Decoupaged Wall Plaque With Cheshire Cat Paper

We have a lot birthdays in my family concentrated in the beginning of the year. They start off on January first and run through March. Gifts can be tricky at anytime but with so many on the heels of Christmas it often causes me to have a creative block. This year I was graced with inspiration when I had come across these wood plaques at the craft store. YAY! Two of my, now adult nieces, are settling into new spaces and my first thought is organization. I love to give functional decor. 

I began with this wood plaque I had gotten from the craft store for $6.99. There is a nice selection of card stock sheets of paper for .69 cents a piece available at the Michaels store near me. Due to the color and thickness of the paper I chose there was no need to paint or prime the wood.

I attached this paper with Mod Podge then put a nice thick coat over the top to help seal and set the paper onto the wood.

I then baked the piece to set the glue. I love to do this. I place the item I just glued into a cold oven. Set the oven to 170 degrees. Once the temperature is reached I shut the oven off and let the piece cool in the oven for up to one hour. It not only helps to set the glue quickly,  it helps to smooth out wrinkles. I sanded off any excess paper around the edges with 220 grit sand paper sanding back away from the image.

This piece was being created for my niece who has always loved Alice In Wonderland. She dressed as the Cheshire Cat years ago for Halloween so I knew I wanted that image to be included in the finished piece. I found a picture I like and printed it out on my ink printer.

I loved the colors in this picture and knew it would be a nice contrast to the paper I had glued onto the piece of wood. 

I found the oval piece of wood to glue the cat image on in Dollar Tree. I traced around the cat and cut the picture to fit the wood. I glued it on using Mod Podge then brushed a nice layer of glue over the picture. Once that dried I again used a piece of 220 grit sand paper to smooth the edges.

I used wood glue to attach the cat picture to the wood plaque. Wood glue, once dried, is stronger then Mod Podge and holds longer and better then hot glue.

I sealed the picture of the cat with Polycrylic. I use this on a lot of my home projects including furniture and crafts.

I had red beads in my craft stash and used them to frame the cat. I glued them around the oval using wood glue.

I purchased these little cup hooks from the hardware store to screw into the plaque so it could be used as a little storage spot for keys, scarves or even jewelry.  I used my drill and the smallest bit I had to create small holes before screwing the cup hooks in by hand.

Here’s my finished sneaky looking little devil. I’ll admit, I never was a huge Alice in Wonderland fan but this guy is changing my mind.  Not sure I  would hang him in my bedroom and shut the lights off to go to sleep though.  I’ll leave that up to my niece:)

I really enjoyed putting this project together. I hope you like it too and it gives you some inspiration to create something new.  Please reach out to me with any questions you may have. You can also see other projects I have done on my YouTube Channel, Our High Street Home.

Thank you for stopping by,

XXOORoni♥