A Reverse Canvas is a quick, easy, & budget friendly project to make with your Cricut machine.

This whole project cost me under $5 to make materials wise and took under 15 minutes to make! I had seen reverse canvas's being made and thought they might be a struggle to make but I promise its only a few steps and really makes fun and unique DIY home decor.

You can find some free SVG files for Halloween like the one I used in my project here.

If you need help with downloading any of the free SVG files on my website please read here (and here for iPad) and don't forget to read over my commercial license agreement.

*Some links may help earn me a small commission at no extra charge to you*

Materials Needed for a Reverse Canvas:

This project really doesn't require much material which makes it super budget friendly. Making home decor can seem really daunting when you look at the cost of materials or even the cost of a finished project but a reverse canvas is simple and can be made for every season.

You'll need:

• A canvas - I am using the black canvas from the Dollar Tree and it is 8 inches by 10 inches (they don't have the black online but here are the white)
• Heat Transfer Vinyl - I am using Politape in silver
• Mini Easy Press & Mat from Cricut
• Weeding Tools (I love Hobby Captain)
• Hot Glue & Gun
• Scissors
• Optional: Exacto Blade

How to Make a Reverse Canvas:

Step One: Size Your SVG File

This is kind of a pre-step before cutting out your HTV but make sure you size your SVG file to fit within your canvas frame. So for example my canvas was 8 x 10 inches so I sized my SVG to be about 6 x 8 inches so I had room within my frame.

Don't forget to mirror your image when using heat transfer vinyl!

Step Two: Remove Your Canvas from the Frame

I ripped my canvas off from the staples - just being honest. We are going to trim this part so it doesn't need to stay perfect. If you have a staple remover (which I did not) you can definitely utilize this but I just went around with my Exacto blade and cut out what I needed to remove the canvas.

Step Three: Weed Your Heat Transfer Vinyl

This is the fun part! Go through and weed your vinyl. Double check yourself so that you didn't miss any bits. If you have multiple colors, I suggest doing all the weeding at once so you can preview the layers.

Step Four: Iron on your Vinyl to the Canvas

I heating my EasyPress Mini to medium heat and centered my HTV to the black side of the canvas (these had distinct color differences). I ironed over the heat transfer vinyl for 30-45 seconds to make sure the vinyl had full adhered to the canvas.

Test pulling your vinyl up slowly - if some hasn't adhered, you have the chance to correct it here. I tested a few spots and had to go back over them to make sure my vinyl was completely ironed on.

Step 4.5: Optional - Paint Your Frame

I skipped this step but you can always paint your frame for your reverse canvas if you want it to be darker or white/black/gold etc!

Step Five: Glue on the Canvas to the Frame

Now it is time to "reverse the canvas". I used hot glue for this but you can also use nails, staples, wood glue, whatever you have that is strong hold! I started with one side and placed the canvas down. Then worked my way around the other sides of the canvas. I also made sure that the stapled side (where we removed the canvas) was the part I was covering up. The other side is nice and clean with only four staples in the corners and makes for a pretty frame.

Step Six: Trim the Excess Canvas

The last step is to trim the sides! It's easy to clean up and I used regular crafting scissors and got as close to the frame as I could.

Now you have a fun reverse canvas and this technique can be used for every season and holiday to make fun DIY Wall Decor for your house.

For another fun DIY halloween project check out my Halloween Treat Bags with free SVG files!

Happy Crafting!

Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter below to receive new Cricut craft projects, free SVG files, giveaways and more!