Nap Time is Playtime For Mommy...Distressed Canvas

I have seen numerous "pins" on how to do a distressed canvas and have been really wanting to give it a try. So during my boys nap time I decided I would give it a go! They were relatively easy and the end product is very cute! I did one for each of my boys room as practice but next I would like to do a larger one for our living room (maybe above the fireplace??). Here is a list of materials you will need:

Canvas (whatever size you would like, mine are 8x10)

A photo of your choice, same size as canvas, needs to be from a inkjet printer (also make sure this is a picture that with look ok reversed, since the image will be flipped)

Spray bottle of water

Mod Podge (optional, and I like the clear)

Gel Medium (I use Golden Regular Gel, gloss)

Brush

To start you will put a layer of gel medium onto your canvas. You want this to be a nice coating, to thin and your image will not transfer well and to thick and its gonna be a big mess. 

After you coat your canvas, grab that picture! I again stress that this photo needs to be on regular computer type paper and printed by an ink jet printer. Take your picture and spray the ink side lightly with water. This is going to help your image transfer better. Place your picture, image side down, onto your gel'd canvas and smooth it out. Now you will want to let this dry overnight or at least 6 hours. Below is a photo of what it looks like dry.

After your image has completely dried then you can begin the next process. First you need to spray your image with water until the image is clearly visible through the paper (photo below).

Now you can begin to peel the paper away. Some of the image may be removed with the paper, but hey this is a "distressed" canvas project! Continue peeling all the paper that you can away, then let your canvas dry (at least 1 hour).

The picture below is what the canvas will look like after it re-dries again. Next your going to repeat the same step again. Spray with water and peel away any extra paper left on the canvas. You may have to repeat that process several times. I do not worry about every little bit of paper, I think that it adds to the distressed look and that it is next to impossible to get it all off.

Below is what my canvas looked like after it dried the second time. Just an FYI this photo is of my 2 year old Will digging in to his birthday cake ( I also did one of my 1 year old Sam with his cake). I was pleased with the way my canvas looked so I did not re-spray and peel.

Okay now for the final step. Protecting that picture! I used Mod Podge, but you could also use your gel medium (it will give it a more textured look). You just coat the entire canvas and allow to dry. I repeated the process so my canvas had two coats of Mod Podge. Your all done!

Above is the finished product with Will and his cake and below is finished product of Sam after eating his cake (thats icing over his face :) To see the cake check out my Thing 1 and Thing 2 Have A Party Post ). For Sam's project I just used a simple canvas and for Will's I used a stretched canvas. Both worked great, I suggest trying it out on whatever you have on hand. Enjoy!!

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http://deliacreates.blogspot.com