DIY Wood Photo Father's Day Card - A Keepsake Dad Will Cherish!

5 Materials
Easy
For my 21st birthday, hubby (who was my boyfriend back then) made me a birthday card out of metal. He cut two sheets of metal into card-sized rectangles, added hinges, and then used his welder to write a note to me on the card. He then spray painted it with glossy black paint. 19 years later, I still have that card and cherish it. It was such a cool card that will last a lifetime. We were starving college students at that time and instead of spending money on a card, he made me one and I can honestly say it is the best card I have ever received.
That card gave me the idea to do the same thing, but out of wood instead of metal. So, for Father’s Day, I decided to make hubby, and his and my dads, wood Father’s Day cards that they hopefully will cherish for the rest of their lives. 🙂 So off to Home Depot I went! Here are the supplies needed to make the card:


Materials:


- 2′ x 2′ sheet of 1/4″ plywood or craft board


- Small hinges (2 hinges needed per card)


- Liquitex Gel Medium


- Foam Brush


- Stain (recommend using a light-colored stain)


- Woodburning tool (or you can paint the design on the front instead if you don’t have one) with letter tip attachments


- Glossy acrylic spray can


- Glue (I used hot glue gun, but you can also use super glue)


Here are some abbreviated instructions for creating the card, for detailed instructions, please visit my blog at the link below.


First, using a circular saw or table saw, for each card you plan on creating, cut out two rectangle pieces of wood.
Next, print the pictures and the wording you would like on the card in mirror image (you can reverse the image in Microsoft Word if you don’t have image editing software) on a color laser printer (don’t use an inkjet).
Using gel medium, adhere the pictures to the board in desired locations.
While gel medium is drying, use woodburning tool to add Happy Fathers Day message to front of card.
Once gel medium has completely dried, use wet hand towel and your pointer finger to remove paper and reveal pictures and wording.
Once all pictures and wording are complete, stain wood around pictures and wording with stain of your choice. (Light stain work better - I made three cards, one with gray stain, one with oak stain, and one with ash stain). The two lighter stains work better. Here are the boards with Oak stain.
Once the stain has dried, using a black Sharpie, sign you name on the card. Then, spray the boards with three coats of glossy acrylic spray. Once dry, glue small hinges to attach the front and back boards together to create the card.
Here are some pics of the completed cards (as you can see, the darker ash stain was too dark):
Suggested materials:
  • 1/4" plywood   (Home Depot)
  • Wood burning tool   (craft store)
  • Small hinges   (hardware store)
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Pinspired to DIY
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  2 questions
  • Dorothea Morrison Dorothea Morrison on Jun 17, 2016
    On picture: does orignal photo stay glued to board.? Do i keep photo upright and place that gel glue on top of photo?
  • Lori Eckert Lori Eckert on Mar 02, 2019

    I did something similar to this only i wrote; Do you know what the best thing about Father's Day is? Then when you opened up the card on one side was all the kids pictures an other other side said, US!

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2 of 17 comments
  • Joanie Joanie on Jun 14, 2020

    What a great tribute of love for Father's day. A lifetime treasure........a super, clever idea........I love it! So much better than the USUAL tie.

  • Brittany Brittany on Jun 08, 2021

    🥰 What a thoughtful gift idea! I can't imagine a father who wouldn't want such a long lasting keepsake.

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