One of my favorite parts of Christmas is making DIY Christmas crafts with my family!
Every year our family’s Christmas arts and crafts are a little different, but one of our favorite DIY Christmas art projects is to make DIY Christmas canvas art.
I love this DIY Christmas home decor project because no one needs to be a fantastic artist in order for this easy Christmas craft to turn out as a masterpiece. With a little adult supervision, even little kids can put one of these beautiful Christmas canvas art pieces together.
And I also think it’s awesome that families can create their own Christ centered Christmas crafts that double as beautiful Christ centered home decor!
If you love putting together Christ-centered Christmas crafts with your kids, you’ll love this adorable (and really easy) Christmas canvas art! Let me show you step-by-step how to make Christmas canvas art in your home.
This is one of my favorite Christmas art projects because it:
- makes a lasting art keepsake to display at Christmas time;
- is a wonderful, inexpensive gift for family and friends;
- is a fun way to do some Christmas-themed art lessons; and
- is simple and easy to make for even the youngest kids!
You’ll only need a few inexpensive supplies and a little bit of time to make this wonderfully easy Christmas art project.
Making this DIY Christmas Canvas Art is a great way to spend a holiday afternoon with your family.
How to Make Christmas Canvas Art
You’ll Need:
- blank canvas(es) (12 x 12 is what I used, but any size works)
- book pages (I buy a book at the Dollar Store and rip out the pages)
- foam brush (one for each person participating in the project)
- wide craft paint brush
- Mod Podge
- acrylic paint
- vinyl letter stickers
- patterned Christmas scrapbook paper
- markers
- glitter glue (optional)
- jewels (optional)
- hairdryer (optional)
Instructions:
1) Decoupage the blank canvases.
Rip pieces of book pages into random shapes and, using a foam brush dipped in Mod Podge, decoupage them onto your canvas(es).
P.S. “Decoupage” is just a fancy way of glueing paper to a flat surface. Using the foam brush, spread some Mod Podge on the canvas, and then stick pieces of paper on top. Brush more Mod Podge on top of that. That’s all decoupaging is!
I try to start in one corner and work my way out, being careful to cover all the white areas with paper. I also try to line the flat sides of the paper up with the edge of the canvas so that the paper doesn’t extend over the edge.
Using a hairdryer, blow dry the canvas on a cool setting and it will be dry in no time!
P.S. Evidently we had so much fun doing decoupaging and blowdrying while we were making ours (um… it really is soothing and calming?) we didn’t take any photos of the process. I blame the Christmas music and abundance of candy canes in the room.
But you can kind of see the decoupaged canvas in this picture (meant to highlight the vinyl letters, which come next).
2) Add the Vinyl Letters to the Christmas Art Canvases.
A few tips:
First, be mindful of how you need to space the letters in order for them to look right.
For example, I decided to have the words run flush with the right side of the canvas, so I placed the letters on the edge of the canvas first and worked my way back in. In this case, that meant I placed the “Y”, then the “O” and then the “J” of the word “JOY.” That way I didn’t have to worry about the spacing being off.
Second, it’s best to make sure that the letters from the other lines are lined up with each other too. So when I got to the next word on the following line, I worked backwards again, but also made sure that my “E” from “THE” and my “D” from “WORLD” lined up with the “Y” in “JOY.”
Third, run your finger over all the letters to make sure that they are sealed firmly to the canvas. This is critical in order to minimize the amount of paint bleed onto the letters later. And speaking of paint…
3) Paint the canvas in a coordinating Christmas color.
Next we covered the decoupaged Christmas canvases with acrylic paint. LOTS of paint! I like using a dry-brush technique here, leaving it all kind of rough and bumpy looking (the decoupaged paper will help create this effect).
4) Peel the letters off the canvas.
I love this part! Now you get to peel back those letters and see the results of all your hard work! Peel slowly, being careful not to rip the paper underneath.
When you’re all done, it will look like this!
Cool, huh?!
5) Embellish the Christmas Canvas.
Next, simply use markers and glitter glue (if desired) to outline the words. We outlined first in black marker (to give it definition) and then used a red marker to give kind of a messy outline that would add a splash of color.
Then we traced the letters with silver glitter glue. We made it light and sketchy, not worrying too much about staying on the lines. You can see that I also added a few black and red lines around the edge of the canvas just to give it texture.
And last, I cut a few holly leaves from green Christmas patterned paper from a pack like this, decoupaged them on, and then outlined the shape. I also added red berry shapes and used the markers to accent to give it a final touch.
That’s it! Your beautiful DIY Christmas canvas is done! Easy peasy.
Here are three other designs that you can make using these techniques. Or, create your own!
The shapes in each picture are simply cut pieces of scrapbooking paper.
Then I wrote a word on a piece of paper that I thought exemplified each picture and decoupaged that on too.
Don’t they look pretty displayed together?
If you enjoy making faith-based Christmas projects like these with your family, you’ve got to check out the new Christ-Centered Christmas Family Traditions System!
This is a wonderful collection of resources that help your family celebrate the true meaning of Christmas through simple, Bible-focused activities and beautiful DIY home decor.
The Christ-Centered Christmas Family Traditions System includes:
- 30 Day Christmas Countdown Bible Study
- 30 Christmas Random Acts of Kindness Activities
- Scripture Response Tools, such as Bible Memory Cards
- Faith-Based Kids Christmas Ornaments and Coloring Pages
- 8 x 10 and 5 x 5 Christmas Home Decor Printables
- Faith-Based Christmas Banner
- “Birthday Gift to Jesus” Christmas Morning Activity
and so much more!
Go here to get your copy and help your family experience the Christ-focused Christmas you’ve been longing for!
