{Decor} Distressed Canvas

A photography client of mine brought this distressed canvas idea to me about 2 months ago. So, when my sister-in-law told me she was looking into canvases to decorate her new house, I knew I wanted to try it out on her. I love guinea pigs.
While the project was easy, there are certain things about it that I had great difficulty with. You see, I admit I'm slightly OCD. I just see things the way I want them, down to the detail, like the specific parts of the portrait that I want "distressed". And, this is something I didn't have great control over. Oh, the emotion. First anger, then sadness, then denial, then regret, then acceptance, but still with a little sadness and a warning before she opened her gift.
I would never have distressed the precious baby's face. However, when you stand back and look at the entire canvas, it's not so bad. I can let go. I did learn some valuable lessons, though.
1) This works much better on smaller canvases, when you're not trying to piece things together.
2) It's okay for things to not work out my way.
3) When it says to smooth it out, it means it.
4) It's okay for things to not work the way I anticipated.

I will be trying this project again, and I'll let you know how it goes. If you're interested in trying it yourself, just google "Distressed Canvas DIY", and there are several tutorials you can choose from.