Canvas Music Sheet Art

After finishing our dresser (see the tutorials here and here) and painting our bedroom (post coming soon… I haven’t cleaned it up enough to take photos), I started thinking about art. The new dresser changed the entire wall.

Before with the long dresser, which was shorter obviously, we had an old window above it. The new dresser is tall and skinny, so the window didn’t work. It was time for something new.

I had a few large canvases from a DIY project gone wrong over a year ago. They are the perfect size to flank the dresser.

My hubs and I love hymns and I think sheet music is lovely. I’ve used it a lot before in craft projects (like a knob for an end table here). This time, I thought it would be a great way to cover these canvases in something classic and understated.

I started by tearing out page after page from a hymnal and trimming the edges.

Then I used a foam brush to apply the Mod Podge to the back of each sheet and pressing the sticky side to the canvas. I varied the direction of the sheets as I went. I used smaller sections of the sheet music to fill in gaps at the end.

After I was done, I stood it up against the wall in our bedroom, and thought it was too bright. Hymnal sheet music reminds me of old books and churches (I can say that because we have been members at a few), so I thought I needed to make the pages look aged.

So I brewed a cup of coffee to stain the pages.

I just brushed the coffee onto the pages. No too much because you do want it to dry, but enough to stain it. After it dried I did another coat for added patina.

After the canvases dried, I applied a  thin layer of Mod Podge to the entire canvas to give it an even look– you can see some areas were shinier than others.

After this, I was almost done and ready for personalization!

I used stick-on black letters on the bottom right of each canvas to say, “love” and “joy.” Two words that are so important to remember in life!

These letters are so easy- just peel off the backs! (Actually after I hung them a few fell off repeatedly so I just used craft glue to secure those and have had no problems since!)

I hung them flanking our lovely new dresser with Command Strips and love the look.

I already had all the supplies for this project so it was free (yahoo!) for me, but this would probably run about $30 each canvas, less if you are doing multiple. Each blank canvas (I used 18″ x 24″) would cost about $20 (less if you have a coupon or they are on sale. The letters are probably $3-$5 for a box, but you could free-hand or stencil them on too. A bottle of Mod Podge is about $5, and the sheet music and coffee is free.

The canvases are light and keep the room bright and airy.

But of course the stained sheet music mimics the age of old hymnals, and songs about our Lord that have stood the test of time.

These canvases are the perfect artsy addition to our bedroom and are reminders of the importance of love and joy in life daily.