Monday, November 14, 2011

Make Your Own Photo Canvas!

I love photo canvases, but they are just so darn expensive.

I was super excited, yet a bit skeptical when I saw a tutorial on making your own...

But I am here to tell ya
it works!

You just need an 8 x 10 canvas (2 for $6.00 at Michael's...I got mine for $3 with a coupon)...
a foam brush (20 for $1.00 at Michael's last week)...
regular, white tissue paper (20 sheets for $2)
Mod Podge (small bottle $3.50)
Jump on over to Little Bit Funky by clicking on the red link for directions.
I learned a few things after biffing one canvas...

1. You can recover your biffed canvas with warm water and patient, soft wiping with a tea towel. So don't throw your canvas away if you mess up or it is not perfect the first time.

2. Print your photo on the non-glossy, matte side of the tissue paper.

3. Don't put Mod Podge all over the canvas before you set your tissue paper photo on your canvas. Just do a strip down the middle, place your photo down, lightly press the wrinkles out, fold your photo over, paint another strip of Mod Podge, and continue repeating until you are to the edge.

4. Because your tissue paper photo is the size of a standard sheet of paper in order to go into your printer, it will not wrap around the entire side of the canvas. I just glued a ribbon around the edges to give it a finished look.

5. Due to pits in the tissue paper, you will have small spots where the ink does not print. I think it just makes it look more vintage and gives it personality.

AND now you have a photo canvas for less than $10...way less if you consider how many pics you can print on all that tissue paper and how many canvases you can make with that handy bottle of Mod Podge!

Whoop! Whoop!

This is one of my favorite DIY projects yet!

3 comments:

Jenna Southern said...

Love this! I am excited to try it!

Lisa said...

I needed this! Now to find some great pics. This might be the idea for some family gifts, too. Or graduation pics of Alex. I wonder if it works well with color...

Janet said...

Love this! I am excited to try it!