"Handpainted" Needlepoint Canvases

Any of you out there that needlepoint know how expensive handpainted canvases can be. Well, here's a tip that will not only save you a ton of money you can also create original, one of a kind needlepoint projects.

I wanted to stitch Our Lady of Guadalupe...great...good luck finding that at any of the shops in Houston...and we have some great ones. So, I found a picture of her online that I liked and downloaded it. Then I cut a piece of blank needlepoint canvas the size I wanted to stitch. I put it in the paper tray of my printer and hit print. Then I sprayed it with a fixative that I use on my pastel paintings. Voila! An original canvas stitched completely with threads from my stash and finished myself. I wanted it to have a sort of border town tchotchke look and I think it does!