I am so excited to share this easy and beautiful tutorial for to make your own DIY Canvas Photos from inexpensive craft supplies!! I finally set aside the time and put a picture of the girls on canvas for Graham for Father’s Day. It was such a quick and easy project and I think the results are super cool.

The supply list is short:

canvas

photograph (same size as canvas)

MATTE mod podge

scrapbook paper

acrylic paint

First, cut strips of scrapbook paper to fit each side of the canvas. It’s easiest if the strips are just slightly shorter and narrower than the sides. Apply mod podge liberally and glue strips on each side Glue the photograph to the top of the canvas. You can lay your project on wax paper so that it doesn’t stick to your work space while drying. Allow to dry completely.

Then, apply a coat of mod podge over the entire surface, the edges and the picture. Allow to dry completely again. It will look milky at first, but will dry clear. I used photos printed at Costco; they held up well and the ink didn’t smudge or anything wonky like that.

Okay, so after it’s all dry, use a sponge or cloth to dab on acrylic paint to cover any spaces between side paper strips and the photograph. I also liked the look of smudging up the corners. The paint adds a little texture that I like, too.

I only got a quick snapshot of Graham’s picture before we wrapped it up and now it resides at his office.

I made a couple more canvas pictures for Addie’s room with my favorite pictures from her birthday. I usually prefer black and white photos, but I did these in color because I love how the coloring coordinates perfectly in her bedroom. Rather than the black acrylic paint, I mixed a metallic bronze, medium brown, and metallic black and dabbed that around the edges and corners. It took me a couple tries to get the right color combination, but since the mod podge was well dried, I was able to rub off the unwanted paint with a damp sponge – foolproof! You gotta love that.

This is one of those immediate gratification projects. Each step literally takes less than a minute, and the mod podge dries fairly quickly (e.g., less than 30 minutes). You can have your canvas photo project done and on display in no time at all!

I like it, I think I’m going to go for a big ‘ol picture next.

PLEASE ALSO READ: CANVAS PHOTOS DIY REVISITED

( for additional project ideas and answers to your FAQs)

The playroom was not originally finished when we built our house three years ago. It was left unfinished and stuffed to the brim with boxes that we didn’t want to unpack and furniture [that I very much intend to refinish someday] for which we have no place in our house. I can still picture myself flipping through Pottery Barn Kids catalogs and commenting that it was a REALLY good thing that I didn’t have a playroom to decorate because I wanted everything.

When I returned to work full-time after my second daughter was born, the commutes, the emotional adjustment, the exhaustion, led us into a frenzy of readying the house so that we could sell it and move to a home that would allow me to stop working. We called our contractor to finish that unfinished space – we needed the square footage to sell.

Then God intervened. Out of the blue, my husband was offered a local job, and I was able to drop to part-time work, from home. We didn’t sell the house, but we did have a big, empty, undecorated playroom. Oh, and no money to buy one of everything from Pottery Barn (or even one of anything, for that matter). I was lacking inspiration until Lizzy posted pictures of her CHA booth for the debut of her new craft line, dear Lizzy. I started gathering picture frames and shadow boxes from around the house that weren’t in use. I picked up a few more at thrift stores. I painted them a uniform white and filled them with various collages using the dear Lizzy spring line of paper, fabric paper, and embellishments.

I finally got to put together one of those fab butterfly collages seen around the web.

The collage is centered above the kids’ art table in the playroom. I included a 12×12 piece of thick corkboard, covered with a sheet of the adhesive-backed fabric where the girls can pin up their artwork.

The wall is not done, of course. I will be adding a chalkboard, maybe a whiteboard, a couple more corkboards. Who knows – I have a good stash of supplies leftover. I think it will be cheaper fun to add to the wall when I am coveting something in the latest PBK catalog an idea catches my fancy.

How are you covering your walls?

a place to play

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