my own.

Supplies you'll need.
1.) one digital copy of a picture you absolutely adore (the higher the resolution the better print quality)
2.) A flash drive (some stores allow you to upload from the web, I brought mine in on a floppy)
3.) Foam board. The kind you find at Walmart, Michaels, or Staples for kids science projects or book reports. I chose black, so that the trimmed print would look "matted" but choose any color you want, great way to accent the print.
4.) Spray adhesive, I used Krylon Super Extra Strength :o)
5.) A clear top coat sealer, Again I used Krylon HiGloss Clear finish. (I used gloss, so the pictures would have a nice shine, but you could use matte also.)
6.) Scissors, Ruler, exacto blade if you plan to trim the board.

Steps.
1.) First I went to Staples (you can go anywhere that they print Engineers Prints) They will tell you that it's not meant for pictures, it's meant to print lines and blueprints. Smile and say "okay but please print this for me"

2.) Bring it home, roll it out and admire the awesomeness. I put it down on top of a tarp and did several coats of the clear gloss finish.( Light and thin coats) I did 5 coats, you can do more or less depending on how rich you want the coat to be. The KEY is not too thick of a coat. (too much spray makes the paper wrinkle) You need to do it before you attach it to the board or again the paper will wrinkle.

3.) Once you've reached your desired finish and it's completely 100% dry. Lay it out on top of the foam board and see where you want it placed. I trimmed both my pictures, to size, and then trimmed the board to fit. Roll the picture up and set it aside.

4.) Spray the board with a good ammount of spray adhesive. You want to make sure the foam board is coated evenly or the paper will lift as it dries. You want the adhesive to sit for about 30 seconds so it starts to dry and gets Tacky.

YOU NEED SOMEONE TO HELP YOU WITH THIS NEXT STEP

5.) One person holds the rolled up print and One person follows behind with a ruler. Line up the corners and the first edge to make sure that as you unroll the print, it will go on the board straight. Next you will lay the ruler flat on the print as you unroll the print, gently slide the ruler behind the print to ensure the print is attaching evenly to the board.

6.) IF all went well, your picture will be awesome! (my first one was crooked) I just trimmed the paper and board once it was dry to make it look like it was straight :o)

Display it proudly .... you ROCK!!!
Adios Mis Amigos,