Do you have a photo decal and now you want to put something else in that space? What do you do with that photo decal? Well, I have a photo decal of my daughter I bought many years ago and it was on the wall in my office. Now I have a great idea for another project that I would like to hang in that spot. But, I can’t throw my daughter’s sweet little face in the trash.
So….we came up with this idea – we would put the photo decal on a canvas. That way we could move it where ever we wanted. The last time I moved it, somehow I marked up the sky with a pencil. (I still don’t know how I managed that.) Then, I got the bright idea I would use a Magic Eraser on the pencil marks. Big mistake – it erased part of the sky. So, a long time ago, I cut out the sky and hung it back on the wall. That meant there was plenty of blank background to fill in.
A. Paint a Canvas
My daughter and I painted a canvas so that our photo would have a background. This is how we painted the canvas.
- We used a pretty fluorescent pink and a little bit of water to paint the entire canvas with a sponge brush. We both really liked the pink and I had imagined a pink background for this project.
2. Next we added splotches of blue and I spent some time blending and layering colors until I was happy with the outcome.
3. While we were painting the canvas, we gave Brother something to paint as well. That worked for a short period of time.
B. Cut and Place Your Decal
Once the canvas was dry, I placed my decal on top to see what it would look like. I spent way too much time deliberating on what to cut out. Of course, you want to be sure before you cut, because it can be hard to put it back if you change your mind. It’s not impossible, however, if you are careful with your cutting. I slipped my cutting board between the canvas and the decal and used a little straight blade cutter. I cut the tree out and then changed my mind and put it back. Then I cut a few things out of the middle to expose more of the pink canvas and cut a little off the bottom.
C. Glue Down Your Decal
Finally, I glued her down. Most of the adhesive on the back of the decal was pretty weak and didn’t stick very well to the paint, so it put a little bit of Rubber Cement around the edges of the back of the decal. Rubber Cement is usually my adhesive of choice, but this decal is a little transparent especially on her skin, so you could slightly see the pink background through her skin. It was better when it dried, but a discerning eye could see it. I also considered using spray adhesive, but I didn’t think I could control it very well and I didn’t want to glue the decal to the decal. I don’t think I would try Mod Podge or glue on top of the decal because I think it might take part of the picture off. So, Rubber Cement was probably my best bet.
Now I can move this picture and hang it wherever I want and I don’t have to throw away this decal of my daughter. It was a fun project for my daughter to paint the canvas and maybe we will end up hanging it in her room.
Check out another project I did with my daughter here when we mixed paint with Floetrol.
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