Fabulous Father's Day Photo Canvas

Daddy.  Papa.  Abba.  Pop.  Mr. Cool.

No matter what you call him, your father is always going to be the first man in your life.  The one who taught you how to ride a bicycle.  The one who always tells you how pretty you are.  The one you can count on.   My Dad celebrated his 90th birthday earlier this year and we had a big family get-together.  It was a special day.  I am so proud to be his favorite daughter.  Since I have two brothers and no sisters, I can say that with certainty. 

Our two daughters must share the role of favorite daughter with my husband.   And because he is such a wonderful Dad, we've created a fun photo canvas for him for Father's Day.   

We gathered together a plethora whole lot of supplies including coordinating paper, paint, chipboard letters, brads, twine, ribbon, corrugated cardboard, rub-ons, and a whole lot more.  And of course, a few of our favorite photos of Mr. [Mc]Dreamy. 

Then we had a snack. Have you ever noticed how well crafts and chocolate chip cookies go together?

The first step is to paint the sides and edges of your canvasses.  We used 9" x 12" and 4" x 12" canvas panels. 

 

Then cut the paper 1/2" smaller than the canvas panels.  Adhere the paper to the canvas using Mod Podge.  Cover entire surfaces with another coat of MP.  Let dry. 

We wanted to create a banner to back the chipboard letters, and decided to cut it out of corrugated cardboard for a more rugged look.   I drew triangles on the back of the cardboard to use as a pattern.

I really like the way this banner turned out.

We thought it would be fun to add a few adjectives for "d-a-d" and came up with these words:

Dependable. 

Adventurous. 

[Mc]Dreamy.

Yeah, that about describes Mr. Wonderful.

We tied kraft tags to the letters with jute. 

Then we layed out, moved around, and re-positioned the photos and embellishments until we were blue in the face happy with the layout.  Before we changed our minds, we adhered everything in place.  To add some interest, we layered the photos onto coordinating paper, and adhered them with foam dots to pop them up a bit.

We found the greatest rub-on that reads, "Make Life an Adventure."  Perfect!  We adhered a mini canvas (5"x 3") to the large canvas, and added a strip of corrugated cardboard, buttons, a wooden heart, ribbon and a king's crown charm!

To tie the canvas panels together, we used small eye hooks.  I marked off 3" from either end, and twisted the eye hooks into the bottom side of the small [top] canvas and the top of the large [bottom] canvas. 

Then we looped twine and ribbon through the eye hooks, tying them tightly bringing the eye hooks close together.

 And here's a photo of the finished canvas.

Do you think he'll like it?  We hope so. 

Besides, how many ties does a Dad really need?

You may also enjoy these projects:

Graduation Photo & Announcement Keepsake

 

Pomp & Circumstance Grad Frame

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A Constant Friend

Most friends come and go, but true friends stay in your life forever.  Such is true with one of my closest friends.

 

We've known each other our entire lives.  We were pretty much inseparable, and lived just two blocks away from each other.  It was so much fun to meet at the local playground, stop for ice cream, and play in each other's rooms for hours on end.  We had tea parties and played dress-up.  We even attended Tiny Tots together. 

 

When we were both just 5 years old, my family moved f-a-r away.  Well, at the time it felt like we moved to the other side of the world.  In reality, it was just on the other side of the city park.  Nevertheless, what was a 10-minute walk was now a 30-minute drive. 

 

However, as I said, true friends stay in your life forever.  We continued to get together as often as we could.  I fondly remember sleepovers, play dates, sharing holidays together, and, of course, being that special friend who got to sit next to the birthday girl each year.   Our lives took different paths, but we still remain close friends today.  For most of our adult lives, we've lived 400 miles away from each other.  Still, we are constant friends. 

 

I recently found the perfect little gift to send for her birthday, a spiral notebook with the quote,

 

"A constant friend is a thing rare and hard to find." 

 

It immediately reminded me of her. I decided to embellish it a bit and make a coordinating birthday card.

I tied ribbon to the spirals, using different colors, textures and widths. 

I added a binder clip as well.

 

I took the color scheme from the notebook,

using mustard yellow, blue gingham checks,

floral paper, ribbon and the beautiful quote.

 

On the inside of the card, I stamped, "Celebrate You." 

I embossed the text and added a few rhinestones. 

 

While I had my stamps out,

I decided to add a few "hidden" notes

on the inside pages of the notebook:

 "Friendship is a Work of Heart"

And off in the mail it went. 

Happy Birthday, Dear Friend!

 

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Take Me Out to the Ballgame

They say you can take the girl out of the country, but you cannot take the country out of the girl.  Well, in this case, the city.  You can take me out of San Francisco, but you can never take San Francisco out of this girl.  Or something like that.  Let me explain it better with an altered art project.

Recently, as you baseball fans all know, the San Francisco Giants won swept the 2012 World Series.  It was an exciting week, as long as you were rooting for the orange and black uniforms.  To celebrate their win, I created a keepsake using a recycled tin can and a few embellishments...and chocolate kisses. 

I used the same technique as my Pull Tab in Case of Chocolate Emergency altered can.  This project is easily adaptable to any sports team, holiday or event!  It's very easy.  Start with a can of pineapple chunks, soup, beans, or whatever canned food you have around the house.  Be sure the can's bottom has the sharp edge just like the top.  Turn the can UPSIDE DOWN, and using a can opener, remove the BOTTOM "lid."  Eat the contents, then wash the can really well and let air dry.



I used black cardstock paper and a Giants logo that I printed off  their website.  I decoupaged the paper and the logo onto the can, remembering to work UPSIDE DOWN.  I'm repeating this base on experience because it's easy to forget that the bottom will be the top when you are finished.

Since it's Autumn, I found a package of chocolate kisses that were orange, silver and red.  I knew the orange and silver ones would be great as they match the Giants colors.  What to do with the leftover red ones?  Save them for a later project!  [Who am I kidding?  Just eat them.]

I decided to make several of these Giants cans, so I only filled half of the can and used white shredded paper to fill the remaining space.

 

Then glue the "bottom" lid back on.  Last time I made these cans, I used hot glue, but the lid didn't lay flat.  This time, I used the decoupage medium, and held the lid in place for a few minutes.  It created a perfect seal.  No one will be the wiser.  That's the fun thing about this gift.  The recipient will not know how the chocolate got into the "un-opened" can.

Then I added embellishments including orange & white twine [found in the craft aisle for a dollar at WalMart], foam baseball, bat and cap [found an entire package at the grocery store in their dollar bin].  The decoupage worked great for adhering the embellishments as well as sealing the can.  I tied a large orange ribbon to the tab, but felt it needed one more embellishment.

 

 I stamped "SF" onto a small white tag

and tied the tag onto the ribbon.

My niece is a huge fan of the Giants, so I'm going to send this altered can to her.  Maybe in return she'll send me a 2012 Giants World Series baseball cap.  Let's see if she reads my blog!

Editor's Note: 

If you're reading this post in or after September 2013, it is safe to say our beloved San Francisco Giants [will] clinch the division title again...this time, for last place [sigh]. #toomuchpressure

You might also like this project:

Father's Day Photo Canvas

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