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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

diy canvas art tutorial

so the plan was for me to just buckle down and order a large canvas print of the girls.

it was something i wanted for their room, i had really cute pictures to use, and i was just going to STOP BEING SO CHEAP AND ORDER IT FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD.

you know what they say—the best laid plans of mice…and thrifty bloggers.

i tried. i really did. i had the thing uploaded, options picked, sitting in my virtual shopping cart for THREE days. i kept going back and looking at it—pointer finger hovering over the tiny tap necessary to complete my purchase.

and i couldn’t do it.

couldn’t bring myself to spend the $70.

instead i started googling things like “DIY photo canvas”. and the next thing you know, there we were:

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+

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then

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let it dry for 24 hours, then

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let that dry a good 48 hours (i wanted to be sure it was TOTALLY dry), then

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and then

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and finally,

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so.

there it is.

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it’s not exactly the crisp, clean, modern photo i initially imagined. i knew going in that it would be virtually impossible to get a piece of paper that size glued to the canvas completely wrinkle free, so i decided to work with it.

embrace the imperfections.

embrace the $50 still in my pocket, more likely.

it’s a more rustic, weathered look. and i think i like it, but i’m not totally sure. (actually, the more i look at these pictures of a picture, the happier i am with it)

what do you think?
let me know in the comments. and also, is this the picture you voted for?
seriously…up until the LAST SECOND of ordering i was wavering on which one to get.

the process was easy enough—and something that could easily be done on a smaller scale for super cheap (and smaller paper would be easier to pull tight and keep wrinkle free)

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overall i have to say i’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. and this is definitely a project i want to experiment with some more!

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11 comments:

  1. As an artist, I couldn't help myself...


    DIY canvas photo tip: Apply the glue to the paper, not the canvas, and attach starting at the corner. Put the glue one slowly and liberally as you go. This gives you more opportunities to smooth it out. Also, before adding mod podge, you can use a razor blade to smooth the wrinkles. In fact, sort of scraping the whole picture a little bit will allow more of the canvas texture to show through, and give you more of a painted-on-canvas look.

    ...that said, it's awesome. The whole room blows my mind. :)

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  2. Very cute. I like it. And I voted for it.

    Also, if you DO decide that you like the distressed canvas look, you should try this out:
    http://deliacreates.blogspot.com/2011/05/yellow-distressed-canvas-updated.html

    I've done it twice and love both outcomes.

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  3. @becomingsupermommy...thanks for the tips! i knew i should have done it all differently. but as usual i impatiently jumped in without thinking it all through.
    i am happy with the end result...but i'm very interested in trying it again.

    @kimberly--i'm going to check that out! thanks!

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  4. This was my favorite photo of your cute girls. I think I'm going to try to do this myself. Maybe a little smaller tho. I've pinned a few different ways to do it. Wonder which one works best.

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  5. I LOVE this!!! I'm big into arts and photography so this would be a perfect project for me!! I need to make this!

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  6. You have done great work, the canvas print's images you have added in this post they are looking too good, girls are looking so happy and cute in the print, i just want to say thanks for sharing this great prints.

    Canvasdezign

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  7. LOVE THIS!!! Im having difficulty finding blueprint paper. Any suggestions?

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    Replies
    1. i sent my photo as a jpeg file to officemax and they printed it on the blueprint paper on their large sized printer. i'm not sure where you'd find it yourself? sorry!

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  8. it is cheaper to have a office supply store print it for you ! good luck

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  9. what did you sand it with?

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    Replies
    1. i'd love to give a fancy sounding answer here, but the truth is i grabbed a piece of $1 store sandpaper i had in the closet. i don't even know what "grit" it was! ha! just go slow and be careful...you can always take more off, but you can't put it back!

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