THE ALTERED FLEA: twine

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

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.

Make banners out of corrugated cardboard

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?

It All Comes Out in the Washi Tape

My Mom likes to say "Everything comes out in the wash."

Most stains and spills do come clean when soaked and washed. However, we all know that she really means don't sweat the small stuff. When something [minor] happens that you don't think is fair, this is a good reminder that things usually turn out well in the end.

I used this idiom as inspiration for my Washi-embellished altered candy tube. This project is both practical and pretty. It's a perfect gift for the college student who, upon occasion or necessity, does his or her laundry. [Oh, daughter, dear--hope you're reading this!]

This is what you need: m&m's candy tube, assorted Washi tape, adhesive remover, twine, circle punch, paint chips or cardstock, Mod Podge & brush, stamp and ink pad. And, a roll of quarters.