No Peeking!

SPOILER ALERT!!!  SPOILER ALERT!!!!  SPOILER ALERT!!!



This is a Christmas gift for a friend - so RB you can stop reading NOW!!!!




But for the rest of you feel free to keep going.......








My friend this gift is for is a super sweet girl who's been married a little over a year.  Ah, to be young again.....

I knew I wanted to make something for her for Christmas but wasn't quite sure since I had several ideas floating around in my head.  But I finally decided that this project would fit her perfectly.  I printed her initial, their names, and year married and framed it all.  I sure hope she likes it!

And since we all like the details ------ I had purchased these burlap canvas-type pictures from Goodwill for $1 each.  I thought I could remove the picture and reuse the burlap and the stretcher frame. No such luck.  The glue holding these pictures on was super strong.

On to plan two.  Perhaps I can use the back of the burlap.  So I preceded to remove the staples and the hanger from the backing.  I tried to iron the burlap flat but it had been wrapped around the stretcher frame for so long it was not going to lay flat so I taped it to the cardstock I was using as a guide through my printer. 

I was so nervous about running this through the printer.  I was sure it would ruin my printer even though I had read several tutorials that had used this method.  And I had right to be nervous - -  as the printer started to pick the paper/burlap combo up it began making horrible noises and jammed.  Luckily it didn't go far in the printer and I was able to get it out.  But it left a black inky mess.  Boo.

On to plan three.  I had some material left over from a table cloth I had cut down for another project.  After cutting it down to paper size I ironed it on freezer paper of the same size. Again I ran it through the printer all the while dreading to hear that horrible noise again.

Well, it went through much better but I had to do this five times before it finally printed right.  The first few times it got stuck and printed over itself in the same spot.  A few other times it went through and printed but the paper didn't pull through all the way so it printed really high up on the material which would have been okay if it was just going to be matted.  Since I was actually going to wrap it like a canvas I needed the wording to be farther down the material.

Finally, I folded the edge of the material over the cardstock I was using as a guide to "trick" my printer.  It got close enough.  I simply covered the stretcher frame with the material, stapling it in the back.  I added the original sawtooth hanger back in place just in case my friend wants to hang just the canvas.

Then I spraypainted a frame from Goodwill with Krylon's Carmel Latte and the matting from the frame with Krylon's Oil Rubbed Bronze.  The glass was discarded.  After centering the canvas on top of the mat I flipped it over and attached it with a few nails through the mat and the stretcher frame.

Now for a price breakdown....

Canvas frame $1.00
Picture Frame $1.50
Material had on hand but would be about $12 to purchase table cloth from WalMart
Spray paint had on hand but would be about $4 a can at WalMart or Lowes
Printer ink and cardstock used for guide had on hand but cost would vary depending on your printer
Nails were reused from the canvas frame

My total:  $2.50

I would have liked for the red used on the names to have shown up a little brighter but all in all it's not a bad little gift.  It even looked pretty good hanging on my gallery wall!