Photo Collage Gift

For Christmas this year, I made my husband a photo collage with all five places we have lived together.

I started off by painting a canvas from Hobby Lobby.  I painted the entire canvas black because I wasn’t sure where or if the color would peek through between the photos.

(Don’t you love my tropical drop cloth!)

I picked out photos of all of our homes and two special photos from each location and had them printed in black and white.

After shuffling and rearranging, I began adhering them to the canvas with Modge Podge.  I then used a decorative punch to punch out the city we lived in from old maps I found in my car.

The scary part was using Modge Podge to seal all the photos.  I used a foam brush and brushed Modge Podge over all the photos.  When the Modge Podge is wet, it has a milky color but it dries clear.  When held up to the light, the brush strokes are visible.  I like this look but you may want to keep it in mind (like all the brush strokes going one direction) when you are sealing the photos so you achieve your desired effect once it is dry.

Here is the final product.  I love looking at all the places we have lived!  My husband said this was his favorite Christmas gift.  He is so smart!