How to Make Your Own Canvas Prints

I love the look of canvas prints, but am honestly too cheap to buy them.  The larger canvas prints can cost over $100.00 each, and with how many I would want in my house I could spend over $1,000.  That is CRAZY!

I was over at my friend Mel’s house and saw that she had canvas prints covering her walls. They were everywhere, and knowing how budget conscious she is, I asked her how she was able to afford all of those prints.  That is when she told me her little secret of making her own canvas prints for only $6.00 each!  So – you may be wondering ….how to make your own canvas prints? Let’s talk about that!

These would make amazing photo gifts for the holidays or even birthdays!  They cost me only $6.50 each for a 18″ x 24″ canvas prints (the same size and thickness would have cost me $100 each)

Here is the secret ingredient….

Engineering prints from Staples.com.  I ordered my prints in the 18″ x 24″ size and picked them up in the store.  I spent $14 and some change on all 6 of these prints, making them around $2.40 each.

The prints are available in many different sizes, and you can choose from black & white or color.

Make sure that your photos are a high resolution picture.  They will tell you that the prints are not meant for pictures, just ignore them 🙂

Here are the supplies you are going to need:

• Engineering Prints at Staples – order them online and pick up in the store.
• Poly-Styrene Foam Board insulation – 1″ thick from a home improvement store (We got our at Lowe’s).
• Spray Glue
• Command Strips (to hang them up on the wall)

We are going to walk through this step by step because I made some mistakes the first time.  I made Mark do this part of the work because I am clumsy and felt like I would cut my hand off.

You are first going to have to cut the foam board into your desired pieces.  We measured them to be 22″ x 16″, we wanted to make sure that we had an inch on each side to wrap around the sides of the board.  If you want your picture to wrap even further around to the back of the board, I would measure the cut your board even smaller.

We started by measuring and drawing on the board with a pen, then scored it with a utility knife… but this turned out to be a mistake. So do NOT use a utility knife. Instead, do what the following picture shows.

Once we had that done, we used a VERY sharp kitchen knife to slice through the board. A large and thin knife like a santoku would work best. Get a nice fresh edge on it if you have a sharpener. Looking back, we really didn’t need to use the utility knife because the knife was sharp enough.

*NOTE – we tried to use a Utility Knife by itself and it didn’t work. Then we tried to cut it with scissors after it was scored, and that didn’t work either. I mean, it works. But if you want nice clean & square edges, just use a big and sharp knife. But please be careful!!!*

After the board was cut out to the desired size, I turned the print over and sprayed the back with the spray glue.

Immediately after, I place the cut board on top of the sprayed piece of paper.  It worked best if I placed the top of the board on the print first, then turned it over and smoothed the rest of the print over the board.  That way there were no creases or bumps in the picture.

Then fold the print to cover the sides of the board. This gives it that ‘wrapped’ canvas look.  You seriously cannot even tell the difference looking at it!

The corners I folded in like I was wrapping a present, so they are nice and neat as well.

You may want to fold the picture all around to the back and tape them down.  I’ve heard they may peel away from the foam board over time if you don’t.

Here is the finished product!

The cost breakdown was as follows:

• 6 Prints – $14.00 (I made the 4 square ones, and two 16″ x 22″ size ones)
• Foam Board – $13.00
• Total cost = $27.00 + tax

Total Savings of $573.00!

In the above picture you can see the sides of them and how they wrap around.  I used command strips to attach them to the walls, that way I won’t have to repaint if I need to move them.

Just to show you the size of these – they are pretty big!  Kaylee wanted to stand next her picture to show you.

So – what do you think? Do you think you will make some of these this year?