Fun, Easy DIY Father’s Day Gift Idea

Less than $5 for this DIY father’s day gift idea that is certain to warm his heart!

Father’s Day is creeping up on us, and as usual I’m looking for something sentimental but affordable.  I love making gifts in general, but my husband especially appreciates it and that makes me really happy.  This Father’s Day is our first one with both of our children, so it’s pretty special, and I wanted to make something to commemorate it.

Wood Panels

I decided that I wanted to make something that could sit on his desk, either at work or at home.  And I wanted something that I could put their handprints on. Wood seemed like the best option and kind of a manly thing, I guess.  

So I put my woodworking hat on and got to work.  I found a wood board that wasn’t being used and cut it with a miter saw down to two panels that are about 4 inches wide by 6 inches tall.  I used an electric hand sander to smooth out the two panels as well as the edges that would be the outside edges.

If you don’t want to cut wood for whatever reason, you can head down to Home Depot, and they are generally super helpful with cutting lumber for you. Or you can apply these ideas to some other premade form you may find at someplace like Michael’s.

Hinges

Next, I employed what I call some “mom-geneering.”  I affixed these two 1-inch hinges that I bought at Home Depot for less than $2, to the inside edges of the two panels.   I had never really employed hardware of my own devising before (hence the special term to describe my new skill), but it worked out quite well.  It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty proud that it actually works as I envisioned.

The first thing I did to put the hinges on was mark where the holes should be.  Then I followed the instructions on the package and predrilled holes using a 1/16-inch bit. Last, I screwed the hinges on.  One of them is slightly tilted, but it still works, and you don’t notice it unless you’re looking for it.

Handprints

The next step of this DIY Father’s Day gift idea is getting the kids involved.  After all, it’s Father’s Day! I let my 4-year-old choose the paint colors for his and his sister’s handprints, since she doesn’t much care at 8 months old.  

First, I did a couple test runs of the handprints with my son on paper because I didn’t want to ruin my mom-geneered creation or have to put handprints on twice.  That never looks quite right. I brushed the paint onto his hand with a paintbrush. I found that more paint was better. Then I firmly placed his hand down, making sure to press down each part of his hand to get the best print possible.  Finally, we lifted his hand straight up.

Now, the baby on the other hand (ha! Get it?!), you just do the best you can.  I put paint on and she just squished her little hands and balled them up. So I tried to put something that she wanted in front of her so she would go to grab it. And then, when she opened her hand, I slipped the wood under.  I pressed her fingers down like her brother’s and pulled up as straight as she would let me. Honestly, for an 8-month-old, I’m pretty pleased with her handprint. I mean, it looks like a hand and it has five fingers. We’re calling it a win.

Transferring Text and Photo

Next step of this DIY Father’s Day gift idea is transfering the text and photo. I used this tutorial from The Crazy Craft Lady for transferring both the text and photo to the wood panels.  I got the idea from a project that my husband made for me where he transferred a photo. His looked so cool!

I found the text for the inside on Pinterest.  There were several different project ideas with that text, and I just loved the sentiment.  I also wanted to be sure to include “Happy Father’s Day” and the year, “2019.”

One thing that I can do now that my son is a little bit older is have him write things for gifts and cards and such.  So to incorporate where he is in his penmanship, I had him write his and his sister’s name.

Then, I scanned the names into my computer and used Microsoft Photo to flip the text.  This is also how I flipped the rest of the text and the photo for this DIY Father’s Day gift idea.

This part of the project did not work out quite as expected. So now I’ve got some tips on what not to do.

1. Make sure you use enough Modge Podge on the part that you’re actually transferring, such as the words or the picture.  I had several places that didn’t take quite right to the wood.
2. Use as little paper as possible.  For the text that I applied, I applied the entire segment of paper, including the white space, instead of cutting the words out.  I really just made a lot more work for myself because I then subsequently had to remove all of that paper.
3. Don’t rub too hard on the paper to remove it.  This is probably like a “duh” thing, but, yeah, you will scrub off the image, as I did with my child’s face… Happy Father’s Day!

Decoupage

Because my photo transfer did not go as planned and was missing a critical component, my child’s face, I had to figure something else out.  As with many of my crafts, this DIY Father’s Day gift idea didn’t go as planned the first time around. But I really didn’t want to give up or start over because the handprints looked really good, even the baby’s.  And I wasn’t sure that I could recreate that result again.

So with an extra picture and Mod Podge in hand, I went at it from a different angle, decoupage! I love decoupage, it’s super easy and effective. And I have a lot more experience with it, so I felt confident that I could use it to clean up the mess that I had made.  Here’s the steps I used:

1. Paint a layer of Mod Podge on the panel.  In my case, I did this right over the old photo.
2. Place photo on panel over Mod Podge, smoothing from the center out.  Be sure to smooth out any air bubbles.
3. Paint a layer of Mod Podge right on over the photo.

I chose to rip the edges of the photo because I like the way the soft edge looks. But you can cut it any way that you want.  You can also layer photos and make a whole collage with decoupage.

Decoupage Tip:  Don’t use images printed on an inkjet printer.  If you’re printing your own images, you’ll want to use images printed with a laserjet printer or a printer that uses toner.  When I have a large decoupage project, I head on down to the local library to print my images with toner. Your images will smudge and bleed if they are printed on an inkjet printer, which is what most home printers are.

Touch-ups

I wanted to fill in the parts of the words and add a little flare with the heart and the cape in the text.  I chose to Micron pens. They say that the ink doesn’t bleed, but I found that this was not quite true when applying polyurethane over it.  So if you need to touch something up, I would go with a different option. Honestly, I’m not sure what would work, perhaps Sharpie.

Sealing

To finish up this DIY Father’s Day gift idea, I applied a single, thin coat of polyurethane with a foam brush.  Oh, and when you do this, be sure not to let it dry and get stuck to the newspaper that you’re working on. Ask me how I know!

Go Forth and Improvise!

Anyway, despite all the complications of this project and the fact that I had to keep rethinking it, we ended up with a super sweet gift for my husband.  And he loves it!

There are about a million ways to personalize this gift, so I encourage you to be creative and think about the father in your life!

As always, check out my updates on Facebook and Instagram and feel free to peruse Homebody Hall for more ideas on how to make your house a home, on a budget! Also check out other DIY gift ideas below! Happy creating!

Want to remember this DIY Father’s Day Gift? Be sure to pin this project to your favorite Pinterest board!