R & B Love, Love, Love bath time! So, around the time I did their 18 month pictures, I also snapped a few shots of them in the tub one evening. I had seen tutorials around the web about making your own canvas prints, and I thought this would be a great time to test out the tutorials and create some great wall art for our bathroom.
There is a great tutorial from Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body – check it out here. This was my starting inspiration for this project.
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First things first, here’s my supplies list:
- stretched canvas
- pictures printed out poster size (you can always trim the posters down to match the size of your canvas)
- scissors
- pencil and measuring tape
- Mod Podge – matte
- paint brushes
- Frog Tape
- craft paint
A note on buying canvases: Wait for Michael’s to have a sale. I think they have the best prices. I bought two 24″ x 24″ canvases during a buy one, get one free sale. Woot!
Pick out your pictures. If you are going to do a square picture like me, you need to follow one additional step. If you crop your picture down to a square, and then take it in for printing on say a 16″ x 20″ poster, you will have a BIG problem. The computer at the developing place will stretch your square picture out into a rectangle. I used Picmonkey to crop my picture to a square, and then make it black and white. I saved this document to my desktop and then opened a blank “design” document that was 1800 x 1440 pixels (the right size for a 16″ x 20″ print). I then added my saved square photo as an overlay. The end result was posters that look like this:
I took my files to Costco and had them printed as 16″ x 20″ posters. I trimmed the posters down to 16″ x 16″. Then the real fun started.
Using a large paint brush, apply a coat of Mod Podge to the canvas. Lay your photo down on the canvas and smooth down, making sure your photo is centered and level. Let dry. The Mod Podge container said 15 minutes.
Side note: don’t want to wash your brush between steps? Wrap the bristles in a damp paper towel followed by a layer of aluminum foil. Place in the refrigerator. Your brush won’t dry out, and it will last for days.
Since this photo is smaller than the canvas, I wanted an extra layer of Mod Podge around my photo border. Apply a thin layer around the edge of the photo. Let dry.
Apply a layer of Mod Podge over the entire photo. Then grab an extra canvas and place it face-down on your photo. Then gently lift the canvas up. This will leave that great canvas texture behind, making your DIY canvas look professional!
Let dry. Since the next step involves putting down Frog Tape, allowing the Mod Podge to dry overnight, instead of the recommended 15 minutes, is best.
This next step will truly test your geometry skills.
My canvas was 24″ x 24,” so I measured out and make small pencil marks every 3 inches around the border of the canvas. I then taped out my design with Frog Tape.
Paint inside the tape, but don’t let the paint dry entirely. You will get a cleaner line if you remove the tape (at an angle) while paint is still slightly tacky.
Finally, add another layer of Mod Podge around the border. This will make sure the entire canvas has the same texture and sheen.
After everything dried, I hung my new works of art in our bathroom. Miss B. was really excited – I think she recognized herself in the pictures and kept pointing at them.
I’m so excited with how these photo canvases turned out. R & B are just growing too fast; I will be glad I captured these memories.
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- A $6 Large Poster Frame
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- an organized twin nursery closet
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- Newborn Shadow Boxes
I love these canvases! Such cute decoration for your kid’s bathroom. You did an amazing job! Thanks so much for sharing at Much Ado About Monday. 🙂
Incredible!! You should really put yourself up for hire Aimee…………..
I love this project! Such a creative way to use a canvas and display some adorable photos!
What a cute idea. I love it. Pinned!
Thanks Teresa!
I LOVE this post so much! I cannot wait to try this out! Thanks for sharing! So happy I found you on the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop.
Jeannine
Beautiful and so stylish! It’s a project I would to try doing it for my living room! pinned ! Found on sincerely paula link up. Have a blessed day 🙂
http://www.unfadingbeautyblog.com
This looks so relatively easy and they came out wonderfully! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Stopping by from Favorite Fridays!
Adorable! My children are too old for this, but I have a friend with toddler twins. I’m sending this to her now. Thanks!
Great share!! Love the idea a must save 🙂
I love the photo canvas idea! So cute!
Such adorable photos! I love canvas rints so I might have to give the DIY option a go.
Oh my goodness! These are adorable! I am going to have to do this. I’m sure I have a few canvases laying around here somewhere. My wheels are turning….Thanks so much for linking up to WYWW!
Thanks for the kind words and for hosting, Nikki!
Love this cute idea! Thanks for sharing it!
SO adorable. I’ll be featuring this post on Wednesday’s WYWW! Thanks for sharing. Love these.
Thanks for linking up at the Creative Spark Link Party! I hope you will stop by again today to link up! http://bit.ly/1kbGQ7W
Stopping by from the linkup! Love this DIY! Although I don’t know that I have the patience for the chevron! But it looks fabulous! 🙂
This really rocks Aimee! I can’t wait to try this one at home. I like putting canvas prints in any areas of my house for a new look. I think this one is a cheaper one than buying anywhere. I would love to try something new in terms of canvas printing and this one is a nice idea.
Thanks Anne! Let me know how it turns out!
I am so excited to do this. Did you frog tape around the photo before you painted the stripes?
Yes Kim, I think I did. Happy crafting!
Could you paint the design first then put the photo on?
Absolutely. You can do whatever order you choose, since the Mod Podge dries clear.
This is fantastic! What paint do you have on the walls?
Hi Ryan – it was in a rental, so I’m not sure. Sorry!