sammer party: "P" is for Paper Bags

Paper bags turned into artwork

After seeing this post on Beth's blog (scroll down to the 10th picture) and my previous post on subway art I wrangled up some grocery store paper bags and got to work.

And really I don't use mod podge at all but it just so happened the last two posts are heavy on the mod podge. Sorry about that.

I carefully swiped some bags from Trader Joe's (yes I did buy some groceries but not four bags full).

The great thing about this paper bag sign art is that it can stay out Thanksgiving through New Year's, it's not strictly Christmas.

And this one from Whole Foods will definitely be a year round item:

First I cut some 1/4 plywood to size and mod podged (matte finish) the paper onto the wood:

Once dry I flipped it over and trimmed the edges with an exacto:

Then I sanded down the edges and mod podged the front and all edges to seal it up:

I cut down some 1/2" plywood to serve as a frame, applied a piece of fabric (using mod podge of course) and stacked up my boards under some books to dry flat:

I trimmed down the excess fabric around the edges and sealed the edges with mod podge, once dry I sanded the edges smooth. I have to say mod podge is the best adherent for the fabric and the paper to wood, far superior and much more permanent than spray adhesive.

Finally I cut a piece of burlap to act as a matte under the papered wood piece, I adhered the burlap and the smaller papered wood piece to the larger board with liquid nails (the burlap is very porous so the liquid nails squishes through) and placed lots of books on top for weight.