From Beast to Beauty

I have been loving the look of wrapped canvases

and since we had our pictures taken last fall

I have been looking and pinning ideas

on how to achieve this look for less

When I saw two of these beasts

for $1 each I knew it was time to start

implementing some of those ideas

They were each 16 x 20 and just plain ol ugly

if you are not into pastels & flowers...which I'm not

So I snagged both of them up

 and ordered two 16 x 20 prints from Shutterfly

(which I was very impressed the their shipping and the fact

that both pictures arrived with no damages or creases)

First I had to disassemble the flower pictures

The canvas was just held on by some staples

so I removed a bazillion of those little buggers with my screwdriver

The pliers came in handy for some of those stubborn little buggers

After I was done this is what I was left with

Next I flipped the canvas over

and stapled it back on

I wanted the blank side up so I had a smooth surface to glue my

picture onto

This is where I stopped taking pictures because I needed both hands

I put a coat of mod podge on the canvas and laid my picture on top

I had a few minutes to make sure the placement was perfect

and then started gently rubbing out all the bubbles.

After this dried I put a few coats of mod podge on top of the picture

just to seal it up nicely.

*Note I actually had too many bubbles the first time I did it

and I was able to carefully remove my picture after the mod podge

dried and start over - because I cannot do anything right the first time!

I then added some scrapbook paper to the sides to help hide all those

unsightly staples and used a sponge to paint all edges

I also sponged just a bit onto the picture itself hoping it

would make it look older/like it blended into the sides

...note to self - next time wear gloves :)

You can see the strips of scrapbook paper in this next picture

This picture makes it look very messy and unprofessional

...which it is :) but once you don't zoom in it looks great

See?! 

I was able to do one for each of our little girls 

And here's how they look up on the wall

Completely out of order really, but here is a picture of the corner

looks a bit more professional from this angle :)

Total cost for each 16 x 20 canvas was $19

compared to $72 each for a gallary wrapped canvas print

which means I saved a total of $106 :).

And canvases from JoAnns aren't that expensive

especially when you catch them on a 40% off sale

so I can see myself repeating this process again