It's really easy to collage over an old canvas and make a completely new piece of art work with just some pretty papers, glue, paint and a fine liner pen.

This tutorial was originally published in October 2014 and has been updated and republished.

The floral papers I had left over from a craft subscription box were just SO pretty I thought they would make a lovely flower mixed media collage. You can read full details of the other things I've made from the box here and here but sadly these “Crafty What Nots” paper craft subscription boxes no longer exist.

To make something similar you can use any style of patterned paper that you have in your stash. Floral papers like mine or something completely different for a whole different vibe.

How to make a floral mixed media canvas

To make a floral mixed media collage canvas you will need:

A canvas - it can be old or new, plain or already with an image
White paint - acrylic or emulsion/latex, it doesn’t matter too much
A mix of pretty floral papers
Mod Podge
A waterproof black fineliner pen
Scissors
A 2” circle punch - or something small and round to draw around
A large flower punch and small flower punch or two
A heart punch
This template for the flower petals

Upcycling an old canvas

I started with this canvas which I bought for 25p in a discount shop a while ago. The plastic wrap had broken and somehow pen has got all over the corner so the price was marked right down. I actually bought several damaged canvases at the time so I guess you may see them again sometime.

Just as an aside - if you think this bunny and puppy image is nicer than my flower collage please keep it to yourself!

Prepare the canvas

Started by preparing your canvas. If your canvas is brand new and plain then you don’t need to do anything to it. However if you are repurposing an old canvas as I am here then paint the canvas all over.

I just used white emulsion (that’s latex paint, the kind you’d use on the walls) to cover my canvas as that's what I had to hand. I gave my canvas 3 coats, the original image still showed through a little but this is good enough for this mixed media collage idea.

Prepare collage flowers and elements

Whilst waiting for the coats of paint to dry on the canvas cut out some petals from your floral paper.

Cut your own petal shapes or use the template provided. Draw around the template on the back of your pretty floral scrapbook papers 8 times and cut out 8 petals.

Cut a circle for the flower centre too. I used my 2" circle punch to make a flower centre, you could use the circle on the template if you don’t have a 2” circle punch.

To give the petal shapes some emphasis doodled a wiggly border with a fine black sharpie or other permanent black fine liner.

I drew 2 wiggly lines around each petal. Go around once, then around again. The trick is to be decisive and not mess about too much. Practice on scrap paper first if you are not confident.

Punch out a pile of hearts and flowers from all your pretty paper scraps using the flower and heart punches.

Creating the paper collage

Once your canvas is dry started gluing flowers and hearts around the edge with Mod Podge applied with a small brush. This is the time to use the paper shapes that are your least favourite. Use the extra bright ones, the ones with badly positioned patterns etc Save your favourites for the next stage.

Apply some of the flowers so they go over the edges onto the sides of the canvas. I found it easier to crease these flowers before applying them, especially if the papers you are using are good quality. The thicker the paper the more encouragement they will need to stick well.

Using a dry brush technique roughly cover your canvas with another layer of white paint. You use just a tiny bit of paint on a dry brush and apply it with a flicking motion so just a little paint is transferred rather than a solid layer.