photos on canvas

We've all seen the advertisements for expensive canvas photos.

Although I love them, I've just not been able to justify the expense of having them done.

There are also many different types of do it yourself projects out there

that produce pretty much the same effect.

The goal is to get a canvas on the wall of your loved ones.

I've got a little tutorial here for you to try!

I've posted these pictures on the blog before.

Dad with his girls and mom with her boys.

A small disappointment was that the photos taken of myself and the boys

were taken at 800 ISO which made enlarging them to 11x14 a little less

clear than I would have liked. 

So .... if you're going to try this and can adjust the ISO on your camera,

drop it down to 200.

I had already mounted the large ones before I started snapping pictures,

so these are the 8x10 photos ready for canvas.

I had them printed at Costco and used the option of an added black frame.

I would have used regular canvas, but these happened to be on sale at Michael's when I went,

so thought I would try these instead.

They are a thin board instead of a thicker canvas on a frame.

Some black craft paint and a sponge brush ... 

make sure you get the edges as well.

Because I managed to get paint on the back of the canvas,

I propped them on bowls to dry.

Another coat of black went on when the first was dry.

When the paint was dry, I slopped on Mod Podge.

Don't goop it on too much tho'.

Lay the photo on top of the wet Mod Podge and smooth out any air bubbles,

working your way from the center to the outside. 

Do that before you Mod Podge over the photo!

Once your photo is on smoothly, Mod Podge over the top of it.

Several coats of Mod Podge are advisable.

I was in a hurry and only did one coat. 

If the light hits the wall just the right way, the spots that had less on them show up.

This is a side view of the regular canvas.

I did the same paint and Mod Podging on the larger canvases as well.

I have to say that I liked the application onto the larger one better than the board.

Another negative with the board is that it bent.

I thought about putting a heavy book on it for a while to see if it would 

straighten out, but didn't. It may have been bent from the packaging .. don't know.

Once everything was dry it went up on the wall.

That meant moving the other large piece that sat on this wall.

Which meant hunting for the stud finder.

Filling leftover holes with white toothpaste ....

And then I decided that it would be nice to have the entire family in one picture!

So I uploaded one more photo to Costco.

Much better!

A little hint here about printing photos.

I just sent the photo without checking to see how it would crop when printed.

I lost half of Tia on the right side and half of Brock on the left.

Was wishing I had lost an extra chin or hanging arm on myself instead!

I had a 17x20 frame that I had taken off the wall so ordered that size print

to fill the frame. 

I like it!
I really don't know how pictures are suppose to be placed on walls.
Plunk 'em where you like 'em is my philosophy!

I have also printed photos on tissue paper and then mod podged them onto canvas.
It worked out okay, but my printer liked to leave a white line going across the photo.
Attaching the printed photo the canvas was much easier!
And .... should I ever decide to change them ... I'll just mod podge new photos right over the old ones.
Another penny saving hint: use canvases you already have and are tired of or pick them up at yard sales for a quarter. As long as the paint on the canvas is smooth, it is easily reusable.

Have fun!