How To Mount a Photo To Canvas Tutorial ($5.00 Gift)

Today I’m sharing with you a tutorial on how to mount a photo to canvas. This is just about the easiest project in the world, it takes 10 minutes from start until you leave it to dry and each photo costs less than $5.00 to make. It’s a heartfelt and inexpensive handmade gift. I love the outcome of this tutorial because you paint mod podge overtop in long, thin strokes which gives the photo a painted effect.

Materials:

• 8X10 photo printed on photo paper. We had them printed at our local photo processing place.  (You may need to trim your photo slightly to fit the canvas)
• 8X10 artist canvas (this is a piece of canvas stretched on a wood frame. They sell them at my local dollar store for $1.25 each)
• Foam Brushes
• Mod Podge
• Acrylic Paint

Directions:

Step 1: Using your foam brush paint around the outside edge of your canvas using acrylic paint in the color of your choice (I used black on one and robin’s egg blue on the other). You may also want to paint a small border on the front of the canvas in case there is any areas where your photo doesn’t quite meet the edge of the canvas. Then no white will show through.

Step 2: Allow to dry for a few minutes and then apply a thin layer of mod podge over the paint along the sides of the canvas. (This step is optional but I think it gives the edges a bit of shine that I like.

Step 3: Using a second foam brush apply a thick, even layer of mod podge over the entire front of your canvas.

Step 4: Stick your 8X10″ photo onto the canvas that you just covered in mod podge. Press firmly all around the photo making sure there are no air bubbles and that the photo is firmly attached to the canvas.

Step 5: Using your foam brush apply long, thin, even coats of mod podge over the surface of your photo. These strokes are what will give your photo an almost painted or textured appearance once dry. Make sure you pay special attention to the faces in the photo and don’t leave any big smears of mod podge over the faces. You want long, even strokes.

 Step 6: Let dry.

Step 7: Hang (or prop up) and enjoy!

Voila! All done. I could not be happier with the way these turned out. I brought them to a friend’s house over the weekend. The husband looked at them and said “Where did you get these photos dry mounted?” I told him that I did them myself. He said “Wow! I looked into having some photos done like that and they charge around $100 a piece to do them.” When I told him that they took me less than 10 minutes to do and cost less than $5.00 each he was shocked.

I’m making 8 different canvases right now in total (though I thought of a few more pictures that I want to do as well.) Most of them are photos from our maternity and new family sessions with Zuzu Photography.

If you like this tutorial make sure to check out our Photo to Wood Transfer Tutorial as well!