"Places" in Canvas

I am not sure what you call these canvas prints. But I am going to just call it "Places" because that's basically what it is. I first saw one at Debbie's house and thought how nice it was. Not only did it look good, but was fun to look at her favorite places!

Several years ago I would stencil (and so would Debbie) anything that I could get my hands on! A shower curtain, borders on walls, a coffee table ...you name it, we stenciled it! All those wonderful stencils ended up in a yard sale or maybe just given to someone.  Debbie wasn't sure if she could find hers, so off to Hobby Lobby I went to find some of them ABC's!

Came home and thought how easy this would be...long story short...it was not. Couldn't get the letters straight. Even with help from a straight edge. Couldn't get the paint to not "bleed" under the stencil. Gave up after about 2 hours.

Another visit to Hobby Lobby and it was vinyl letters for me! Peel and stick, yes! 

I painted the canvas a pale greenish blue (by mixing leftover paint from years ago) Stuck the letters on the then painted over with a creamy white color. It was fun...once it was over!

I'm not good with tutorials, but here are some pics that should help! 

Stenciling the letters didn't work for me at all!

These are the two colors of old craft paint I mixed on a paper plate

Took awhile, but I finally got all the letters on. Lucky for me they were vinyl.
I had to reuse several of the letters! Seems like you just never get all the letters you need!
Be sure to take your 40% coupon!

Then I very gently starting painting over the letters with a brush. I just used a creamy color.
I was afraid the letters would peel off the canvas as I was painting. But none of them did!

I let the top half of the paint dry, it was hot so only took about 20 minutes.
Then I had to move a few of my letters down to the bottom of the canvas.

I thought if I stared at it, it would dry faster!

The letters that are white, are the ones I moved. They peeled off and re-stuck without a problem

Peeling the letters off with my fingers.

Finally took Greg's advice and used a straight pin to "grab" the letters.
Good idea Greg, but don't tell him I said so (i didn't listen to him til the very end!)

Finished! Only messed up the 77 (our anniversary)
And that was because I was tooooo impatient.

After all was said and done. It turned out nice. And I love all the places it stands for!



I may try and work on the 77...someday... and I think I may try and lightly sand the very edges of the letters .
Theres a little build up paint, but I think it would come right off.