"Antiqued" Family

Hey all! I am really excited to post this project. I spent a bit of time doing it, but it is totally worth it. I am giving it to my mother, who is a wonderful woman, and she inspired me to be the person I am today. {And I am really great.}

    This is the end product, go through 

           all of the pictures to get the know-how 

to make this beautiful artwork (on the cheap!) for your house!

First, get a canvas. I got mine at Hobby Lobby (hereafter
knows as Hobbs) I got 2 canvases for $8 with coupon.
Then tear out pages from the phone book, and line them
up like so. We don't want any blank canvas showing
through. I put the straight edges on the outside so I
wouldn't have to fold them in.

Use Mod Podge to glue it down.

Love the texture. I ripped up extra pages and placed them
over the seams so you wouldn't see straight edges in
the middle of the canvas.

Fold corners like you would a present. We want it
to look pretty.

Paint the phone book pages the color you want your
words to be. I chose black, obviously.

Cut out your vinyl and place it to your liking. If you
don't use vinyl, you can make a stencil out of cardstock.
You would just do different steps than what I did.

After you've placed your vinyl, paint over the whole thing,
vinyl and all. This color will be the main color you want.

After the paint dries, peel off the vinyl letters.

There may be some areas where the black comes off.
This is okay, just go through with a paintbrush to
touch up the areas that came off. Remember though,
this is supposed to look old, so you don't have to
do every part that came off. Unless you don't want the
letters to look old.

Sand it for some extra antiquing.

I added some more paint to the corners and a bit
throughout the middle to give it a more aged look.

And voile! Your finished project looks
beautifully antiqued.

These words all mean family in another language. I don't remember all that I got, but there is French, Spanish, Italian, Irish, and a few others I can't pronounce. I just used Google Translate, and found the words that fit. There were a lot of different languages that used the same spelling though. 
The total cost of this project for me was $6! Can't beat that. 

Have you made any art projects? What have you done?

Linking to: Anything you Want Wednesday at Free Pretty Things For You, and Common Ground's Vintage inspiration, Chic on a Shoestring's Flaunt It Friday

Vintage-Inspired Art

Hey all! I finally got the canvases done! WHEW! Who knew that having an extra kid around would really impede my crafting? Anywho, I bought two packs of canvases from Hobby Lobby that came with 2 canvases. I also used a %40 off coupon. The 2 pack canvases are $8 but with the coupon and 2 packs I spent around $12 for 4. Not a bad deal, if you ask me. My idea was to make vintage-y looking flash cards. I did a car, truck and airplane. 

So, I found a few images from the internet that were perfect: A car and truck from the 1930's, and an airplane that is from... a long time ago. I taped the printed out image onto the back of the canvas and held it up to the light. If I thought that the image wasn't big enough, I just enlarged it by eye-balling it. 

I am a texture fiend so of course I had to take a close
up of the canvas' texture.

Here they are!

I have been trying to figure out which is my favorite, but
there are just so many things about each one that I love.

Well, there you have it; my vintage-inspired DIY very cheap canvases. Every time Jman walks into his room, he loves to point out the plane, car and truck. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! 
What art projects have you done for your house?


Edited to add: I am linking up to this party Chic on a Shoestring, Freckled Laundry, and Common Ground's Vintage inspiration, Jennifer Rizzo