Glitter Unicorn Canvas

If you’ve seen my holiday craft on making your own ornaments then this unicorn art project should seem pretty easy.

Just like the ornaments, I started with spray painting the canvases. You’ll find I have quite an affinity for spray paint. While I waited for it to dry I found some free clip art online of a unicorn head. I was looking for something that would be easily recognizable but also not too boring. I printed out my clip art and then cut it to form a template.

I wanted my paper to have a special feeling about it so instead of craft or scrapbook paper (which you could certainly use) I decided to water color a page of art paper in pastel pinks. So I wet the paper until just damp and then added my water colors and to get a swirl or blended look I dipped my brush back into the water and then went over my paper again.

Once everything was dried I traced my template using a pencil onto the watercolor and then cut it out using scissors. I did a series of four of these and while they were all very similar there were a few slight variations (which I love because they are made by hand).

Just like the holiday ornaments, I laid my cut out on top of the painted canvas but unlike the holiday ornament I tried to keep my Mod Podge to the front or face because something exciting is about to happen.

Once this dried I added a little sparkle and pizzas. Glitter. Now I have a love hate relationship with glitter. I love the way it looks and hate the way it gets EVERYWHERE! So I took my little project to the garage where I had a big piece of cardboard under and poured super fine glitter into a disposable bowl and had a plastic spoon nearby.

Holding the canvas from underneath, I painted the four edges with Mod Podge then holding it over the bowl I used the spoon to “paint” on the glitter (I just gently added it to the wet Mod Podge without ever touching the canvas with the spoon). Once a side was done I would dump the excess glitter back into the bowl and move to another side. I let this all dry overnight and the next day repeated. That afternoon I checked and noted the sides were dry and the glitter seemed thick so I applied one last sealing coat of Mod Podge over the entire canvas to make sure the glitter didn’t leave little glitter poops all over the place. :)

If you try this craft or create your own variation on it I would love to see your canvases!