Practice makes....well.....good!

So all weekend, I've been working patiently on my newest craft.  I started by printing out the photos, using the copy paper we normally use for all our general printing purposes.  I did try tissue paper - the stuff I have didn't work. My printer is a top/back load, and the printer just ate up the tissue.  I had a feeling it wouldn't work for me.  I did try taping it to regular copy paper, but that didn't seem to work and I would have had to tear the tape off and then the paper wouldn't have fit on the canvas.  I believe it would work if the photo I was doing was smaller than 8x10.  I also just believe that the tissue wouldn't work because my printer really saturates the paper with ink....and the tissue wouldn't stay in tact.

I really love the way they come out.  This photo was my first try.  It is a rose from my garden after rain.  The rain drops are very obvious.  I posted previously about this first canvas try here .  If you check that page, you can see that I simply decoupaged the photo onto the canvas.  I decided then, I would paint all the canvases black because it just looks classier.
I did paint the edge of this one black.  It worked, but it is MUCH better when I paint the entire canvas.  I picked up some Plaid acrylic paint in black, for less than a dollar, at Wal Mart.  I used a foam brush I already had on hand.  Being a perpetual crafter/artist, I always have something on hand!
I used a mixture of matte and luster finish Mod Podge on this photo.  I'm not crazy about the shine.  For as long as I can remember, I've always liked my photos to be printed in matte finish....when it was a choice.  I guess my feelings go back a long way.

I used PicMonkey to fancy up the photo of my photo. It's fun to use, has lots of fun stuff on it, is pretty simple and you can always UN-do whatever you did.  It doesn't store your work, and when you're done fancying up the work, you save it to a file on your hard drive.  Easy Peasy!

Ok, so here is the progressive work I've done on this project.......

This is a photo I did not take.  A friend of my daughter took it.  She did a photo shoot one day of my beautiful grand baby, and there were 2 photos that came out exceptionally well.  This was one.  I used a matte finish on this one.  See how it's not so shiny even in the photo?  I like this finish much better!

Here is one more along this line, where I used the matte finish, and also the plain copy paper.

The photographer did some special effects in both these photos which is why the lighting is different, etc.  I'm not absolutely sure if it was a camera effect, or if it was something she did in Photoshop. 

I took the photos of the canvases on the porch, under an overhang, and it was cloudy out.  I used different settings on my camera but these came out the best. 

I'm extremely happy with the way these are coming out. 
The next set I'm making (same photos of my grand daughter) is one with photo paper, and one with card stock - to see if the card stock works.  One of the issues I've had is the photo paper bubbles up - a LOT - and this photo above actually has bubbles in it, but you can't see them here.  You have to look really close. But they do exist and that drives me insane! The card stock is heavier and doesn't bubble. 

I'm hoping as I do more of my photos like this, I will be able to sell them.  I think they are more appealing this way.  The canvas can just simply hang on a nail that you put in a wall, or hang it on a 3M hanger (which I have all over the house) or you can attach a ribbon at the back and hang that from a nail or hanger.  I am going to hang mine with black ribbon as I think it'll look so nice!  The ribbon will hide the small nail I plan on using in the wall.

One set of these will of course go to my daughter.

I'm off to print some more photos, paint some more canvases, let them all dry, and have some more done tomorrow of other photos.
I also plan on getting some smaller canvases so I can do 5x7's and possibly even some smaller ones.  FUN!

Take care and have fun today!
Martha