Art Project

We've been in need of some color/patterns/textures in our apartment for about 6 months now. When my family visited for Christmas a few weeks ago, Mom was ready to whip the place into shape!  She is a pinterest-ing craft queen.  A recurring theme on the craft boards is color/pattern/texture swatches on canvases, so we thought we'd give it a try.  There are many different and neat ideas (including uphosltery, photography, and wall clings) for decorating using canvases, and we went with a scrapbook paper/Modge Podge one-two punch.  Below are the steps I used to create the canvases now hanging on our dining room walls.


1.  Purchase painters canvases (in desired shapes and sizes) from a hobby store.  Michaels here in Dallas had 7 packs (what a strange number!) of 12"x12"' canvases for a very reasonable price (I can't remember how much they were, sorry).

2.  Purchase scrapbook paper (12x12) from the hobby store.  I chose three patterned and three colored pieces.

3. Purchase brown or a dark colored inexpensive acrylic paint and a medium sized flat brush from a hobby store and paint the sides of the canvas with the color.  It is totally fine (and actually encouraged) to paint a bit of the front  (1/2-1" from the edge) too in case the paper doesn't quite make it to the edge of the canvas.

4.  Purchase Modge Podge with the desired finish from a hobby store.  MP is a craft glue/sealer/finisher that paints on white and tacky but dries clear and glossy or matte depending on the bottle.  I painted a fairly thin layer of matte MP onto the canvases (post side painting) and then stuck the scrapbook paper on top.  I then went along each of the sides of the canvases with my brush and smoothed out any big globs of MP.

5.  After fixing the scrapbook paper to the canvases, I flipped them over and placed heavy objects (soup cans mostly because that's what I had around) on the corners.  We had a bit of a problem with the paper  rippling but did our best to smooth via the back of the canvas (you can see some of the ripples on the darker canvases.  i think it adds to the artsy feeling haha).  I let them dry for about a half an hour at most.

6.  I flipped over the canvases and generously applied more MP from the middle outward across the entire front of the paper.  I then made sure each of the sides was also (thinly) coated and let them dry over night.

7.  I hung them on my walls with 3M Command velcro strips.

Oh, and that's my snail picture I took in Sweden a few summers ago.

Thanks for your ideas, artistic and crafty insights, Mom!