Total Time Needed: 2-3 Hours
Our eye-catching collage on canvas is designed to celebrate your child's sense of self. The clever design showcases color copies of her original art to ensure the hues won't bleed. And the keepsake is flexible: you can reduce or enlarge the copies and add an almost limitless number of portraits. If your child is older, you'll likely have enough artwork to fill the whole canvas right away. But if your budding Rembrandt is younger, leave plenty of blank spaces for the self-portraits to come.
Materials
- Prestretched canvas (ours is 24 by 30 inches) available at craft stores
- Paintbrush
- Acrylic craft paint
- Color copies of your child's self-portraits
- Foam brush
- Mod-Podge
Instructions
- With the paintbrush, apply a coat of paint to the canvas (this is a great job for kids - just cover your work surface with plenty of newspaper and remember a smock, since the acrylic paint may not wash out of clothing). Let the paint dry overnight, and if it's splotchy, apply a second coat.
- Arrange the portraits on the canvas. Working one piece of art at a time, use the foam brush to apply a thin coat of Mod-Podge to the back, then to the corresponding space on the canvas.
- Place the art on the canvas, then smooth out any bubbles with your hand, starting in the center and pressing out toward each edge. Let the Mod-Podge dry (about 1 hour) before adding any overlapping portraits.
- When all the artwork is dry, use the foam brush to coat the whole canvas with a thin layer of Mod-Podge.
- Simply repeat step 3 when adding portraits at a future date, then coat only the new additions with Mod-Podge.
