Subway Art Canvases

The Mod Podge Mania continues!  This canvas is a birthday gift for my awesomely awesome nephew

Seriously, the kid rocks and I think he needs to know it.  After the week at VBS, I started thinking about how important it is for our kids to know they are not an accident.  Every gift, every feature, every circumstance in our lives is hand picked especially for us by the Lord.  We need to remind our children of this daily!

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
      and knit me together in my mother’s womb." -Psalm 139:13

I am so often drawn to this verse; it helps me to understand that He made me and that I am His.

You can find more details about how to assemble these here.  This time around I wizened up a little and painted the edges/corners of the canvas before I got started.  It was driving me nuts that there were little bits of white peeking through on the other photo canvases.

I designed the layout in Adobe Illustrator and I had the images printed as 11 x 14s at Costco.  They were only $2.99 a piece!

I love Illustrator because the font is always crisp.  I adjusted the opacity on a lot of the words so there would be variation to the image.

I made one for each of my kids' rooms too.

 This one is my son's... I forgot to include his #1 quality: musical!  I can't believe this oversight; I'm seriously going to have to redo his canvas because it will bother me until I do.  Maybe his constant drumming knocked something loose in my brain.

I decided to "distress" the image on my nephew's;  he just turned 8 and I wanted his to look a little more hip.  Do people even say hip anymore?

After dry brushing the black around the edges and on top of the image, I brushed on one last layer of Mod Podge.

Close up!

You can also get custom canvas prints.

Or you can visit my etsy shop and I'll make you one!

Do you have a one of a kind kid in your life?  Tell me about him or her in the comments!

***Just a note... do not try to print this on your home printer.  I have heard about bad results doing it that way.  Be sure to have it printed as a professional photographic print.  Also, you have to use a vector program such as Adobe Illustrator if you want crisp lines.  Programs that are based on pixels could turn out fuzzy!***  

Blessings,
Jamie
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Holy Craft

Mod Podge Mania!

I don't think I would have attempted any of this stuff if it weren't for Cassie at Primitive and Proper's Wine and Design night.  The theme was "Mod Podge" and, of course, wine.  Andi from Jane of All Crafts invited me and I'm so glad she did!  Cassie and Andi are like the dynamic duo of craft blogging.  Or blog crafting.

I ended up working on these that night

I got the idea for the project at Blue Cricket Design's guest post by the Sassy Pepper.  I ran a search for "Mod Podge" on Pinterest and this was my favorite thing I saw!

So beautiful.  And the tutorial is very well written.

Since I had already pulled out the Mod Podge, I decided to make my Father-in-law's birthday gift.

It was so easy to do!  Here's what you need:

• mod podge
• 5"x7" wooden plaque
• brush
• foam brush
• acrylic paint (I used black)
• 4"x6" photo
• dry rag

Let's get started.  Paint the sides of the plaques; let some of the paint overlap onto the face of the plaque.  Go do some dishes or something while the paint dries (I can only seem to trick myself into doing housework while I'm in the midst of crafting).

With the foam brush, coat the face of the plaque with a layer of Mod Podge.  Let it dry for about 15 minutes;  go put in a load of laundry.

Brush a layer of Mod Podge on the back of your photo.

Brush another layer of Mod Podge on the face of your plaque.  Center your photo on the plaque, press it down and smooth out any bubbles with the rag.  Wait for that to dry and go do something else around your house.  Girl, you are getting stuff done tonight!

Now brush a layer of Mod Podge on top of the photo and over the parts painted black.  Freak out for a little bit because the photo looks all milky and ruined.  It will dry clear, I promise!

Ta-da!

*These plaques are from JoAnn and the faces of them are a little bigger than 4x6.  It isn't quite as clean of a look, but I still like them*

All 3 together... I'll probably attach them to one another with ribbon so they're easy for my FIL to hang

And just for fun I made one of these of my son and his teacher.  This view really shows how it looks mounted on the plaque.

These wooden plaques cost only $.99 at Hobby Lobby and you could get them for $.60 if you have a coupon!  These are my new go-to gift for people for sure!!!

I made some for the kids in my Vacation Bible School crew... I took a photo of each kid and (in Photoshop) layered the text "God made you..." with different words that described the kid.  It's a great way to personalize a gift!

Let me know if you decide to make some!
Blessings,
Jamie
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PS:  If you EVER have an opportunity to volunteer with a VBS, do it!  It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.  I really got to know each child in my "crew" and I was so sad when the week was over.