DIY Burlap and Canvas Photo Display

It's been a while since I shared a project here. If you want the truth, it's because it's been a while since I worked on any projects. I did some stuff at Christmas but since then? Nothing. I bought the materials for this particular project in January, including ordering the prints for it and then everything sat on my dining room table until the Saturday before Mother's Day. Cleaning up to host Mother's Day lunch was just the push I needed to see my inspiration become reality. 

This little patch of wall used to host a big round clock that I had half-arsed "re-done" with some wrapping paper. But we're coming up on 7 years in this house so I wanted something different. I also hate that I have all these cute pics just sitting on my hard drive (or on my phone) and if I want to look at them I have to hunt them down and scroll through with my arthritic thumb. (Anybody else with a smart phone develop arthritis in their "scrolling thumb"? Just me?)

 

Narrowing down the photos I wanted to use was the hardest part. I love selfies with the kids and they have become the most treasured of my photo collection. Say whatever you want to about the vanity or insanity of selfies. I do not care. Prior to the ability to take selfies I had a very limited supply of photos of myself with the kids because nobody ever really took photos of me with them. And kids are much more enthusiastic about selfies than they are posing for photos or portraits. I think it's something about seeing themselves on the screens. I like selfies of myself better because I get to adjust my multiple chins to the most flattering angle. Vanity=Jana

 

Once I had the photos chosen and printed it was a simple matter of accruing the rest of the supplies. I already had the burlap and bull clip idea tucked in the back of my mind. I'd used the chevron burlap and canvas for one of my Christmas projects which I, sadly, did not take a photo of. I liked it for this project, too, because the burlap makes it casual enough to suit my unformal home and the chevron classes it up a bit. The bull clips, I like, because they make it super easy to change out the photos and I like the casually cool element against the burlap. Or at least I think they're casually cool.



 

So, to make these it was a matter of buying the canvases in the sizes I wanted, cutting the burlap strips to size and lining up the chevron pattern. Then I simply used modge podge to glue the burlap to the canvas before trimming it all up to the exact size and hot gluing the edges.

The bull clips were purchased at Wal-Mart and they actually have a magnet on the back. Instead of hot gluing them directly onto the burlap/canvas, I hot glued some round magnets to the burlap/canvas instead and then just popped the magnet clips to them. that way, if I ever decide to scrap this project, my bull clips are still in good shape to use on the fridge or wherever.

You could certainly do this with a solid "sheet" of burlap instead of the wide strips.
Or you could simply paint the canvases the color of your choice or use a different type of fabric. I bought the burlap in the strips for the chevron pattern and turned out liking the added texture and dimension of the seems. 

If you don't like the bull clips, another option could be to hot glue some ribbon, string or twine to the outter edges of the canvas and then use small clothes pins or other clips. Or you could hot some clothes pins directly to the canvas. The possibilities are wide open for this sort of thing. I'm sure Pinterest is chock full of ideas/examples. I gave up on Pinterest about twenty minutes into my first perusal several years ago, though. Too overwhelming! haha

Anyway, I like how it turned out and I certainly enjoy stopping on my way to and from the kitchen to smile at my goofy kiddos. :)