When I first moved into my house a little over two years ago, I was desperate for art to go on my new walls but was feeling empty in my bank account.  I was really into typographic posters and figured I would just make myself some art.  I have since made others for friends and for myself, so I would figured I would just show ya’ll how to do it and then you can make your own.  For this version, I decided to play with textures (shiny vs. matte) and a tone on tone look.

What you’ll need:

1) Canvas- whatever size you want.  These can be purchased at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby amongst other places.  For this, I used an 18X18″ canvas.

2) Cardstock (recycled if possible so as not to upset the earth and Colleen)  for letters.  This is what I used for several reasons.  For one, I was feeling cheap the first time I did this and just wanted to use what I had.  Also, I did not care for any of the fonts that were available in the pre-cut vinyl stickers and did not feel like  shelling out millions of dollars for chipboard letters.  I like that the cardstock comes up a little on the edges when you are spray painting and it looks a little more rustic, like…

(A previously completed canvas that showcases the effect better.  Ignore my shadows on the photo.)

Like I stated previously, you may go out and buy chipboard letters or vinyl letter stickers and it will take you less time for sure but you will have less options, it will be a little more expensive, and the edges will look crisp.

3) Spray paint- two colors.  One for the letters color and one for the canvas color.  If you would like to do tone on tone like me, choose one color and one white.

4) Spray adhesive

5) Scissors (if you are doing it my way)

What you’ll do:

1) If you are printing and cutting out your own letters like I did, choose your quote and your font.  I suggest a bolded printed font and not a scripted one.  I used “Bookman Old Style” font bolded at 175 size because that’s what fit my canvas.  On another project, I used 225 because it was on a bigger canvas (24″X30″).  Just make sure it will fit before you start cutting.  Print it out on your cardstock.

A little glimpse into why I can never get anything done around here.

2) Cut out all your letters and keep them together in piles with the words they belong to.  I did not cut out the circles in the middle of my letters because I did not want to have to bust out the exacto knife and am lazy.  I think it looks cute that way anyways.

3) Spray paint your canvas with the color you want your letters to be.  I used Krylon Satin Ballet Slipper.  Let dry.

4) Use spray adhesive and spray a lightish coat before arranging and applying letters on your canvas.  I had to keep spraying adhesive throughout to ensure it was sticky enough for the cardstock letters to stick.  Press the edges of the letters down as well as you can.  Let dry for 20 minutes or so.

5) Spray your second color of spray paint.  I used Krylon Gloss White paint as my canvas color in order to get the tone on tone effect (white spray almost never completely covers a color so it will just look like a lighter version of your color).  Try to stay directly above the letters when spraying and keep the bottle a foot or 2 from the canvas.  The edges will come up as I mentioned earlier so make sure to be careful not to spray directly under the letters.

6) Let dry for a few minutes and then pick all the cardstock letters off the canvas.  Once it is completely done drying, you are finished and have some cute but cheap art for your house.  Yay you.

 I also made a little “m” on a 6″X6″ canvas.  I was on a roll, baby.

 Here is a side view to show you the textural differences from the glossy vs. matte paint.

 I chose the excerpt from “Goodnight Moon” (obviously) since it was for my bedroom and I thought it was cute.   In the other canvas I showed you a bit of a quote I chose from “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles.  You could really do just about anything.

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