How To: Kids Quote Canvas Allie's February Jumpstart Project 2009

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Title: Kids Quote Canvas
Name: Allie
Time: 7-8 hours
Cost: About $30

Use a quotes for both inspiration and decoration! Click above for pics, below for the how-to and be sure to give Allie a THUMBS UP if you find this project helpful....

Tools:
Canvas (24"x30")
Black acrylic craft paint (Plaid Brand)
Transfer Paper (Saral Brand)
Tape
Sharpie Pen
Assortment of brushes
Access to computer software for text layout (Illustrator, Photoshop, Word, etc)
Access to an oversized printer (Kinkos has them)
USB flash drive or cd with your text layout on it.

Steps:
1.Find or make up a quote for your child's space. I used a quote by children's author, Arnold Lobel, but I can imagine a quote by Dr. Seuss or Jack Prelutsky would also work well.
2. Use a word processing program such as Word or even Photoshop or Illustrator to lay out the text. I used Photoshop and the font "Courier New" and spaced everything out so the right and left margins were justified. Use black text on a white background.
3. Once you are satisfied with the layout, save your document to a flash drive or cd.
4. Visit your local Kinkos or any copy shop that has an oversized black & white printer. These are the printers that are usually used for architectural plans. Have them enlarge your document to the size of your canvas. In my case, it was 24" x 36". The cost to print a copy of that size was only $3.75.
5. Use transfer paper to cover the entire canvas. You may have to use a few pieces. Be sure the "transfer side" is face down on the canvas. Tape in place.
6. Lay your oversized copy on top of the transfer paper and canvas (words facing up). Be sure it's aligned with the canvas and not crooked. Tape in place.
7. Use a ball point pen and carefully trace over the words. I used a blue pen so I could clearly see what areas I had gone over. Use enough pressure so the words will be transferred to the canvas. After a while, your hand may hurt so take a break!
8. When you have finished tracing over all of the words, remove the enlarged copy and transfer paper.
9. The letters should now be visible on the canvas.
10. Use a fine tip permanent marker (Sharpie) and carefully trace around all of the letters. I did this so I wouldn't have to paint along the edges of the letters. I used a black sharpie because I was painting a black background. Match your background color to your sharpie (or other fine-tip permanent marker).
11. After you have traced around the letters, paint in the negative space between the letters (background). 12. Hang and admire!

Sources:
While one may not think of a copy store when creating home decor, it turned out to be my best resource.

Give Allie a THUMBS UP if you find this project helpful....

To Jumpstart Page Info and All Entries

I love the quote and the way it looks! I am now scheming a way to get this without doing it myself (I know, totally contrary to the spirit of the project and the contest, sorry) - maybe a company like uppercase living would make this quote as a sticker?

posted by LaneC on February 27th 2009 at 1:11pm
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Fantastic. Now I know what I'm making my husband for his birthday next month: a line from one of our favorite songs on canvas. Nice work.

posted by pennycarnival on February 27th 2009 at 2:12pm
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I love the idea and the finished project but, like LaneC, I'd rather pay someone else to do it for me. I'm just not good at that type of thing.

posted by bigwavejen on February 27th 2009 at 3:03pm
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Here is an Apartment Therapy post on making your own posters, for those like me who want to steal this look but lack Allie's patience and dexterity: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/books-websites-guides-resources/affordable-posters-design-them-yourself-075747

posted by LaneC on February 27th 2009 at 5:37pm
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This is waay cool. What a great idea and very apt for those of us who just can't have enough books around. But with two little ones (ages 1 and 3), I'm afraid I just don't have the time to devote so much time to a project so I, too, will have to find another less time consuming way to get artwork like this.

posted by r8ermom on February 28th 2009 at 2:20am
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I LOVE this idea!

posted by momnipotent on February 28th 2009 at 11:01am
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i would most likely print out my letters at home and cut them out with an razor blade. then just paint black over them. perhaps even transfering them onto a plastic type paper. this project looks cool but has too many steps. ( like finding a printer in our town that can hold up, by the time i find one i will have a nice headache plus they charge out the wazzo with things here)

posted by jackied302 on March 1st 2009 at 11:14am
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or even simpler...paint a canvas black and use stick on letters!!!

posted by jackied302 on March 1st 2009 at 11:15am
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Very clever and inspirational idea! I'm off to look for quotes . . .

posted by lexi95 on March 2nd 2009 at 11:01am
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If this is too difficult for you and you don't want to make it from scratch, you can always have a file printed on canvas (like this http://www.canvaspress.com/ - there are a million companies that offer this service) if you do want the "homemade look" for this, you can have it printed and then go over the print with acrylic paint.

posted by Aya_Rosen on March 2nd 2009 at 4:44pm
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Love it! I've been trying to think of a clever (I mean cheap) way to get a quote onto a canvas. I have an 11"x17" printer so part of the work is already done! However, I have used FedEx/Kinkos to print large format in the past (up to 23" wide) and it's very inexpensive. This really sounds easy, just takes a bit of time. I think it would look better than trying to line up self stick letters and getting the spacing correct. Great job!

posted by kr60201 on March 2nd 2009 at 5:52pm
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LaneC is right: Uppercase Living offers an online custom quote creator that you can use to create your own quotes for canvas or just about any other surface. It's easy to use, with lots of fonts and colors, and the result is a single "sticker" that you apply as a unit, not individual letters. It's likely a more expensive option that Allie's Kinko's method (big thumbs up for the innovative idea!), but it might be easier for those of us who are dexterity- and/or patience-challenged. ;)

Here's the link to Uppercase Living's online custom quote tool: MyDesign Tool

posted by melrowgo on April 8th 2009 at 9:38am
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Here's a link to my version of this project: http://sites.google.com/site/ourlittleisland/guest-room.

It did take quite a bit of time. Was concerned I couldn't pull it off in a non-black color, i.e. did not use a sharpie to outline the letters. Could a tiny brush get in close enough? Yes, it did.

posted by ourlittleisland on July 29th 2009 at 9:43pm
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Oh, drat. Please pardon the faulty link above. This should work: http://sites.google.com/site/ourlittleisland/guest-room

posted by ourlittleisland on July 29th 2009 at 9:45pm
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