More Canvases

Okay, this little adventure in posting all these pics is nearly convincing me to switch to word press. ARG! So I have no clue what pictures and what posts will post in what order, but they should all be here in some form.   

Top picture is the arrangement with these 3 wedding pics hanging up over the mantle. These pics aren't the best but hopefully enough to give an idea. These wedding pics are 12x12 canvases with 11x14 pics or close to it I think. So I had planned to use scrapbook paper as a background for the ones where the canvases and pictures were different sizes. But since that didn't work, Jenni suggested fancy painting. I liked how the edges looked with a blotchy finish instead of paint strokes, if that makes any sense. So in a flury of unprecedented role reversal, she did what I told her to do (hyperbole is perfectly legal in the blog world). 

Like the lovely stick tack above the pic? Originally we tried to hang them all that way. Well, originally we did hang them that way and what followed was random loud crashing sounds (alarmingly terrifying at times when you weren't expecting it) of pictures falling to the floor. So now they are hanging with picture hanging velco - had no idea that stuff even existed, but perfect for walls where you can't or don't want to use nails. 

 Two more wedding pics, these for our room, 8x 10 canvases and pics.

This one should be in the following (or previous, depending on which way it posts) post - the other 5 pics hanging on the wall. Soon a 6 month pic of Josie will be added. The individual ones of the girls are 11x14 canvases with 8x12 pic (Aleahs, but I think we trimmed it), and 8x10 pic (Josie). I hope to do a family pic every 2 - 3 years and make an 8x10. Once there's too many for the wall, I'll move them to our room, or to the rec room in the basement that we don't have, or something like that.

And this one is just a bonus one of Aleah at almost 5 months, because it's one of those pics that just turned out amazing and you can't believe you actually got it with your unfancy camera - just a snapshot at the park. One of my favorites of all time. I wish you could see it in person because it really is pretty rad. This is a 11x14 canvas and picture. It would also look pretty neat bigger I think. Someday when I get a fabulous shot of J, I'll do a bonus one of her too, to preserve family harmony and such (sidenote - this is the "antique" setting on iphoto). So there you have it. As far as how we actually did them (I use the term "we" quite loosely), I believe we painted all the edges, then used a layer of modpodge stick the pic to the canvas. Oh, before that, if you have an 11x14 canvas AND picture, one would think they'll be the exact same size and all you do is plop in on there. This is a falsehood. The picture will be slightly bigger than the canvas and that won't work. So you're left needing to evenly trim a huge picture, which is what held me up in the first place. How do you get a straight edge with a huge pic that doesn't fit into your nice little paper slicer? Well, I still don't know cuz Jenni did it for me and she's amazingly talented. whew. And in the end, the paint around the edges covered it up enough that you don't notice if it's perfectly straight or not. GRACIOUS! Pardon my excessive details. So after the pic is on and dried, slather on about 3 more coats of mod podge. Then it dries and looks fabulous. For the edges we added some thinner or glaze to the brown paint and blotched it up a bit. So there you go. My little very unprofessional canvas making tutorial.