DIY Photo Canvas

I kind of have a motto when it comes to getting projects done around the house: Why pay more than you have to? Just do it yourself!

I think this comes from growing up in a house with a handyman father and a creative mother as well as my own budget conscious mind. So, when I decided that I wanted to add three photo canvases to our entryway, I checked around for prices and immediately said, "Yeah, I bet I can do this cheaper myself!"

When I checked around for professional photo canvases, most 8 x 8 canvas prints were between $15 and $20.

I've been watching prices on canvases at our local hobby stores for a few weeks because, even though they are cheaper than professionally printed photo canvases, they are still pricey. When Michael's had their "Buy 3 for the price of 1" sale recently, I jumped at the opportunity and grabbed three 8" x 8" white canvases for $6.99.

It took me a bit to settle on which three photos I wanted to use, but once I picked them, I cropped and resized them to be 8" x 8" as well. I printed the photos on regular white printer paper using my home printer. While, technically, this cost me the use of ink, it was ink I already had on hand, so in my mind printing was free.

I decided to paint the edges of the canvases black for a more finished look and I just used some black acrylic paint to do that. I overlapped the front of them a bit as well in case the photos were not perfectly flush with the edge of the canvas.

I used my paper cutter to cut out my three photos. I am terrible at cutting straight lines, really terrible.

After my black paint had dried, it was time to add the photos to the canvases. First, I spread a thin layer of modge podge (which I had on hand) onto the front of the canvas to act as my glue, and then I carefully laid the photo onto the canvas.

 I smoothed it out as much as possible and then covered it with another thin modge podge layer. 

If you're not familiar with modge podge you're probably freaking out about the white-ish coating on the photo - don't fear, it dries clear! (Rhyming totally intended).

Once the first coat was dry, I put a second thin layer of modge podge over the photo to make sure it was good and sealed and then I let that layer get nice and dry too.

Voila! Three photo canvases for $3.33 each (paint and canvas). 

While mine are not perfect, they do provide a pretty significant savings and the do-it-yourself character they add to the entryway is exactly what I wanted.

I plan to hang them in the entryway opposite my new wall art, but I have another project to tackle there first! Until next time...

What projects have you decided to take on yourself? Was it worth it?

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