Ok, so I wanted to do a project that would be a suuuuper cheap Valentines Day gift. I looked around and priced how much it would cost to do a photo canvas. For a 16x20 photo canvas (the size photo canvas on top) the cheapest I found was at Costco for $37.99 and the most expensive was at Snapfish for $79.99. I found a way to make a cheaper one at a fraction of the price. Now it's not that I'm a cheapskate but this project was to show that you can give a gift that looks expensive and actually not spend so much money. I did two photo canvas, a 16x20 and an 8x10.
I went to Michaels and bought a 8x10 canvas and used a coupon for 40% off. You can print out this coupon by going to Michaels.com and looking at the weekly ad. They have other types of coupons such as 20% off the entire purchase. I then selected the picture I wanted to use for my project and printed it out at Walgreens.com. I then found a coupon for Walgreens for 40% off any photo. You can always find coupons for Walgreens photos on the Walgreens website. In total I spent less than $10 for this project. For the 16x20 canvas I spent less than $20.
Materials: Canvas, photo, mod podge, 2 foam brushes, black craft paint, scissors or X-acto knife.
Step 1: Using a foam brush, paint the sides of the canvas with whatever color of your choosing. I chose black since I chose a black and white photo. I also painted a bit over the edge on the front so when I glue the picture the edges of the photo will blend onto the black canvas. Do one layer first and once it dries you may decide to do a second layer or leave as is.
Step 2: Take the picture you printed out and measure it against the canvas. Even though the size on both is 8x10, because of the edges of the canvas, the photo will not fit perfectly. Use either scissors or an X-acto knife to trim the edges a bit until you feel satisfied that it fits perfectly within the canvas.
Step 3: Using the second foam brush, dip it in mod podge and brush it onto the front of the canvas where your photo will go. Cover the entire front and then set the photo on top of the canvas and center it. Turn the canvas upside down, apply pressure on the edges for a couple of minutes to allow the front to dry.
Step 3: (Optional) Once the photo is dried you can brush on a layer of the mod podge on top to give the photo some texture and so it will have more of a matte look.
At an angle you can see the texture from the mod podge.
Step 4: Let your canvas dry and prop it up somewhere to show it off or give it to a special someone as a Valentines Day gift :)
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