Quite a while ago, I fell in love with this tutorial to transfer a photo onto canvas.  I won’t bore you with the how-tos because the folks over at A Beautiful Mess do a precise job of communicating each step to you, but let me tell you, this tutorial is easy and produces a really neat finished product.  Plus, it’s easy and cheap!  A few years ago, it was my mother-in-law’s birthday and my husband and I, being low on funds because of cancer, wanted to get her a creative and heartfelt gift that didn’t break the bank.  Since we were swimming in wedding photographs at the time, I decided to try the canvas transfer DIY.  I loved the results so much that I ended up doing a whole series of them for my dad with pictures of my mom!

One thing about the process, there is a lot of rubbing.  Once you’ve put the picture you’re transferring face down on the medium covered canvas (all steps are outlined here), you spray it all down with water (not too much water though!) and start rubbing the paper off of the canvas.  This rubbing step takes a while.  You may even wonder if you will ever arrive at the finished product…but have no fear!  You will!  I actually rubbed my fingers raw so I suggest wearing gloves while you do this step.

It really produces a beautiful final product.  A wonderful gift for someone, or a way of keeping busy during young adult cancer treatments or recovery, this is a fun and easy DIY!