Son Kissed Photography

I had received a gorgeous fabric garland from Oldchateau and beautiful headband from lil’ owl knitts and knew that I needed something to go along with the vintage feel of these items so I decided to make a linen canopy.  In this post I will show you how I achieved the look to the project but also tell you what I would have done differently after putting it to use.  It can definitely be improved.

**Please do not judge my iPhone pics for this tutorial, hehe.  It was just handier than the big Mark II as I was assembling this project.

Items Needed (you can find everything I used here at Hobby Lobby, except for the fishing wire BUT if I had it to do again I wouldn’t use fishing wire.  But for tutorial purposes I will show you how I used it.)

Embroidery Hoop – you can find this in the sewing section at Hobby Lobby.  I used the 10″ and it was $.99.  You could certainly get a larger one for a larger canopy.
Hot glue and hot glue gun – Floral section Hobby Lobby
Ruffled sewing trim – you can find this in the ribbon section at Hobby Lobby.  I purchased 1 yard for $1.99
Linen fabric – In the fabric department at Hobby Lobby.  I purchased 1 yard for $11.99 (on sale)
Fishing wire – I used fishing wire to tie it to my backdrop stand but if I had it to do over I would not use this.  Will explain later in my post.

1. The first thing I did was frayed the edges of my fabric.  If you are using linen like I used it is fairly simple, just time consuming.  Just pull the thread out until you get your desired frayed edging.  I did 1/2 inch.  You will do this on the raw edges of the fabric.

2. Lay the fabric out so the raw edges are on the outside.  Fold the fabric in half so the raw edges/frayed edges are touching.  The only thing you need to worry about is the top lining up.

3. Next, you are going to grab your embroidery hoop and hot glue gun.  Place the connector of the hoop at the back.  Starting with the front of the fabric, start hot gluing it to the hoop leaving a 2″ lip so you can wrap over the hoop later.  I left a 1″ lip and it wasn’t enough so to be safe, allow 2″ at the top.  Glue the fabric around the hoop until  you get to the hoop connector in the back. You will have excess fabric.

4. Again, apologizing for the poor quality photos…gotta love that grain.You will end up with something like the photo below.  With the excess fabric, hot glue it together first where it’s folded and then hot glue it to the hoop like shown below.

5. Once the hot glue has dried it is time to hot glue the lip of the fabric to the inside of the hoop.  Starting in the front, little by little, apply hot glue to the inside of the hoop and fold the lip over.

6. Starting at the back of the canopy, hot glue your ruffled (or whatever you choose) sewing trim.  You’ll want your raw edges to meet in the back.

 

There you have it!  I cut two small slits, one in the back and one in the front and threaded fishing wire through to hang from my backdrop stand.  What I would suggest instead of doing that is hot gluing some fabric strips to the inside of the canopy and tying to your backdrop stand that way.  While I love how my project turned out I wish that it was anchored some way instead of appearing to be suspended in thin air.

My final image:

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this DIY project and really think you can do some fun things with this.  The larger hoops and different fabric would make for some fun canopies.

As always… enjoy, have fun, and be creative.

xo,

Kristen

Click “like” if you like this post and feel free to share on Facebook and pin as well.  For more tutorials including my floor used in this shot, click here.

 

I get a lot of emails asking where I get my white floor from and the answer is, I made it.  Well… “I” didn’t make it, the hubs did.  I have to give him full credit for this one because I just told him what I wanted, bought the supplies and he brought it to life.  Such a great man!

Items needed:

Wood planks – We bought 8ft planks from Lowe’s.  If you are on-location I recommend going with the 4ft planks so you can easily transport them.  I use 7 planks for my floor.
Valspar paint – Lowe’s – You will need an undercoat color, the color that will show through (mine is chocolate brown) and then a top coat color (mine is a cream color)
Valspar Weathered Crackle Glaze – Lowe’s
Paint rollers – 3-4
Paint tray – 3-4, just the cheap plastic ones

Now that you have all of your items, it’s time to get busy.  Vaslpar has a section at Lowe’s with all of their faux finishing techniques and you can pick up a pamphlet there for easy reference (recommended) or click here for reference as well.

Directions:

1. With wood planks laid out, apply a base coat of Valspar paint according to label instructions. Allow to dry 4 hours or overnight before applying Weathered Crackle.  Make sure you paint the sides of your boards the same color as the bottom coat.

2. Using a premium quality short nap roller of nylon brush, apply an even coat of Weathered Crackle to the surface. Uneven application will cause unwanted variation in the cracking pattern.

3. Let Crackle Glaze dry 1-4 hours before applying top coat. Waiting longer than 4 hours may require re-application.

4. Using a premium quality roller or brush, apply a flat latex paint in the color of your choice. Do not overwork this coat. One application in a single direction works best.

 

There you have it, easy peasy!  This project is pretty fail proof and if I had time I’d love to do some funky colors like red base with turquoise top, fun!  Or with Valentines coming up, doing a red crackle would be fun too!  Ok, I need to stop… my hubby will kill me as we’re cleaning out our house to move.  Hehe!

My finished product:

For the background I just use my wall and use Pure Photoshop Action’s blanket fade action to blend the floor to the backdrop.  If you’re on-location just pick out a blanket or some fabric that is close to the same color as your top coat and hang that from your backdrop stand.

As always, enjoy, have fun and be creative!

xo,

Kristen

Click “like” if you like this post and feel free to share on Facebook and pin as well.  For more tutorials, click here.