Trick and Treat Canvases

This project was one of those that started someplace entirely different and I only ended up here through a series of failures. I wanted to make a caramel apple ornament, and after that misstep, I went back to the drawing board. My local scrapbook store was hosting a collage canvas class from super creative Emily Falconbridge, and even though I couldn’t make it to the class, just looking at her project sent me off in a whole new direction.

This pieced background was totally a lift from Emily’s project. I used a 5 x 7 canvas board, painted the edge that would show a nice green color, cut up a whole bunch of orange paper, and started painting it down.

I’m actually not a superfan of Mod Podge. It’s a little on the spendy side for what you get, I think, and I actually prefer the results when you use an artist’s quality sealer. Like this, but it’s also available in a matte finish.

Then I wanted to get as much 3-D action as possible, so I used a real popsicle stick, cut the letters out of chipboard before painting and glittering them, and raised the candy corn with foam tape. I drew the apple shape on some caramel colored cardstock and inked the edges.

Since I plan on using this as a Halloween tree ornament, I had to make it look good from all sides. So I flipped it over to address the opposite of a treat.

I was brainstorming for days to come up with a visual representation of a trick. I came *thisclose* to gluing a roll of toilet paper to the back. I thought a broken mirror was a little classier.

I wanted the two different sides to be kind of visually opposite too, so I just decoupaged one solid piece, in a lighter orange than I used before, on the trick side.

I cut the mirror out of fun foam so I could get some 3-D on this side too, then covered it in glitter. Same for the letters, chipboard, paint, glitter. To make the broken glass I took a piece of tinfoil, wrinkled it up, unfolded it, and then cut it in the shape of the mirror. A couple of stamps and some inking around the outside made it look a little spookier than the happy Treat side.

I’m planning on just tucking these in the branches of the tree, but if you want a hanger I’d glue each end of a piece of ribbon down the sides to make a loop on the top. I think this could be cute as a doorhanger too. You could flip the canvas so that anyone coming near would know exactly what they’re getting themselves into.

I drew the apple shape and the mirror shape, so as a start to our Halloween festivities, I thought I’d share my pattern. It’s available as a free pdf download by clicking this link.