Decorative Canvases for Little $$

It took me a couple years to decide what to put on our bedroom walls, but it was worth the wait! I love the decorations we have now. View this post to see the very beginnings of this project.

The REALLY good news is that this project only cost $25-$30 (That’s FOUR canvases for only $25-$30! Can you believe it?!). At department stores, I’ve see 12”x12” canvas prints cost $20 or more a piece! Mine were MUCH cheaper, not to mention, fun to make :).

Supplies

  • 12” x 12” canvas – I used 4 for this project
  • Mod Podge
  • Scrapbook paper of your choice – I used decorative paper for the face of the canvas and solid paper for the sides of the canvas
  • Paint, any color you wish – I used leftover paint I had from redoing the bedroom
  • Paper plate large enough to put a glob of paint on and to also dab your spouncer brush to remove the excess paint
  • Spouncer sponge brushes (see pic below) or just a really small regular sponge brush to use for painting the canvas edges
  • Watercolor paint brush, optional (I used this a little when painting the edges of the canvas, but it’s probably not necessary)
  • Small/medium sized sponge brush to use for the Mod Podge
  • Paper Trimmer Cutter, such as this

This was my inspiration and guide for the project, but the link doesn’t work anymore :/. I completed this project a while ago, but I think I can remember all the steps – we’ll see!

Before beginning this project, read through all the steps below including the **Variation at the end.

Steps

1. Coat the canvas(es), sides included, with Mod Podge using the small/medium sponge brush and let it dry. This shouldn’t take very long.

2. While the canvases are drying, trim the decorative scrapbook paper to fit the face of the canvases using the paper trimmer cutter. Even though both the scrapbook paper and canvas are 12”x12”, the paper will likely hang over just a bit. It’s better for the paper to be a little smaller than the canvas.

3. Using the paper trimmer cutter, cut the solid color scrapbook paper to fit the sides of the canvases.

4. The Mod Podge on the canvases should be dry by now, so it’s time for more Mod Podge! Cover both the face of the canvas and the back of the scrapbook paper with Mod Podge. While it’s still wet, put the paper on the canvas and smooth it out using your hands or a soft cloth. Do the same for the sides of the canvas. While this is drying, move on to the next canvas until you’ve completed all of them (if you are making multiple).

5. After the Mod Podge is dry from step 4, put one more coat of….you guessed it…. Mod Podge over the entire canvas, sides included. Complete this step for all canvases and let it dry.

6. The white edges of the canvases are still showing. Use paint to cover this. Put a small amount of paint on a paper plate, dip the spouncer in it, and then dab the spouncer on a dry portion of the plate to remove the excess paint. You want nearly all the paint off the brush (it’s almost like a dry-brush technique).

7. Cover all the canvas edges with the paint. No need to be perfect here (see pic below). Let this dry.

8. Hang these pretty things and enjoy!

**Variation: Instead of cutting pieces of scrapbook paper to fit the sides of the canvases, you could just paint the edges completely. If you do this, be sure to paint a border around the face of the canvas as well (your decorative piece of scrapbook paper won’t fit perfectly, and you don’t want any ugly, plain, white canvas showing). After painting the edges, let it dry, then cover the face of the canvas with Mod Podge. You won’t need any Mod Podge on the sides of the canvas. Skip step 3 and 6 completely.

Pictures

It looks a lot better in person. I need to work on my photography skills!

The red vases in the pictures above were another project of mine. I’ll blog about those sometime soon – stay tuned! ::UPDATE:: Here’s the vase project.

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