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My Husband's "World"

**When I originally shared this project, I never realized how well received it would be. My happy little project has traveled the World (Wide Web), being shared by Tip Junkies, Tori Spelling's ediTORIal, Babble, and the Dating Divas. Fun and exciting times for By Jen!**


As I mentioned in my last blog post, my husband celebrated a birthday this past weekend (which happened to be a pretty big one....the Big 40!). So now I can finally share the really cool gift I made for him. I've had this idea in my head for years and finally made it happen for this birthday .


To make this I started with an old globe 
(just something I had in all my clutter).


I covered it with gesso.


After the gesso dried, I should have sanded it lightly 
(but I can get ahead of myself when I'm excited)


I then collected a ton of pictures to print. 
I printed the photos on regular gift wrapping tissue paper.


Now you might be wondering how I printed on tissue paper. It took some trial and error, which included yanking wads of tissue paper out of my printer. But here's what finally worked on a fairly consistent basis with very few tissue paper jams. I cut the tissue paper to 8.5" x 11" and then taped it to a regular 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper using scotch tape. I taped the top and bottom edge along the full length of the edge. This is very important for the front edge going into the printer.

See the tape along the top edge. Wish I could have gone a better photo.
This allowed me to feed the paper into my inkjet printer. I then cut out my pictures and carefully adhered them to the globe using Mod Podge (I didn't get any pictures of this--got ahead of myself again). Be cautious because too much Mod Podge can rip the photos.

It was quite the labor of love, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. And Daniel loved it! He was really blown away seeing his life represented like that. The globe was a great success! 

I'd actually love the chance to do another globe, but in a mixed media style. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for another globe.

Comments

sabrina said…
That is cool! I love globes!!
Shalet said…
What a great idea! And happy birthday to the hubbie!
scrapwordsmom said…
Jen, this is soooo cool. I am sharing on FB today!!:)
Rebekah said…
Oh my goodness, what a totally awesome gift! My DH turns 40 soon too! :)
Kimberly said…
This is awesome and I plan on doing one as soon as I find a globe!
Karen said…
Stopped by as part of the blog hop... Love this project! Happy belated birthday to your DH!
Unknown said…
I love this idea! Such an AWESOME gift! I always have trouble with mod podge causing my inkjet prints to run...did you?? If not did you use any prevention, or is it my technique?? Thanks
mommyof2tuties said…
I love this idea! Such an AWESOME gift! I always have trouble with mod podge causing my inkjet prints to run...did you?? If not did you use any prevention, or is it my technique?? Thanks
I was lucky and didn't have any bleeding trouble with my inkjet prints. They were completely dry, so I don't know if that helped.
Erin said…
This is such a cool idea...this is going on my to do list for Fathers Day.
Lisa said…
What a unique way to display photos! Love it
StatuePerson said…
wow ive never seen anything like it,so cool!
MaryH said…
I'm definitely going to try this out! What an awesome idea!
MS said…
WOW! Labor of love indeed! Such a unique and creative gift!
Cleila Spratt said…
Thanks for the great idea!! I actually found a globe for $3.00 at a yard sale and get this...it lights up!! WOW, can't wait to get started on this with my grandbabies pictures for the nursry at our house!!! THANKS AGAIN!!!!
ericadarrow said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
ericadarrow said…
Can I just use regular paper or will it only work with tissue paper?
Anonymous said…
can i use regular paper?
Holly Anderson said…
Oh no! I guess I should've read your instructions first. I just assumed they were regular photos. I ordered the globe and printed photos at a kiosk. Was ready to get started...then I read that you used tissue paper. :( And I need to have this project done for this weekend. I'm so sad!
Kristi said…
Cool idea! Just curious- how many pictures did you end up using?