Attempting to craft with Mod Podge

So, a while ago, I started trying to be crafty. I started getting little figurines and dolls from thrift stores and painting them up to be monsters, and I realized that I actually really enjoyed it. Some of them didn't work out as well as others, but it's still something that I like doing. I've been seeing mod podge craft tutorials everywhere, and I thought that it looked wonderful and it was something that I wanted to try. I have a big project in mind, but I don't want to try that one until I get the hang of this thing. The first one I tried was a photo transfer: you use the mod podge to transfer a photo onto a piece of wood. I chose a picture of my boyfriend and I, and I set to work. It transferred, but it didn't look good at all. Some parts of it peeled off, and the picture looked really faded. I painted the wood a bright green first, and I think that...maybe I shouldn't have done that. Maybe I should've sized the picture to fit the wood exactly. Maybe I'm using the wrong kind of mod podge (there's a photo transfer medium that I didn't know about until afterwards...) I'm not entirely sure what I did wrong, but I'm not giving up. I will get this right.

So, with that failed experiment staring me in the face, I had to figure out something to do with it. My first thought was to paint over it. So I started to paint it white. With the bright green, and the darker colors in the picture, though, it didn't cover it up very well. I could have let it dry and given it another coat, but I'm far too impatient for that. So, I started to paint some purple onto it. The purple that I have is very thin for some reason, and it doesn't stick to most things I paint. I'm not sure why I chose it here...But when it mixed with the white that was still wet, it actually thickened up and gave the wood a really neat look. I liked it. So I left it that way and started brainstorming on what else I could do. I decided to make a Dracula plaque. So I got a photo of Bela Lugosi, printed out some words, and mod podged 'em right on there (no transferring this time...) Putting Dracula on a purple board might seem weird, but to me, it looks like purple satin coffin lining. I actually really like how it turned out. It's not perfect, but for a beginner, I'd say it's not too bad.

My first failed mod podge experiment turned into something I'm actually quite proud of. It will be hanging on my wall once I get some hooks and things. And I'm already planning on doing one with Frankenstein's Monster and his Bride. Maybe I'll have a whole collection of them before too long.