bluebonnet bonanza.

I'm currently reading Anne of Green Gables as part of a workshop to update my talented and gifted hours, and one of Anne's favorite terms for anything slightly unfortunate is "tragical". I think Anne would have no problem describing this little piece of art as "tragical". And I would have to agree with her.

We were given / stole this gloriously Texan bluebonnet print, and I was so anxious to put it up on the wall, that it lived in this pre-made, un-matted, generic frame for over a year. Talk about tragical. When I saw that Michael's Craft Store was offering 70% off custom framing orders, I thought it would be the perfect time to take our little bluebonnet beauty from tragical to terrific. So, I marched myself right on up to Michael's and the sales associate JOYFULLY gave me a bid for $475, INCLUDING the 70% discount. What the WHAT?! Tragical.

But then Lady Wisdom waltzed in, and suggested I mount the print on a canvas, thus eliminating the need for me to sell a kidney so that I might be able to have our print custom framed. Tragically brilliant! Feeling heartened once more, I returned to the dreaded Michael's, with my 40% off coupon in tow, and purchased a canvas, spray adhesive, and a texturing medium (we'll get to the medium later).

Simple mathematical understanding lead me to deduce that $50 < $475, so I was a happy camper. I bought a canvas that was 2" smaller on each side than my print, with 1" sides. This would allow me to "wrap" my print around the canvas, making the print look like it had been on the canvas since Day 1.

I began by centering the canvas on the print and tracing the border of the canvas onto the print.

I wanted the corners of the print to be folded nicely and neatly onto the canvas, so I created "tabs" on the corners of the print.

The "tab" would be folded underneath one side of the print...

...thus creating a flush corner.

I then applied a very thin layer of spray adhesive to the back of the print, and used a ruler to smooth the print so that the glue did not bubble or wrinkle the print.

After several hours of drying, we were looking pretty good!

But, the print still looked like a print stuck on canvas - it was too polished for a canvas. I wanted to give the print some texture so that it would look a bit more like a painting on canvas, rather than a print glued on canvas. Know what I mean?

So, at Michael's, I grabbed a clear medium that would hold the texture of paintbrush strokes.

I applied the medium with a wide paintbrush in thin, even coats. After about 3 thin coats, the print now had some texture!

It doesn't really look like a print just stuck on a canvas anymore! What's tragical now, Anne?!

• I didn't have to spend a fortune to give this print an updated, cleaner look.
• All of the supplies can be found at a craft supply store - no need for specialty buys!
• If I decide later on to add even more pizazz, I might add a frame to the canvas like Jenny did over at Little Green Notebook: