Pleasant Projects: Creating a Personalized Name Canvas

Although I wasn't doing much writing during the holiday season, I was quite busy crafting gifts with my girls.  This project was one of my favorites!  My sincerest apologies for the poor picture quality in this post.  The good camera was still in the shop at the time we did this project!

 Here is what you need for this project: a canvas, craft paint, card stock, school glue, assorted trims, fabric for embellishment, hot glue gun.

First, we painted our canvas with two thin layers of craft paint. While the canvas was drying we cut out the letters on card stock, using a computer font as a pattern. ( My daughter actually ended up doing our letters free hand, but you can easily print out the letters you need, cut them out, and trace around them.) We did not have the color of card stock that we needed to match our sweet niece's nursery, so we also painted our letters with craft paint.

Next, we searched our craft closet for suitable embellishments. We came up with a stained hand-me-down shirt that had been saved for its cute-fabric value, buttons from the same shirt, a wide lace scrap, and a narrow lace scrap. Both lace selections from a box of trims that an elderly neighbor gave to us!  Next, we used a flower shaped cookie cutter to trace/cut out our fabric flowers.

When our canvas and letters were totally dry, we created a mixture of equal parts school glue and water. Using a paint brush we glued down our lace, also "painting" the top surface of the lace with the glue. We did the same with the flowers and letters, taking care to cover the top surfaces thoroughly and fix wrinkles. Later, we gave the entire surface of the canvas ( embellishments and all!) a second coat of the glue mixture. The next day we used the hot glue gun to secure the buttons in place.

Although the photos really don't do the final project justice, I can tell you that this canvas ended up looking surprisingly "professional" as we placed it in our gift bag. We were thrilled! Our only expense was the canvas (less than $5.00) and two bottles of 99 cent craft paint! It was a wonderful lesson to our girls on reusing/re-purposing items, as well as on the value of sharing what we can't use with others. It was such a joy  to be able to provide my niece with a cute, personalized gift while staying within our budget. I am fairly sure that we will be revisiting this project for future baby and birthday gifts!