Remember my post about the homemade mod podge? It wasn’t all for naught, promise! With the homemade mod podge, I made wall art for my sister’s birthday! And, even though my present was belated, I didn’t want to post about it until she got it. 🙂 She finally received it at the end of last week! And, on that note, what’s a better gift than a handmade one? I love gifting handmade gifts because it has such a personal touch to it! Plus, it’s cheaper and a lot more fun! What could be better?
I originally got this idea for her gift after I saw Steph’s wall art while M and I were in O-town. Fell in love and obsessed about it all the way home. Seriously. I could only think of all the different things I could do with this! So, while I go about making all that, we’ll start with wall art.
Finished product!
What you need
Homemade Mod Podge (or you can buy the one from the store)
Canvas – you should decide on your quote first to make sure you have a big enough canvas
Acrylic paint, white (or color of your choosing)
Magazine cuttings, in your color-choice
Alphabet stickers
Clear coat, gloss finish sealant
Cost breakdown
Homemade Mod Podge – $3.50 (I didn’t use very much of it! So, I’d calculate cost for this particular project to be $1)
Canvas, 9″x12″ – $4.50 (Michael’s)
Acrylic paint – left over from other art projects
Alphabet stickers, letter sticker book (It was a huge book of stickers and I have tons left to make other projects! I paid a total of $7, but will only put $2 towards the cost of this project because I have so much left.)- $7 (Archiver’s)
Clear coat, gloss finish sealant – this was leftover from my art classes and I really forget how much it was….let’s say $2 for this project.
Total cost: $9.50
What to do
1. Decoupage with homemade mod podge (or the real stuff) and all your magazine cuttings. Like Steph, I also cut out way too many squares of color…But, I saved my extra for future projects (read: Erin is a pack-rat). So, spread a thin layer of your homemade mod podge on the canvas (I worked in sections so that this layer of glue wouldn’t dry before I got there), place your squares, spread another thin layer of the homemade mod podge. After completing all the sections, let dry completely/at least 24 hours.
Decoupage!
Note: I came across a bubbling problem with the magazine squares. After finishing this project, I read that with real mod podge, if you place it so the side with the mod podge is face down onto some wax paper and place heavy objects inside the frame of the canvas, it flattens out the bubbles. I haven’t been able to try this yet with the homemade mod podge; so, I don’t know if the homemade stuff will stick to the wax paper or not. If you try it, please let me know!
2. Next, cut out the letters you need from your alphabet stickers and place them on your canvas so you can get a better idea of placement and spacing!
Place your stickered phrase for spacing!
3. Stick the stickers onto the canvas. Because I’m a perfectionist, I used a ruler during this step to help me keep the lines straight.
Stick em’ on there!
3. Carefully paint over the stickers with the acrylic paint of your choice, I used white. I say carefully because I was a bit over-zealous at times while painting and occasionally got some paint under the edges of the stickers. Let your paint dry completely (overnight/at least 24 hours), paint another coat over the whole thing. The picture below is with two coats of paint – one was too splotchy for my tastes. 🙂 But, you might just love it with only one coat. If you do paint on a second coat, let it dry completely.
So close!
4. Carefully peel off the stickers. I definitely used an exacto knife to help me! I went around the edges of the stickers with the exacto and then slowly peeled the sticker off, sometimes needing more assistance from the exacto. If you try to peel them off too fast, the paint will rip.
Peel the stickers off!
5. Bask in the satisfaction of making your own wall art!
6. I sprayed with a clear goat, gloss finish sealant (2 coats) since I didn’t know where my sister would eventually put this. You never know, maybe it might one day end up in the bathroom like Steph’s!
And, here’s a picture of the card that went with the wall art! 🙂 Hope you have as much fun as I did making this gift/art!
Happy Belated Birthday!
C'est la vie 
Erin! You crack me up because I saved my extra magazine cuttings for future projects, too! And they came in handy for Anne’s gift 🙂 Great post!
LOL. 🙂 Thanks!!! I’ve definitely used them and keep thinking of other ways I could use them! 😀 This is all because I saw your brilliant project.
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