Pictures & Pawprints: DIY Vintage Cookbook Art

Remember my post about my "project A.D.D?" Well, I can scratch one project off the list! As I mentioned, I found a vintage French cookbook from the 60s that I wanted to turn into wall art for my kitchen. Michaels had a sale on buy one, get one free 2-packs of canvases, so I bought some 9x12 packs to Mod Podge pictures and collage the cutouts from the cookbook on to. My original plan was to make 4 different canvases, each with a different theme - meat, vegetables, cheese and desserts. I finished the first one but then thought that they might drown a little on that particular wall. I just didn't love it as much as I had anticipated I would. I still thought the canvas itself came out pretty cool, so I wanted to do something with it. I had a smaller wall space that already had something hung on it, but decided that these would look much better there, so I did some rearranging. I only made 2 canvases since it looked better that way, but of course, I already have big plans for the other 2 canvases.

Start off with some Mod Podge (a must-have staple for any crafter) and a sponge brush.

Here's the cookbook I found. Some of the recipes were a little bizarre, but it was still pretty cool.

I tore out different pictures and recipes that I wanted to use and show on the canvases.

Start of by "framing" the canvases with random pages since you'll be placing the images and recipes on the front. Add plenty of Mod Podge and fold over the edges.

I ended up ripping the pages by accident. I originally was cutting them out into random sizes to create the collage, when I accidentally ripped one. I ended up liking the way it looked and thought it gave it some unique texture that way, so I ended up ripping them to give the edges that torn look.

Brush your Mod Podge all over the canvas and just place the pictures and recipe pieces on sporadically.

Be sure to put a good amount of Mod Podge around the edges so that they fold over nicely.

Once they're all glued on to your liking, let it dry for about 20 minutes and then paint a good coating of Mod Podge all over the entire canvas to seal it. Let it dry and you're good to go!