Letters and Canvas

I'm having a hard time moving around today, so I decided to just go ahead and post this super easy project. We are heading to Ohio with the whole family to enjoy four days of camping and amazing music at All Good Festival. Did I mention it's going to be hovering around 90 degrees? No? Well, it's worth it and we will be covering lots of ground walking and I couldn't be more excited! So, while I'm letting my body take a break you get to read about this simple and cheap project. 

   What you'll need: I got everything I needed for this project at Lowes, Hobby Lobby and my mother in 

                                    law's house (scrapbooking paper)

• Letters, numbers or what ever you like (letters $1.50)
• Canvas ($3.00)
• Oil based spray primer (I used Kilz Odorless)
• Spray paint (I used Valspar high gloss, white lacquer)
• Paint, scrapbooking paper (We used what we had lying around)
• Painters tape (We used Frog Tape)
• Spray multipurpose adhesive (I used 3M Super 77)
• Liquid nails

 Optional- I didn't use these products, but really wish I had!

• Wood filler 
• Sandpaper

First I spray primed the letters with two coats of Kilz. This is where I screwed up. I really should have used the wood filler because there are little holes in the T. I know you can't see them in the picture, but they are there and you can see them when looking at the letter in person. I also should have used sandpaper and sanded them to make them smooth as glass. Oh well, next time!

I was also in the process of changing some of my picture frames, so I just did it at the same time. A quick word about the spray primer. I am a very messy spray painter and I got it all over my feet and hands! So, do it outside in a place where your neighbors won't freak out! The picture above is where I used two coats of the lacquer on the letters and the canvas. The lacquer was super stinky, so it definitely should be used outside!

Here is what the letters and canvas looked like all glossy white. You could just leave them like this and call it done, for modern look. I like it so much I'm thinking of doing it for the back of the bathroom door and adding a hook under each of our initials for towels.

For the B, our daughter used the painter's tape and taped out her design. To get the nice lines without removing some of the paint, just pull the tape as soon as you do your last coat of paint.

There's our daughter, Baylee hard at work. Actually, she's ignoring me taking pictures of her painting. Don't you just love the purple hair? It's purple for her summer swim team. Don't worry grandma, it washes out... eventually!

 

Here's the final project. For the E, I used painter's tape for the pattern. For the T, I simply flipped the canvas upside down on the scrapbooking  paper and traced away. I then took it outside, sprayed the adhesive on the canvas and put the paper on top of it. The next morning I put the liquid nails on the back of the letters and positioned them on top of the canvas and snapped the picture. That's why they are laying flat and not hung. The liquid nails package said to wait 16 hours before hanging. The only things I needed to buy were the letters and the canvas and it came to a whopping $4.50 a piece. Super easy and cheap, new wall art!

We will be welcoming a new niece very soon and I see another project like this in the near future with a J on it. Or a larger canvas with her whole name!

If anyone else has done this project, I'd love to see your interpretation!