I’m a Pinterest pinner with really big ambitions…and bad follow through. I’ve pinned enough recipes and craft ideas to last me the rest of my life. So when I came across the DIY photo canvas idea and actually found myself at Michael’s picking up the goods, I was happily shocked by my initiative.
But let me be honest – the canvas was on sale & I had a 40% coupon. It was probably the deal that drove me to Michael’s and the guilt of having the supplies that got me crafting.
I’ve gotten on a photo canvas kick in the past year. We have lovely family photos and I really like the way the canvas looks. (It’ll probably be tacky in another year’s time.) But the prices, especially in Canada, for the photo canvas prints (even using Groupon) are crazy.
So instead of spending $100 on a 16×24 canvas print, I bought 4 – 5x7s and 2-8x10s with the photos for a cool $25. (I already had the ModPodge and the brush.)
Here’s how it went. (And I’m not a professional crafter, so I’ll tell you all the things that went wrong too).
What I used:
- Canvases
- Photos – printed on matte paper, no border
- Satin ModPodge
- Sponge brush
- Newspaper
- Cloth towels
- Command photo Velcro strips
1. Other sites told me to paint the sides of the canvas black. That’s too much work for me. I kept them white and liked it.
2. Paint both the canvas and back of the photo in ModPodge. Keep it thin, smooth out the lines. Let it dry.
3. The photo will align well, with a bit of a cliff where the canvas rounds, but the photo stays straight. Another site said to use an exacto knife and cut the excess. I did that on my first one and realized that I’m terrible with an exacto knife. I found a workaround – pretend you’re caulking a tub.
Use enough ModPodge to fill in the little “cliff” area between the photo and canvas.
4. Once the first step was dry, I started around the canvas edges with the ModPodge. I made sure to fill in that little cliff area – caulk away! I did all the sides first, let the ModPodge spill over on the front of the photo, smoothed out that excess and then added enough to cover the picture. Again, a light layer is enough here. Too much and you’ll get way too much texture.
Finished the edges, now to smooth out the excess and paint the image.
After ModPodging the front, it will look white, but will dry clear.
5. Place them on a cloth towel to dry. (They’ll be tacky so newspaper or paper towel will stick. I did that on a previous project.)
Watch out for cat hair, dust, etc. as they dry.
6. I let them all dry and viola! a few hours later I have canvas prints. I also did not do another layer of ModPodge – mostly because it seemed redundant and increased the possibility for errors.
So things that I learned:
- Make sure your foam brush isn’t old or dry. Lest you get little black dots on your images and can’t get them off because the ModPodge dried. (I call it my “antiquing” technique).
- Best not to have a cat around. Or just own the fact that you wanted your cat & his hair to be immortalized in the family photos.
- Use those Velcro strips to hang them up. I hate nail holes, but love the Command strips. And these are so light, you only need to use two strips per one frame to hang.
I did this between taking care of a teething baby and watching my husband install a baby gate.
The bottom canvases are the “I paid $100 each” ones. The top four are my crafty creations.