project and review: embroidered canvas photo wraps

Have you ever embroidered on a stretched canvas? Somehow I've managed to avoid it, though I'm not sure why. I've heard that it can be a little tricky, but a challenge is fun! With today's project, I'm warming up to canvas though, using a material that I'm quite comfortable stitching on: heavyweight paper. And here's the best part about this...the background for your stitching can be anything you want!

The makers of Canvas Photo Wraps sent me a pack to try out and show off, so let's skip to the showing off first.



This is a standard use for these wraps, and a printed sample that I received. Can you believe that was printed on an inkjet printer? I'm impressed.



Canvas Photo Wraps come in a pack of 3 canvases for around $30 and you can find them at BJ's Wholesale Club or atOffice Max, where at the time of posting, the price is just $20.99 (and free shipping!). To have the image wrap around the edges, you do need an inkjet printer that does borderless prints, but that's the only special thing you need, and so many printers have that these days. And assembling the canvas is easy peasy!

This really is a perfect time to find a product like this, because think of how perfect it would be for Mother's Day! Since I think it would be a little weird to give my mom a photo of me (read: super vain weird), I decided to try these canvases out as part of a little project. Here's what I did:



(Note: After I took all my pictures and opened them on my computer, I realized that the lighting made these a little difficult to see. Oh dear.)

I started by, printing a background on one of the canvas sheets (based on this ray background). I wanted subtle, and that's what I got. If I were to do this again, I'd go darker. My one issue with the Photo Wraps is that you get 3 sheets of the paper and 3 frames. If you mess up a print, you're stuck.



In the center, I traced an embroidery pattern from my Crafty Characters set. I used a freshly sharpened pencil and a very light touch. Then, I poked holes for the stitching.

The canvas sheets are really more like a heavy paper, so it's easy to poke the holes. Set the page on a folded towel while you do this, and be careful not to make the holes too close.




And I started stitching! As I pulled the needle through, I used my other hand to support the paper to avoid tearing.




Once the embroidery was done, I started working on the frame. Complete instructions are included, but basically, you lay down the provided tape, place the frame on the back of the canvas, do some snipping, folding and snapping, and you're done.

I'm a pretty fast stitcher, so start to finish, this whole project took about 90 minutes. Not bad!




Given that I've got two more canvases left, I might make this a series of stitchery. Or maybe the next one will be a photo with a few embroidered embellishments!

Thanks, Canvas Photo Wraps for a fun product!