Apiary Sign [Mod Podge Tute]

More Bees in this Berger home! This time it's an "Apiary" sign with an image of a bee and a hive.

I got this sign for free, regardless of what that little sticker says. Z and I hit a yard sale right at the end and cleaned house with all our free goodies. I knew pretty quickly what I wanted to do with it. I saw this sign from Miss Mustard Seed. I loved the idea behind it and thought I could personalize it.

Z and I often call each other "B" as a nickname- {Becca Berger}.
I can't imagine how the nickname came about.

So obviously the bee is a perfect dual meaning. I did this bee lamp last week, but thought the house could use one more. 

I made my sign with a Mod Podge transfer technique that works for words and graphics but you will want to follow the tutorial exactly is you want good results. This project is excellent because you can transfer complicated images without leaving behind residue or shine around the pictures.
 
How I made mine:

[1] Sand and paint sign black

[2] Lightly sand and then paint sign white- took about three coats.

[3] Distress wood now,  before the image is transferred. The words will be too vulnerable to withstand sanding. 

[4] Paint one side of a piece of printer paper with Washable Elmer's Glue, getting complete coverage.

[5] The image: I grabbed my pictures offline {again.} I'm not selling these items, so I think it's legit to snag the pics.
 I just made my own  design for the word using Microsoft Word. I would strongly recommend using only black ink for the graphics.  My image had grey ink and it looked lilac! I had to use touch up paint to cover it.
You can change the image to "black and white" in Microsoft Word by clicking 1 button and it will remove shading and grey tones
Make sure to REVERSE THE IMAGE if you're doing words, again this is accomplished by the click of one button. {Google it if you're unsure of how to make these changes.}

[6] Once your paper is dry you can print out the image on the glued side.

[7] In this picture I am determining the spacing I wanted.
With that decided, you'll paint the wood with Mod Podge, try to only put Mod Podge where paper will be over it. It will leave shiny spots otherwise.
If this happens to you my suggestion is to decoupage the entire board so the whole thing is shiny. Do not try to sand the Mod Podge off- this did not turn out well for me!
Put the image face down on the wood. Make sure to rub it in order to get air bubbles out and to get a good adhesion. Leave it overnight, no peaking!

{It is possible that I take cardboard from Ikea every time I g, so that I can use then for projects.}

This is what mine looked like the next day.

[8] Wet the paper, dunk it in water or use a spray bottle, whatever method you like, just wet it down. You want the paper to be completely saturated. You'll know when it is wet enough because the ink will be much more visible through the paper. You can see at the top where the ink is darkening, becoming more visible through the paper.
 

[9] After the paper is soaked and has set for a couple of minutes you can gently peel the paper off. Don't rub or the ink can come off.

[10] I used craft paint to touch up the image a little. {Here's ^ the gallery wall when I was still adding to it!}

That's all I can think of girls! Let me know if you all have any questions. This technique was the bomb. I know other people have had problems with it- they say the ink won't transfer. I have never had problems, so follow the steps carefully!

This is the view into the living room. There are projects to do in every corner of that room. You can see the side of the TV. We are planning a special building project, which I am stoked about! Hopefully we an start that soon.

I pretty much love this project- the sign makes me smile.

Thanks for looking!

Update: Check out these AWESOME sites that graciously featured my sign!

Looking for places to link up your projects? Check out my Party page.

I'm also linked up here.