Ever want one of those perfect newborn pictures or your most recent family portrait on a canvas but can’t afford to get it done professionally? Yeah, me too. You can do it yourself inexpensively! If you’re a crafty mama you may even already have all of the supplies on hand! I think I do….somewhere. Now I’m not saying these could REPLACE professional quality canvas. I just think for some of us they are good enough to be a substitute.
Supplies:
Computer & Printer
Printer Paper
Scotch tape ( I only had packing tape on hand and it works too!)
White Tissue Paper
6″x6″ Canvas (I like mine on the frame already!)
Scissors
Mod Podge
Foam Brush
Acrylic Paint (optional)
Instructions:
READ ALL OF THEM BEFORE STARTING!!!! It will help save you from making mistakes!
Step 1: Prepare your image and paper. Open up your picture in an editor of some sort (I use Paint). Crop your image to a square and size to fit your 6×6 canvas I’m not sure if it is universal but I sized mine to 1800×1800 pixels and it was a bit bigger than my canvas but was perfect! Cut an 8″x8″ piece of tissue paper and tape it to a regular piece of printer paper. Be careful not to get too much tape on to the tissue paper because you don’t want ink over top of the tape. I just do a small sliver on the tissue paper and still managed to get the ink over the tape. ***You should do a print preview to see where best to place you tissue paper.*** Load the tissued paper in to your printer and then print your picture.
Step 2: Cut out your picture trying to stay close to the printed part BE FUCKING CAREFUL. It is tissue paper. You will rip it if you aren’t careful. I also like to practice putting my image down on the canvas here. Since mine prints bigger than needed I arranged it how I wanted and gently creased the edges so I could easily find where I needed it to go when the mod podge is wet.
Step 3: Using your foam brush paint a thin but even layer of mod podge on to your canvas. You may want to do a little around the sides too but I usually do this after the image is set.
Step 4: Place tissue paper on to the mod podge canvas. Again be careful. Center it before you place it on to the canvas and starting from the middle GENTLY smooth it out if necessary. Go slow! Fold the edges down and trim if necessary. You can put the mod podge under now and gently press those down too. I did a fold like I was wrapping a present on the corners. If you get and air bubble don’t panic you can press from under and and above at same time and it make wrinkle a bit but will add to the canvas picture look again be gentle when doing so.
Step 5: With your foam brush paint another THIN but EVEN layer of mod podge over top of the picture. It will look white for a little bit but it dries clear! I can’t stress enough the even layer! It will look streaky when dry if you don’t do an even layer.
Step 6: Let dry about 20 minutes, you can add another coat if you wish, I don’t usually. I always rush things so I didn’t wait 20 minutes before painting the sides with acrylic paint. This step is optional if you like the white canvas and/or your picture didn’t mess up around the edges you can leave it. I like to use the paint to hide my mess ups (this is probably from rushing but oh, well.) Wait 1-2hrs between coats of paint/when drying final time.
Step 7: Enjoy your beautiful canvas photo!
I did these for a quite a few people for Christmas a few years back and as far as I know everyone loved them! My favorites were my nieces newborn pictures just melted my heart seeing them all little again! I totally did them for just about everyone EXCEPT my parents that year. Maybe I’ll give them some this year hmmm kind of just spoiled it though so maybe not….SORRY MOM!
I want to see your canvas photos! You can share them on Swearin Mama’s Facebook page! Are you a crafty mama? Check out How to Make Your Own Hair Bows and How To Make a Heart Wreath for Under $10!
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