Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Our Home Canvas

I mentioned we've moved recently, so I have lots of projects in mind and a clean slate to work with. That's both a good and bad thing-- I have far more ideas or inspiration I've found than time to complete what I want. Typical first world problem, I know.
I'm currently working on a family gallery wall in our upstairs hallway. I had a gallery wall of sorts in our old house, but I'm sprucing it up a little here at the new house. Today I'm sharing a fun project I've completed for the wall. Leading off our home subway art/frame, I made this:

Initially I was going to add only the 3200 (it would've been bigger), but decided it needed a little more than that. Want to make one too? Here's how:

Supplies

Artist canvas

Acrylic paint

Scrapbook paper

Vinyl or stencil

Foam brush

Mounting squares/glue dots

Baker's twine


Tutorial

Start with your canvas(mine is 9x12 from Hobby Lobby) and paint it to fit your color scheme, or leave it white if that works for you. I wanted a cream/off-white rather than stark white. I used Vintage White by folk Art and applied with a foam brush.
While your canvas is drying, cut 'our home' on vinyl with your cutting machine. I used this as a reverse stencil (weed out the letters rather than the negative vinyl as you normally would). Since we're using this as a stencil, the color of the vinyl doesn't matter, which is why scrap pieces are perfect for this.
I find that weeding (peeling away) the negative vinyl is a little trickier, so go slowly. If you don't have a cutting machine or scrap pieces of vinyl, you can definitely use a stencil or even scrapbook paper or stickers. I wanted the 'our home' and '3200' to have different dimension and textures. Next, place the vinyl stencil on your canvas and paint the color of your choice. I used Licorice by folk Art.
If you want a somewhat rustic look, paint a little outside the lines like I did. Though, I went a little overboard on the 'e'. If not, use a smaller foam brush or a mini paint brush. While this is drying, cut your numbers and add to the canvas. I used mounting squares for a 3-D affect on my numbers but glue dots would work as well. While at Hobby Lobby buying the canvas for this project, I ran across black & white baker's twine and am happy I decided to pick it up. I really think it adds the perfect finishing touch to "Our Home".
This project is a great addition to our family gallery wall! You should make one for your home too, it's cute, easy and inexpensive. My favorite kind of projects. :)