Interchangeable Photo Canvas Tutorial

Happy Monday! Today is the first day of my spring break - WOO HOO! - so I decided to create a quick little canvas project to share with you!

Start out by painting an 8" x 10" artist's canvas with acrylic paint...I used Apple Barrel's "Nutmeg Brown" for the base color:

Once the paint has dried, apply a light coat of a coordinating color on top of the brown - I used Apple Barrel's "Barn Red". (You'll want the brown paint to show through the red paint).

When the paint has dried, use a pencil eraser to create painted dots on the canvas. I used Apple Barrel's "Antique Gold" for my dots:

While the dots were drying, I cut out the hearts, flourishes, and the "You and Me" phrase using my Cricut and the Don Juan cartridge. I cut out 4 sets of "You and Me" - one in each of these 4 colors: Barn Red, Teal, Gold, and Tan. I also cut out 2 sets of the hearts in the same 4 colors, graduating the sizes of the hearts:

Using a Zig glue pen, apply glue to the backs of the red, tan, and teal cut-outs and adhere them together - staggering them slightly as shown in the following photos:

Once you've gotten the layers glued together, using a brown pen loosely trace around the outside edge of the teal phrase, adding "x's" and "hatch marks" for definition:

Layer and adhere the heart cut outs, as shown, and loosely trace around the hearts too:

Apply 3-D dots to the back of the phrase and hearts and set aside. (NOTE: This is a GREAT way to use up the negative space left from the 3-D dots...just cut apart in the sizes you need!)

Cut a 1" wide piece of grosgrain ribbon, (I chose red), 20" long. Fold the corners to angle the ribbon upward when it is adhered along the top edge of the canvas. Attach a brad to each of the angles to hold in place. (I used a Crop-A-Dile to punch the holes in the ribbon).

Apply 3 rows of Terrifically Tacky Tape to the back of the ribbon - in the area between the brads:

Make two marks on the ribbon, centered between the two brads that you've already attached, to use as a guide to punch holes for 2 more brads. Using 2 more brads, attach 2 Tim Holtz hinge clips to the ribbon:

Attach the ribbon to the top of the canvas and knot the ribbons together at the top to form a hanger. Trim the ends of the ribbon.

Triple mat a 4" x 6" photo with coordinating cardstock:

Attach the matted photo to the canvas using the hinge clips. (NOTE: Since the matted photo is only attached with the hinge clips, you can change it any time you like!)

Apply the flourishes where they are tucked slightly under the matted photo. Attach the "You and Me" phrase to the lower right corner and the staggered hearts to the lower left side:

Tie hemp through the holes in 2 little buttons and attach with glue dots to the centers of the hearts. Tie a small hemp bow and attach with a glue dot to the bases of the flourishes located near the top, right edge of the matted photo. Your interchangeable photo canvas is now complete and ready to hang on a wall!

I'd love to see the canvases that you create! Please feel free to share photos of your creations with me by clicking on "Contact Me", (which is located under my blog header), and upload/email your canvas photos to me!

Happy Scrappin'!!