Mod Podge Wall Decor Tutorial

Man, oh man have I been waiting to share this project idea with you.  I wasn't able to share it before Christmas in fear that my family would see what I had made them.  It has taken me a bit to catch up with things, but I finally had time to sit down and write out this tutorial.

The whole thing started as an idea my husband had based on a picture frame he saw somewhere.  He has the tools to make the frame, but when we were trying to decide what to put on it, we were stumped.  I started searching the Internet for photos my family might like and struck gold.  But, how to transfer it to canvas?  I remembered that Mod Podge is some sort of magical glue and decided to give it a go.  It took a few tries to get it right (and one ruined canvas) - but I finally got it down.  Now, I'm going to share it with you - here we go!

Supplies:
8" x 8" canvas
Mod Podge Matte Finish
Skinny Foam Brush
Picture trimmed to 8" x 8" size

STEP 1) Begin by making sure the surface of your canvas is clean and free of debris.  Dip your brush into the Mod Podge and start covering the canvas with it.  Completely cover the canvas.

TIP:  This is the most important step.  You need to make sure you have enough Mod Podge to cover every inch of the canvas, but not so much that it causes your paper to become saturated.  If you have too much, your paper will wrinkle and bubble.

STEP 2)  Starting at one of the corners, SLOWLY press the photo onto the canvas, pressing it down as you go to get out all of the air bubbles.  Continue this until the photo is completely adhered  (a rubber roller could be useful during this step).  If you have any edges of the paper that hang over, trim them with an xacto knife.

STEP 3)  Using the foam brush again, apply another layer of Mod Podge over the top of the picture.  Again, don't over do it, keep your layer thin, but be sure to cover all areas.  Once it is dry, you can add another layer if you'd like to reinforce it.  It takes about 10-20 min. for each layer to dry.

That's all there is to it.  Take note of a few things.  First, if you have areas that need to be touched up, you can't just touch up that small area, you will need to cover the entire picture again -yes, I speak from experience!  Also, even though these are pretty sturdy, I did find that if I scratched the surface at all, the Mod Podge broke away from the canvas and left a nice crack bubble.  So, be gentle with the finished product.  Speaking of the finished product, here is what it looks like happily hanging in my sister's home!

Isn't this a great gift?  Cost was right around $8.  I was soooooo happy with the results and my husband is amazing for making those frames.  Oh, and one other thing, that picture is actually a lawn decoration from my front yard that I snapped.  You can always make your own pictures and using photo editing software, do magical things.  I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial.  Thanks for taking a peek!