This project was inspired by a few crafts I saw on Pinterest. One was a black and white striped canvas with a huge red heart made of buttons in the center of the canvas. The other was a Mod Podge photo transfer onto a canvas. I put the two ideas together and made it my own to make as a gift for my bestie as a Christmas, graduation and moving away gift. I'm not naturally crafty, so the fact that it turned out exactly as I hoped it would means that it was pretty easy. The most difficult part of the whole project was waiting for it to dry.
First, I used a sponge brush to paint Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium on the photo side of a the picture I chose. This is important: I reversed the picture before printing it on a laser printer. After, I had the Mod Podge on the photo, I put it face down on my 8 by 11 canvas. I used an old AAA card to smooth it out to get rid of the air bubbles. It required 24 hours to dry and that was the hard part, waiting. This is our favorite picture together because it's one from around the time we first met. Plus, our smiles don't get any bigger than this. It may have also been the first time I ever got drunk. Basically, it's special to us.
Second, after the long 24 hours of waiting, I used a sponge and soaked the picture on the canvas in water for two minutes before using the sponge to rub off the paper to reveal the photo. It took a few times of letting it dry and repeating the soaking and rubbing. To my surprise, it WORKED!
Third, since I wanted black and white stripes I used painter's tape to outline my stripes. I used black acrylic paint with a sponge brush to paint the stripes. Next, I removed the tape and painted clear gloss Mod Podge over the entire canvas as a finish after the black had dried of course. At this point, I couldn't believe that I hadn't messed it up yet.
Lastly, I spelled out the title of the song we always jam and dance to in the car that also represents our friendship with fancy stickers, "Stuck Like Glue." Then, I hot glued matching buttons around the photo as a frame! The buttons symbolize holding us together no matter where life takes us. This is exactly how I envisioned it before I started! The red one is mine and the pink glittery one is hers. This is so crafty that I may even start claiming to be crafty.
