Holiday poinsettia mat

Hands-on time: About two hours.
Total time: Two hours plus drying time.
Skill: Easy and kid-friendly.
Cost estimate: $9 each.

Materials & Tools

• Canvas, 34 x 22 inches (86 x 56 cm), available at fabric stores
• Pencil and ruler (stencils and carbon paper optional)
• Scissors
• Iron and ironing board
• Double-sided carpet tape (available at hardware stores)
• Newspapers
• White gesso or primer
• Craft acrylic paints in assorted holiday colours
• Craft paintbrushes in assorted sizes
• Matte varnish

Start the holiday season on the right foot with a hand-painted poinsettia mat as a decorative canvas floor covering for your entranceway.

Measure the canvas to the desired size, leaving a 2-inch (5-cm) border to be folded over. Mark the border with a pencil line, then cut the canvas. Cut the corners diagonally. Fold and iron the borders. Iron the remaining canvas to get rid of all the creases. Use the double-sided carpet tape at the back to secure the folded borders in position.

Apply two base coats of white gesso with a paintbrush onto the canvas surface. Allow to dry. Draw a freehand picture on the canvas, use stencils, or trace your image on with carbon paper. Paint in your design with assorted paintbrushes and acrylic colours. Complete by adding outlines around the design. For this holiday project, I painted the outlines in gold to add a little pizzazz.

Once completely dried, spray the carpet surface with a matte varnish protector, let dry and repeat. (Use three to four coats if your floor mat will be subjected to a lot of traffic or exposed directly to winter weather conditions). Let dry overnight.

Machine washing is not recommended for these decorative mats; simply wiping with a damp cloth is sufficient.

Tips

• Decorate your mat to suit your décor or theme. Ideas could range from glittering snowmen to elegant golden stars, to brilliant burgundies of old-world Santa's and blues and silver with Stars of David.
• Using the same process, you can create table runners and festive placemats.