Crafty Time: Make Your Own Canvas Prints

I have always loved the looks of canvas prints.  However, purchasing one from a place like Walgreens starts at $39.99 for an 11' x 14" print.  That's a little bit out of my price range, especially given how much I love swapping out photos.  So after finding The Pinterest Project's attempt at this, I decided to go all out and make my own.

Supplies:

Canvas (size of choice)

Bought a 10 pack originally $20, used Michael's coupon and got it for ten meaning each canvas cost about $1.  Always take advantage of coupons!!

 

Gel Medium

Again, always take advantage of coupons!

Photo (printed on regular paper, not glossy photo paper)

I printed all of my pictures at Fedex Office, costing me about $0.57 per print.  Make sure not to print on photo paper! As well as reverse your image before you print them, or they will turn out backwards!

Procedure:

 

1.  Paint canvas with a generous layer of Gel Medium (enough to cover canvas).  You don't have to overdo it but you want enough for your picture to stick to.

2.  Spray water on to photo side of print using a spray bottle.  Not too much just enough to get the picture slightly moist.  Place print face down onto canvas while gel medium is still wet.  Smooth out with a plastic card of some sort (credit card, drivers license, etc.) and let canvas dry for 24 hours.

Canvas after drying for 24 hours.

   3.  Once dry, spray entire canvas with water.  The canvas needs to be soaked for this to work so make sure the entire thing is thoroughly wet.

A towel on work area is recommended.

4.  Alright, here's the fun part.  Peel off the layer of paper, and ta da! The ink has transferred onto the canvas!  Keep peeling off all the paper until a residue of paper strands is left on the canvas, let dry.  

 This part is very messy! keep a wastebasket near you if you don't want to have to clean up shredded paper.

5.  Once dry, spray again thoroughly with water and start to rub off paper remains.  Repeat as needed.  I was annoyed with how long it took to rub using my finger, I found using a softer scrubbing pad took off the paper remains very well.   Note: if part of the ink is rubbed off in this process, that's ok, it adds what I feel is a nice distressed, worn look to the photos. 

 

After a lot of rubbing and paper mess, I managed to make 19 of these (I'm saving my last canvas of one of my bulk pack for another project).  The best part over all all of these probably cost me about $32 for all of these print (less than $2 for each canvas individually), which is a much cheaper than paying to have one made (I got 18 more for less than the price of one!)  I gave 4 away as gifts and hung the rest in my room and they add a nice homey touch to my room for my senior year in college. 

I absolutely love my canvas prints! Gives me a constant reminder of how much love I have for all my friends and family in my life!

I thought it would be a really cool idea to buy square canvases and print Instagram pictures.  Also, I'm wondering how cool this would look on other surfaces like wood or fabric!

 

   

 

 

Domesticated Girl: Crockpot Applesauce

I absolutely love making things from scratch. If I can do it I'll at least attempt to make it so when I discovered this recipe for crockpot applesauce I had to make it.  Took two attempts, but I think I got it down!

Ingredients:
4 apples (should have used way more, only made about one cup of apple sauce) red delicious and granny smith variety
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 lemon peel
5 tsp brown sugar


Method:
1.  Peel, core, and slice the apples into small chunks
2.  Throw these pieces into a crock pot, followed by the cinnamon powder lemon peel and brown sugar.
3.  Cook on low for 6 hours, stirring occasionally to even cook apples.
4.  Once cooled enough, pour crockpot's contents into a blended and blend until desired consistency.


I am a poor college student and therefore did not have the money to go out and buy expensive cinnamon sticks or lemon juice as the original recipe suggested, but this was adequate to my taste.  One thing I would change is doing away with the lemon peel as there was too much of a lemon flavor.  However, the flavor might have been more subtle if I had used more apples.  Enjoy!

Definitely making this again! The only effort needed was slicing and blending the apples!

Crafty Time: Glitter Wine Glasses

My friend's Birthday is coming up and she is particularly hard to shop for.  However I do know three things she likes: pink, glitter, and wine.  I found a tutorial for glitter champagne glasses on Something Turquoise and adjusted the procedure as I saw fit:
1.  Clean off the glasses with a household wipe (mine were generic grocery store brand).

2.  Once clean, turn glasses upside down and start painting from the stem towards the rim of the glass (not too far up, leave at least 1/4" from the rim of the glass), with paint thicker at the bottom and fading off toward the top.  Note: the sponge idea from Something Turquoise probably would work better in avoiding the left over clear coat of paint, and the paintbrush only made it more prominant.

3.  Let coat sit for one hour, and continue painting on coats as you see fit (I used quite a bit).
4.  To cure the paint, place painted glasses on baking sheet and place in cool oven.  With glasses in oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees and set time for 30 minutes.  At the end of the 30 minutes, turn off oven and leave glasses in oven to cool (The glass doesn't crack, because they heat up as the oven heats up).  Wait at least 72 hours to drink out of your glasses.
5.  Enjoy!

Final Product!

The oven curing method works fantastic!  None of the glitter even rubbed off to my hand when I touched it.  I have yet to try dish washing or even hand washing them, but when my friend does, I shall update how they came out.  Something Turquoise gives several ideas on painting the glasses, I may try the monogramming my others.  

Products used: Martha Stewart Glitter Craft Paint in Bubble Gum, Costco's party pack of wine glasses (good deal! I got a dozen for $14) 


Would love to hear other ideas with this project and see others results!

Crafty Time: Mason Jar as Piggy Bank

I've been saving up for my 21st birthday Las Vegas trip by storing my spare change in a mason jar.  I got bored of the clear jar and decided to paint it in my favorite color.  I also painted a circle in chalkboard paint so I could change the label as I started saving for something different.  Not my best paint job, but still got the job done.  Products used: Martha Stewart craft paint in Sea Glass and Chalkboard paint in Black.