Hey there! We’re Monica & Jess, AKA East Coast Creative . Hmm… Are they drama queens? Do they DIY plastic surgery? You can find those answers and anything else you may or may not have wanted to know about us and our DIY adventures over on our blog.
We’re insanely happy to be here on U Create, it’s sorta like checking something off of our bucket list!
We’re so honored to be invited; thanks so much Kari!
Everyone loves gallery-wrapped canvases these days, and why wouldn’t you? They’re fabulous! Although, we don’t know about you, but sometimes $60.00+ for one print is a wee bit hard for us to swallow. We were super excited to hear that WalMart came out with a faux canvas:
Now what, you ask, is a faux canvas?
Well, we were wondering the same thing, so of course we tried it out. What they do is print your photo on heavy, dimpled paper (canvas look-alike) and then wrap it around a cardboard box. Sounds glamorous, huh? Let me tell you that for the price, we were thrilled!
Monica has 4 kids, yup FOUR, and so we got prints of each of the kiddos. We thought it would be fun to add a little boys vs. girls flare, so, inspired by Mandi’s Epic Room Makeover we made two graphic canvases as well. We just used some images we found online and Picnik to create them.
The first step was to add the screw eyes to each canvas. Just measure to the center and screw them in. Since they’re made of cardboard it was crazy simple to do. (Umm, please ignore my creepy monster looking hands)
Add screw eyes to the top and bottom of each canvas except for the one which will be at the bottom of your display. The bottom canvas will only get top screw eyes.
Next, add screw eyes to the ceiling. This will require a little measuring, but you’ll want them to be even. Monica’s vaulted ceiling required some additional math, but we made it work.
Here’s where it got a bit tricky. The nice man at Lowe’s gave us these clamps to lock the wire in place. Have you ever felt like your hands were made of stone? It’s very clear that we’re not surgeons. It took about 30 minutes to clamp the first side. Ugh! Monica’s hubs got home and it took him 30 seconds. We were just happy to have it done!
Now for the fun part! Weave the wire through the screw eyes on the top, behind the back and out the bottom. Repeat for the remaining canvases. Ok, we’re all about keeping it Real on our blog, so we’ll be honest here too… This is a two person job and preferably with a person you really like, because it’s a tad frustrating. The canvases tend to slip down a bit and did we mention our stone hands? We promise it’s all worth it in the end.
Once your canvases are threaded through, you’ll want to secure the bottom one first. We used a staple gun to hold the wire in place and then added some hot glue (because they were slipping and because Jess is slightly obsessed with the stuff!)
Determine how far apart you want your canvases and adjust them accordingly. The tension of the taut wire should keep the upper canvases in place, but if you want extra support you can add some glue to each one.
The end result is a unique, industrial-looking display that we love!
I (Monica) couldn’t be happier with this project and the unique way to share pictures of my kids!
I have to give a shout out to our photographer and friend at Salvatori Photography. These pictures are SO my kids!
This was just the first project in Monica’s breakfast room makeover, we have lots more planned. Come visit us anytime to see what else we’re up to!
Thanks so much Kari for letting us share!
Love the room so far!
Cute love it! Looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Natalie
http://www.projectdowhatyoulove.wordpress.com
LOVING these faux canvas ideas!
Super Cute!! I love the addition of the washroom signs, very clever.
An awesome project and a deal for my readers? Jess & Monica you are awesome. Now just to figure out what photos to turn into faux canvases!!
This is what I’m planning on doing for my MIL, thanks for the coupon!
LOVE this idea, can’t wait to try it!!
Nikki
fashionsonthefly.blogspot.com
That is crazy cool! I love the boys vs. girls idea. Nice graphic look 🙂
I think I just saw you on The Nate Show. Love the newspaper wallpaper.
Can you use the coupon for multiple canvases in one order? thanks
Hey Lauren!
I was able to use multiple coupons but I had to do them as individual orders. I just went in and sorta told the kid at Walmart that I could. 🙂 He was cool with it! Ha!
-Monica (and Jess)
I love this! Thinking of using this on each side of a door in this Chicago apartment… I’ll let you know if it pans out and link back! Thank you for sharing! Looks so streamlined.
-Carly @ Createlive
Love the hanging idea for canvas’! I wondered what your paint color was as well