Hi guys! Welcome to my first DIY feature!

This canvas project was inspired by my mom’s upcoming birthday.  I’m pretty sure she would be happy with a pair of socks as long as they came from me, but I always feel pressure to be personal with gift giving.  Since having my little one, I try to incorporate her in any homemade gifts I do for the grandparents.  I wanted to come up with something fairly easy and inexpensive, yet something sweet and pretty.  Starting when my daughter was a baby, my mom would sing her the little tune “I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.”   As my daughter has gotten older, she sings it back and it’s adorable.  Here’s where the lightbulb went off!

 

I decided to do a canvas that my daughter could paint, add the special saying and frame it to finish it off.  I’ll walk you though the steps below.

 

 

Here’s what you’ll need:

jumbo popsicle sticks

a canvas (whatever size you would like, I used 11×14)

paint

Exacto knife

double sided sticky paper (like this, and don’t forget to use those coupons found online!)

glitter

small tacks/hammer

coffee OR wood stain (to stain the wood)

coffee press, or anything to brew very strong coffee and strain the grounds

container to soak popsicle sticks

cutting board

Now you’re ready to start!

• Paint the canvas
  

 

• Get the coffee going at this point, I just made a strong carafe of coffee, no special ratio.
• Start cutting the rounded ends off the popsicle sticks, scissors worked just fine for me.

• I let the coffee press sit for a few minutes before pouring the strained coffee over the popsicle sticks.  Let them soak for about 30 minutes and lay out to dry.

• Print out your saying in your desired font and size (I did Segoe script, bold, 100) and place the print out on top of the double sided adhesive paper.

• Next, trace the text with your Exacto knife, you will probably have to go over it a second time to cut all the way through. (This was a little tedious, but kind of relaxing with the music going.)

• Once the canvas is completely dry, it’s time to place the saying.  Remove one side of paper and stick the adhesive side down firmly on the canvas.

• Then remove the paper to expose the other side of adhesive.  I did them one row at a time.
• Apply the glitter and shake off the excess once you are done with the entire saying.

• Cut popsicle sticks to required lengths to border the canvas and act as a frame. I found it was better to use 3 sticks cut to the same length as opposed to 2 long sticks and 1 short one (the short pieces kept splitting when I would hammer in the tack)

And you’re done!

 

I can’t wait to hear about how you personalized this project!