From Blank to Beautiful

I love love love when I find a blog or web site with great ideas and great tutorials. Lulu's Tiles has a great idea using a canvas and stamps to make some quick wall or table art - it's her Luck of the Irish tutorial and you should totally check it out.

Since I had some canvases that I've had for years (literally) I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to use them. However, you'll notice that mine came out quite different than her original idea but it was a good jumping off point for me and, as often happens in the world of crafts, things just sort of morphed from there. Here's what i did:

Two 8"x8" blank canvases
Assorted acrylic paints
Assorted foam stamps
Foam brushes
Valspar clear gloss (spray)



Here's my canvas. The original tutorial used 8"x10" though you could use any size ~ 8"x8" just happened to be what I had on hand.

Then I gave it some color...



Then some more color...


Then I used my foam stamps to put the letters and filigree shapes on. This is as close as I got to the original tutorial and I still didn't measure - just eyeballed it. Also, I misspelled imagine on purpose as this particular canvas was for my friend Angela ~ i'm angie ~ and there's a story that goes with it.


I finished it off with 2 coats (drying time in between) of the Valspar clear gloss spray to protect and shine it up a bit. The "joy" canvas was what came after ~ I ended up giving it to my cousin for her birthday that same night as I used all her favorite colors.

Blank canvases can be prettied up so easily. Give it a try and have some fun!