Mounting Photos on Canvas and a Reusable Running Training Schedule

So you may have noticed the photos in this dining room progress photo.  I finally got around to doing something with some of the photos from our European vacation.  This is a really simple project and I think it adds some variety instead of just doing frames.  I chose 4 of my favorite photos from Rome and ordered them in large format prints from Shutterfly.  I made sure to wait for a sale to get the best deal.

I chose prints of the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.

Other Supplies:
Blank canvases the same size as your prints
Black paint (I used acrylic paint which I already had on hand)
Several foam brushes
Mod Podge

The process was very simple.  I started by painting the sides of the canvases black and made sure to paint a little of the front and back too just to make sure no white would be showing.

Then I applied the Mod Podge to the front of the canvas and the backs of the prints with a foam brush.

Finally I placed the prints on the canvases and smoothed out any bubbles.  Then I hung them on the wall.  Piece of cake.  You could also cover the print itself with Mod Podge to create some texture but I opted not to do that.

My original plan was to hang the three color prints in the living room and the black and white Spanish Steps print in the dining room but once I hung the print in the dining room it looked really lonely and was too small for the wall space.

 

 So I decided to hang two more of the prints next to it and it looked much better.

I still have one more print that I am not sure what to do with yet but I'm sure I'll find a place for it eventually.

My second project was even simpler.  I am a runner and I am currently training for my third half marathon.  I like to follow a very specific training schedule and I usually make chart for each run I do.  I thought it would be fun to make a reusable training schedule for the exercise room.  I made a simple table in Microsoft Word and then printed it out.  I bought a really cute frame, trimmed the page to the dimensions of the page and then popped it in the frame.  I use a wet erase marker to write in my training schedule on the glass of the frame (you could use dry erase too but I am a teacher and have easy access to the wet erase markers and prefer them because I don't wipe them off as a write.  Darn left-handedness)  It was super simple and I think it is super cute!