Painting a Letter on Burlap

I started this project by picking out my font for the letter "M" and sized it to 7x9.

I loaded a sheet of kraft paper cardstock into my silhouette cameo in order to cut out the stencil that I would need for the project.

Here is the stencil after it was cut out.

I cut the stencil down to an 8x10 size, the same size as the burlap that I would be painting.  I placed the stencil atop the burlap but didn't adhere it in any way.

I held the stencil down and sponge painted the letter.  It might get a little messy when completing this step.

Once I finished painting the letter I immediately removed the stencil to let it dry.  To dry completely it took about 30 minutes.

Here is the completed project.  I put it in a simple black frame and placed it on the table in my entryway.

A Little Motivation!

For this week's Weekly Shape Challange on the Silhouette Blog, you had a choice to use the weekly free shape or the selected shape, a vinyl phrase by Kolette Hall.   I chose the vinyl phrase because who doesn't need a little motivation sometimes.

I loaded the phrase to my silhouette and sized it down to around 7x9 so it would fit on the 8x10 canvas that I was using.  Once it was ready to cut, I loaded my contact paper only because I ran out of vinyl, and used the settings: media-vinyl, speed-8, thickness-3, blade-2.  I had found the settings online for working with contact paper and it really worked great.

Once everything was cut, I used clear contact paper to transfer the phrase to the canvas.  I used an old gift card I had to to rub across to make sure the letters would stick to the contact paper.

 Then came the time to transfer the letters to the canvas. The canvas was painted gray by one of my girls about a month ago, so I decided to use it, but I painted the bottom part in a tangerine so the work "Awesome" would be a different color.  This is really where everything kinda went wrong, but I was determined to make it work.  I used the gift card to rub across the canvas to make sure the letters would stick, but they didn't, so i had to very carefully lift the contact paper away from the letters.  This process took a while.  I will have to buy some more vinyl so I don't have this problem again.

Well the letters were not adhering to the canvas, so I remember reading somewhere that if you put a light coat of mod podge over the letters that will take care of the problem of paint running under them.  I figured why not!

 Well the mod podge trick worked, so I was able to paint over the phrase with white paint, it took 2 coats.  After letting the paint dry thoroughly it was time to remove the letters.  That was interesting considering I used the mod podge and 2 coats of thick paint, but I got them removed and am very happy with how it turned out!

 Here is the finished project hanging in my home office/craft room!

DIY Wall Art Part 2

 After seeing the art I made for my wall, my girls told me that they wanted me to make them for their rooms.  I was going to make one for each of the girls with two different colors, but that idea was shot down.  My youngest told me that they needed 2 each since they have queen beds, I got 3 since I have a king and a twin bed would only get one.  I really couldn't argue with her reasoning so I agreed.
I had the colors that wanted me to use, but didn't have enough canvases for them so I had to make a trip to Hobby Lobby.  I was able to buy four 16x20 canvases for a little over $15.  I still don't think that $15 for art for 2 rooms is a bad deal.

This is my youngest's with the colors she wanted, Carmine & Island Blue.

This is my middle daughter's with her colors, Dark Red & Chocolate Brown.

DIY Wall Art

I have been getting a little tired of looking at the bare walls in my house, so little by little I am making different things to decorate.  I started with my bedroom, I wanted something different and unique and that would match the colors in there.

I started off with a blank 16 x 20 canvas, luckily I had several of these in my craft closet.  The only thing that I had to buy was one of the colors of paint, which cost me $1.15.  I used painters tape to make the design and used a gift card to get all the bubbles out from the tape if there was any.

Since I have a large area I made three pictures to hang above the bed.  I didn't want them to be uniform, I wanted them all different. 

Then the paining began.  I just used a sponge brush to paint the canvases.  It took 2 to three coats of paint to get the colors to be just right.

Here are all three canvases after 2 coats, 3 for the middle, of paint.  After they were almost dry I painted the sides, which I really should have done first.  I will definately remember that for any others that I may make.

The colors I used are Lilac, Espresso Bean, and Rainy Day Gray.

Here they are after they dried and I removed the tape.  They aren't perfect, there were a few places that the tape came up and paint got under.  I was just going to let it go, but my ocd kicked in and I had to get the white paint out and fix it.

Here is the finished project.  I am very happy with the way they turned out and for me to only spend $1.15 out of pocket for it was even better.  The whole project only took 2 hours from start to hanging them.  Thank goodness I was able to use supplies that I had gotten from family to make this.