DIY Image on Canvas - With a Twist!

Now that Christmas is finally over, I can share all of the DIY projects that I crafted as presents! I finished most of these in September (I think) so I've been waiting a long time to be able to release these posts!

I want to start with the DIY Image on Canvas(es) that I did. I made quite a few of these because they are SO easy. And I mean EASY! 

What you'll need: 

1. Canvas (of any size) 
2. The Image you want
3. Mod Podge
4. Foam Brush 
5. Newspaper (or another form of paper to put underneath the craft) 

BONUS: 

1. String of battery operated craft lights
2. Batteries 
3. Staple Gun and staples

Easy, peezy lemon squeezy project!  Once you've gathered all of your materials, lay out your bottom layer of paper. Since Mod Podge dries very quickly, you really need not worry about your canvas sticking to the paper. But it is always a good idea to keep on the lookout for that.

I started with a 6 inch x 6 inch canvas. I got an extremely good deal on a pack of 4 at Michael's during one of their sales. It was buy one get 2 free. So I ended up getting 16 6 x 6 canvases, most of which are gone now!

 Either print your picture or take one (from whatever source you'd like, unless for resale, copyright laws and all) that is on a piece of printer paper (I found this was the easiest.)  I simply filled in some edges in Photoshop and used the picture below, printed on 8 x 10 paper from my at home printer!  The photo was taken by Richard Byers.

Lather up both the canvas and your image with Mod Podge and gently lay the image in the area where you want it to be on the canvas. Since I wanted mine to wrap around the sides, I widened the image a bit (7 x 7) to fit around the corners.

Quickly and firmly press the image down onto the canvas. From there, I flipped over to ensure it would dry together properly. This only took about 2 minutes.

Trim the edges of your image, if necessary. If you do not have an image that runs off the page our you simply put a cut out in the middle/corner, skip over the next little blurb. 

If your image wraps off the canvas: Then flip and cut the corners of your image up until you meet the canvas, just as in the below image. Lather both the side of the canvas and the back of the image/paper. Fold the two together and move to the next side. Do the same for each side. this will make your sides fold onto the side next to it, creating a nice, snug grasp.

After that is done, you'll take your Mod Podge and run a thin but generous layer across both the top of the image and the sides of your canvas to ensure the image looks "glossy" and stays in place.

Do NOT get discouraged at the image starts to look like wet paper like the third image below (because it is wet paper.) When the Mod Podge fully dries (which can take from an hour to overnight, depending on how much you lather on), it will pull tight again! I was pretty upset the first round of images, but the next morning everything was tight and the image looked great!

 Here are some of the other images I did. If you've seen/read my Window Mirror DIY tutorial, then you've already seen the blue stripes. I needed something linear to go in my work office!  The others were just a nice add on to the top of my desk at work, as well.

BONUS: 

For some reason I did not take  images of the canvas of my family and I after it was complete. :( I added a string of battery powered craft lights to the back of them which illuminates a pretty good distance! 

All you have to do is staple them to the back so that they do not light the middle of the canvas. Point them facing out.

Here is an image of the back of another craft project that I did with canvases (just painting, nothing too difficult) with the string of lights attached to the back. I pointed these ones in so they would light up the white section of the canvas, but it is the same general premise! Instead of making them point inward toward the canvas, just staple them around the outer edges to illuminate outward! 

 I made quite a few of these for Christmas. They are easy, simply and quite inexpensive but have a great deal of meaning because you can easily personalize them!