So, the pink polka dot-themed room just wasn't cutting it for her anymore, because it was "sooo babyish and immature" for someone as cool as my daughter. I mean, how could she invite friends over to a place like that?!?!
Since I'm on a limited budget, I'm doing bits and pieces, trying to upgrade the bedroom into something more fashionable, with out breaking the bank. I may not be cool, but I am sensitive to her feelings about change, since she gets it honestly...it's my husband who doesn't understand the constant need for upgrade and furniture rearrangement!
So my first project for her room was inspired by my love of wall decals and her constant singing the same song over and over again in the car. Her favorite song of the moment is "Love like Crazy", and of all the music out there these days, I figured that one had some value and merit within the lyrics. I wasn't crazy about 1) paying to have those lyrics custom-made as a wall decal, 2) creating those lyrics myself using vinyl shelf liner or 3) hand-painting the lyrics onto the wall. So, I sat on the idea for a few days and my inspiration came to fruition when I found large canvases at Big Lots for $5 each. I purchased two, thinking I would spread the chorus of the lyrics over two of them to cover more space on the walls.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take a lot of in-progress pictures--as always seems to be the case, I get so excited I get tunnel-vision.
Here's how I transformed two blank canvases into a piece of wall art:
1). I painted each canvas with watered down acrylic paint. I chose a gray in lieu of a color because I was going for a typewritten type of look.
2) While the paint was drying, I used a large paintbrush to spread Elmer's glue over the entire surface of several sheets of cardstock.
3) While the cardstock was drying, I typed the lyrics into Word, altering the font size and style on each word in the lyrics. I thought this would add some interest to the wording.
4) When the glue-covered cardstock was dry, I printed my lyrics onto the cardstock using the t-shirt transfer option on my printer. This way, the words printed onto the cardstock backwards.
5. Then I cut each word out of the cardstock and placed them on the canvas they way they were to look. Admittedly, I ran into a few problems with this step because I was just winging it and ended up with some words that needed enlarged or downsized to fit the way I wanted them to. (You may want to paint some extra cardstock for any mistakes you may run into. I don't think your paper will be a waste, because once you see how easy this is, you'll find more things to play with this print transfer!)
6. I painted the surface of the canvas with Mod Podge and placed my printed cardstock words on top so that the printed words and the freshly painted (wet) Mod Podge are sticking together. At this point, I was very careful to not let the cardstock shift around. I felt that it was important to stay in one place for a good transfer. I held it in place and rubbed the back of the cardstock really well to ensure adherence.
7. Let this dry overnight.
8. Carefully spritz water on your cardstock until it is saturated. Using your bare fingers, rub the wet cardstock, wiping the paper pieces away. This is the most annoying part of the project, because I felt like the cardstock didn't want to let go!! Use more patience/softness as opposed to fast/firmness--this will ensure you're removing cardstock and not printer ink.
9. When you've finished this, you'll be left with an image transfer on your canvas. Mine didn't come out as dark as I would have liked and I believe that is because my ink cartridge had been on low for quite a few weeks prior to my printing. So I actually went back over each word with my black Sharpie marker, because I wanted the words to be very distinct against my background. But I would do this with a steady hand and prior to your morning cup of coffee!!
10. The last thing I did was to paint the entire surface with a fresh coat of Mod Podge in matte finish. I used a 3 inch paint brush for this step, waited for it to dry, then hung the canvases side-by-side on the wall. Ta-da:
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