Project #2: Transferring Photos onto Canvas

This is one of my favorite projects that I have seen circulating on Pinterest lately.  It's a great project to do because it really doesn't require many materials and it's not that expensive!  Plus... there is the added bonus of being able to whip up some pretty special custom gifts.

Pinspiration

Step ONE- Gather Materials:

- 5x5 Gallery Wrapped Canvas
- Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
*I purchased the Canvas and the Medium from Michaels.  The medium was $12.99 and the canvas was $5.99.  I recommend planning ahead and using the 40% and 50% off coupons that are always available online to print out.
- Something to spread the medium onto the canvas with. 
*I used one of the disposable foam brushes that I keep on hand so that I could just toss it after but even some paper towel or any type of paint brush would work.
- Ruler or tape measure
- Scissors
- 4x6 color prints of your selected pictures on regular copy paper.  
*Since I was planning on doing 3 canvases at one time, I printed out a selection of possible photos to use so that I could select the ones that looked the best.  You could also take the time to scale and modify a picture in photoshop (or similar program) if you wanted to.
- Spray bottle to wet the photo.  
*You can also use a wet rag if you don't have a spray bottle. I just thought the spray bottle sped things up a bit.
- Something to use for distressing the photo.  
*I used a different 'distressing' method on each of the 3 canvases that I made, so I'll be going over those details more below.  My three items were a dobie pad, a rag, and a green scouring pad.  You'll definitely have one, if not all three, of those items already on hand.
- Furniture Polish 
*I know... totally random but you'll need it.


Step TWO- Trim your selected photo to fit on the canvas:

I wanted to leave a little white space around the photo so since the canvas was 5"x5" and the photo was 4"x6", I just had to trim the photo to leave 1/2" on all sides.

I just centered the image how I wanted, marked where I needed to cut it and...

...voila!  4"x4" square.  So far, so easy!


Step THREE- Apply medium in a thin even layer to the canvas:

Applying with the foam brush... I focused on the area of the canvas where the photo would be.

Nice thin layer. 
***It's important to keep the layer of medium thin.  I applied it too thick on one of my other canvases and it kind of puckered up the photo. I'll show you that one further down.

Step FOUR- Lay photo face down on the medium-covered canvas:

Make sure it's nice and fully 'adhered'- no bubbles or wrinkles.


Step FIVE- Let dry overnight... and try to be patient :(


Step SIX- Wet the photo and rub off back layers of the paper.

All three canvases lined up, dry, and ready to go.

I started out wetting the paper with a wet rag, which worked, but it was taking a tad longer than my impatient self liked. 

With the paper wet, you can start seeing the mirrored image that's on the canvas :)

Better, but still taking a while to get those edges with the rag. So...

I whipped out the spray bottle.  This was so much easier than the rag.  You just keep wetting and wiping down the paper until the whole thing is translucent and you can see the image.

Just take your fingers and start lightly rubbing in a circular motion to start peeling off the paper layers.  Not gonna lie... this was kind of fun :)

going...

going... 

gone!

***Please note... you do have to be gentle when you get down to the last layer or two of paper.  You don't want to rub the ink image off of the canvas!

Step SEVEN- Distress the image

Here they are... all three canvases lined up and ready to be distressed.  There is still going to be a slight haze to the image until the final step so don't worry if it's not looking perfectly clear.

 Just wet the image with a wet rag or spray bottle.  Since I was doing three canvases in one sitting, the first had dried by the time I was done with the third.  I found it MUCH easier to distress the image if it was wet/damp first. 

 Just mop up the extra standing water...

FIRST method using a dobie pad.  I started out pressing very lightly but you really have to put some pressure into it if you want it to do anything.

 You can start seeing some of the marking from the rubbing.  I tried to focus on the edges and on the background of the image.  

All done!

SECOND method using a green scouring pad.  Once again, you really have to put some pressure into it.

I tried doing more vertical wear lines on this one while still focusing on the edges and background.  

Just turn the canvas as needed... really try to distress the edges a bit.

Two down... one to go!

THIRD method using a rag.  Pressure pressure pressure

*You can see on the left how the image looks like it is puckering up.  That is caused from the medium being too thick in that area.  The ink from the image didn't adhere well to the canvas so I had to be really careful when I was distressing this one to not pull up more than I already had.

 I do like how this method distressed the edges.  

You can really see how the different materials really made a difference in the look of the distress.  I actually like them all!  Maybe for the next one I"ll get all crazy and use all of them ;)


Step EIGHT (FINAL step)- Polish the canvas

 Any furniture/wood polish will work.  Just dab some on a paper towel or rag and rub on the image.

 Canvas before... notice the haze.

 Polish being dabbed on.

 Canvas after.  Big difference!

 The pictures don't do them justice.  The polish got all of the haze off.

I love how they turned out!  Now I'm thinking larger scale for the next one :)

Project #1: Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

What could possibly be better for a first project than cheesecake stuffed strawberries!!!  

pinspiration

Cheesecake with strawberries on top is my absolute favorite dessert so combining the two into easy access little bites is just ingenious.  Plus, since I'm all about combining all of my favorites, I'm going to add a little bit of chocolate to the mix to really make this a crowd pleaser. 


So... let's get this party started!




Step ONE- Prepare your ingredients:

-1 lb large strawberries  *After I rinse and dry them, I set them out to reach room temperature so that the chocolate will coat better
-8 oz. cream cheese, softened (can use 1/3 less fat) *I cut my cream cheese into cubes to soften faster
-3-4 tbsp powdered sugar (4 tbsp for a sweeter filling)
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-graham cracker crumbs
-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips *Recently, I've been using mini chips since they tend to melt faster and easier


Quick side note: Look at this bohemoth strawberry that was included!  It's almost as big as my hand!!  Dibs on this one!

Step TWO- Remove the tops of the strawberries with a paring knife.  

All of my strawberries were already pretty hollow inside, if yours aren't just take the paring knife and clean out a small cavity for the cheesecake.  

Step THREE- In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until creamy.  

I used a large sized glass bowl with a hand mixer on the medium-high setting.  

Take a spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl so that you are beating all of the cream cheese mixture consistently.

*Just make sure you beat until really creamy... the creamier the better!

All done and ready to fill :)

Step FOUR- Put cream cheese mix in a ziploc bag and cut the corner.  

I used a gallon size bag... it just gave me more room to maneuver the filling.

 *If in doubt- always start out with a smaller hole first.  You can always cut it larger if you need to.

Step FIVE- Fill strawberries with cream cheese mixture. 

*Because I only have two hands... I propped the strawberries in a muffin pan for easier access.

The bag worked perfectly at filling the strawberries without making a mess.

Yum... this is when you should sample one for quality control ;)

Step SIX- Sprinkle graham cracker crumbles on top.  

I used my fingers to sprinkle crumbs on each one but if you have a lot of strawberries... you could just shake them out of the bowl for quicker coverage.  




***You can choose to stop after this step if you want and you'll have a great dessert.  HOWEVER... to add an extra level of chocolaty goodness just continue on***


Step SEVEN- Melt the chocolate chips in a small saucepan on the stove.

Here is my setup.  Line a tray with wax paper to set the dipped strawberries on.  This tray will go into the refrigerator after you are done, so make sure it is sized to fit.

A double broiler works best for melting chocolate, but I didn't have one handy at the time.  Add 2 tblsp. of shortening to the chocolate. This helps it harden.


The key to melting chocolate this way is constant stirring.  Don't take your eyes off of it because it goes from looking like this...

...to this... in a minute!

I remove the chocolate from the heat when there are just a few tiny lumps left to melt.  This way, they will continue to melt without burning the rest of the chocolate.

Once done... I push all of chocolate to one edge of the pan to create a thick pool of chocolate to dip them in.  

Step EIGHT- Dipping the strawberries!

They were a little awkward to dip because of their size and the filling.  Usually you can just hold onto the top leaf of the strawberry to dip them but you can't do that with these.  I just tried to hold as close to the top as possible to get as much of the strawberry as possible covered in chocolate.

I hold the pan tilted with one hand and dip the strawberry with the other.


If you want... you can even dip the tip of the strawberry into the graham cracker crumbs to get a little more of the crumbs on there before setting it on the tray to harden.

Just set them on the wax paper lined tray in the refrigerator to harden (should only take about 15-20 minutes)

That's it!  Now you have an amazing dessert for a get together or just for a night in by yourself.  Go ahead... indulge a bit... mine sure didn't make it out of the house. haha.

Happy eating!!!