25 Days of {homemade} Christmas gifts-Day 1 Wall Art

Today's gift is a mixed media canvas. I love to paint, but some of my favorite projects are ones that combine more than one of my hobbies. This one has a few of my favorite things!



Here are the supplies I used for this gift:


An 8 x 8 canvas-$5.99
acrylic craft paint and brushes $.59 foam brush $1
a sponge-I used an old kitchen sponge
Old book pages-$1.25 at Goodwill
A vinyl sticker-depends on the design
Modge Podge-$4.99-but you can use this for alot of other projects.


















Start by painting your canvas the color you want your background. I chose a cream color.

Then without cleaning your brush, lightly dip it into a darker color and make some long up and down strokes. It should blend in a little and give the background some dimensions. Don't overthink this step! After you get your background the way you want it, let it dry.




Once it's dry, decide where you want the design to go. I did use my Cricut to cut the vinyl on this project. If you don't have this option, look for the vinyl kits at almost any store. Target, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Kohl's, even Wal-Mart has these now. Your best bet would be the craft stores so you can use your coupons!! You can cut them up to make several gifts. Some places have the smaller vinyl kits so you would only get to make one or two. Or you can look through the sticker section. (You may have to add some extra glue to keep them on the canvas.) I put the branch down and then the bird. For the leaves, I hand cut leaves from old book pages. I bought an old book from Goodwill just for this purpose. I used a cotton swab to put the Modge Podge and just placed them on the branch.

Then around the edges, I cut up a little piece of my kitchen sponge and painted around the edges. Don't forget to paint over the sides too.



Then all that's left to do is sign it when it's dry and wrap it up! Happy holiday crafting!