*Update* DIY photo canvas

     A few weeks ago I posted this about creating your own photo canvas. I made another canvas yesterday and wanted to update with my changes.

     Here's the new one. Winter themed!!

     Here are the updates. 

          * This looks much better without painting the sides of the canvas. 

          * Walgreens has a white border around their photo. Cut that off before trying to place your photo. 

          * Make sure your strokes while "painting" on the Mod Podge go from the top of the page to the bottom. Otherwise you can see some of the places where you started your stroke when it dries. 

     Other than that this is another super easy project. 

Print your photo, Mod Podge the entire canvas, put the photo on and let it dry, Mod Podge over the entire photo and be sure to seal the edges!!

Photo Wall Decor

     I made this post a few months ago where we personalized some frames with our last name. I had another frame laying around in the basement so I decided to print some photos and hang it. After cleaning off all the dirt and dust I got to work finding the letters I thought would work.

     I had decided to use the word "Noel" since I didn't feel like thinking too long about any other Christmas-y four letter words and used the same site as in my previous post. I narrowed it down to these four letters since they had Christmas colors in them.

     After uploading them to my Walgreens account and picking them up, all I had to do was put them in the frame and I was done. Easiest project EVER!!!

     

Homemade "Believe" Sign

   

      I worked on a lot of projects this week. Some are finished and some not, but I feel very productive. We decided on Tuesday to have a Friends Christmas Dinner this weekend and I was not happy with our Christmas decor yet. Wherever Mike and I have lived in the past four years we have turned the entire place into Christmas. This year it took every single Christmas item I had just to halfway decorate the downstairs. It definitely did not feel like our usual Christmas house.

     So, I got to work on making a few things to decorate it up a little more and called Mom for some backup decorations.

     I saw on Pinterest how you can print out letters and trace them onto wood and the pencil or pen will leave an imprint in the wood. Then you can just paint inside the imprint and you have a sign with beautiful font. So...off I went.

    I already had a piece of wood that I could use so I printed off my words and got to work. I tried to take a picture of the imprint but it wouldn't show up. However, here it is after I painted a couple coats on the wood.

     I painted a few more, probably 4 total. Maybe one day I'll learn not to get the cheapest paint out there. lol. Then I decided it needed something more on the other side. So, I got to work looking for a print to use. I found a nice Santa image I liked that didn't seem too hard to replicate so I printed it out and traced it on the wood. I decided to outline this in black. 

     Then, I painted the Santa, again a few coats and added some holly to the corners just to add a little more pizzaz. Then, VOILA!! Done!! Here he is in all his Santa glory!!!

DIY Photo Canvas

     Ever since Mike and I got our pictures back I have been wanting to make one of these canvases. I see the tutorials all over Pinterest and thought how easy it would be to do this. The prices of photo canvases is absolutely ridiculous and there is no way we can afford as many as I want around my house. lol. 

     So...I got the motivation up last weekend and asked my friend, Abby, to join in on this adventure with me. We both braved our sicknesses and took a trip to Walmart to pick up the Mod Podge and her photo print. Then, at about 10pm, we got to it!!

     The process was definitely not a hard one. Time consuming, yes, but only because of all the waiting you have to do for everything to dry. Other than that it was just a lot of spreading, pressing, and sitting.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 16x20 canvas

Mod Podge - I got mine in matte

your 16x20 photo of whatever print you like 

sponge brush

Xacto knife or razor blade

WHAT YOU DO:

Brush Mod Podge all over the canvas fairly thick. You can spread it on the back of the photo, too if you would like. You want to do this fairly quickly, but don't rush.

Then, place your photo on the canvas evenly and press to stick. ** I used a print from Walgreens. It was a better photo quality than Walmart, but there was an edge of white all the way around the photo. Based on my experience, definitely trim off all that white before you place the photo on the canvas.** I turned mine over on a very clean table and put something heavy on the corners just to make sure they stuck. Let that dry........

     After the Mod Podge dries (I let mine dry overnight) you need to trim the edges. I turned my canvas face down and just lined up the xacto knife with the canvas and cut. With this photo paper I needed to press very hard so make sure you aren't on a surface where you could damage anything. Gently pull off the excess paper. Then Mod Podge over the entire picture/canvas in order to seal the photo to the canvas. 

Don't worry it will dry clear...

Once it dries you are done!!!

     My corners were a little jagged because of the photo paper, but it actually didn't look that bad after the Mod Podging. I sanded down the entire side in order to make it uniform. Next time, I'll keep that in mind.

Before Mod Podge

     

DIY Personalized Wall Decor

I will be the first to admit that I am a cheap frugal person. Nothing in my closet or in my house was bought at full price (unless that price was amazing!). I just refuse to pay in full when I know in a month those things will be on sale. Yes, sometimes I miss out on some beautiful items but I fully believe if I can't make it happen it wasn't meant to be. I love shopping at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Christmas Tree Shops, places like that. I know I'm always getting a good deal.

With that being said I also like nice things. For this reason, Pinterest has become my best friend. There are so many ideas on there that can be done at cheap prices but they are quality items. This summer I spent a lot of time decorating my house with ideas from Pinterest. I did an O'Neil wall hanging that represents us as a new family. I also did some bedroom hangings since our walls were so bare and the napkin hangings for our hallway. For once I feel like I'm actually putting my creative side to use. 

My friend just recently had a baby and I knew I wanted to give her something personalized and special. I feel like there are so many things that someone can give to another person, but when you make it yourself and do it from the heart I feel it gives so much more. You can truly share how much you care and how often you're thinking about that person. This project was very similar to the O'Neil frame that I did, only I used the birthdate of her son instead. 

As you might be able to tell they have a nautical theme to their nursery. I tried to go along with the colors they have, too. I found this frame at Michael's and it was on sale so I think I paid maybe $7 or something. The prints came from this site where you can download them for free. I had Walgreens print mine. The total cost of those was something like $0.60. Rose's had the bobber and blue rope. All I did was hot glue them to the glass. 

This was a simple, cheap present...but it had a lot of heart into it. I spent about an hour deciding which numbers would work perfectly for their theme. I also had to research how to tie a few nautical knots in order to add the extra blue rope. I just wanted it to be nice, and I hope I succeeded. 

My brother is also getting married this summer. He and his bride-to-be had their coed shower last weekend. I decided to do the same thing for them only I used their wedding date. I hope they hang this in their house one day and surround it with pictures from their wedding. I told Mike this and he said, "How come we don't have one??" so maybe that's next. 

For their frame I did something a little different. I cut out some of the flowers from their shower invites and added them to the frame mat. I thought it would be something they could have to represent their union for years to come, even if they don't keep the date in the frame. 

This turned out to be something that they really enjoyed. My soon to be sis-in-law noticed right away that they were from the invites. Their wedding had a very natural theme, if you get what I mean. She's doing burlap and wood, stuff like that. Therefore, I looked for some pictures that seemed to follow that theme too. I debated whether to keep the frames in their original color or to use a sepia color, but I figured with the flowers some color wouldn't hurt. Hopefully, like I said, this is something that they can keep and change with the different events of their lives. 

Here's the finished product...