So I've been wanting to make this craft for a while now. It's such a cute idea for the lyrics of the first song you danced to as husband and wife (as I'm doing - "And I Love You So" by Harry Connick, Jr.). But you could do so many other things! Favorite quotes, songs, Bible verses...anything!
Supplies:
- Song/poem/quote - whatever words you want to use
- Adobe Illustrator - OR you can order the word art here
- Canvases - I think you can also order the words ON the canvases from the same etsy store, but I'm not sure
- Acrylic sealant spray (optional)
- Mod Podge
- Parchment paper, tape, and nails
Lyrics or whatever words you want printed |
Paper trimmer to get paper to correct size (LOVE this thing!!!) |
Canvases - I used 8x8" |
Parchment paper |
I wanted to do it completely by myself, and I was having problems doing the formatting for the print out. I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Illustrator and followed the directions from the comments on the link - nine artboards in a grid lined-up immediately next to each other and then placed a large text box on top. When printing, the program automatically divides the artboards into individual squares. I also used the same fonts she used - Trajan Pro, Adobe Garamond, and “Dear Joe Four”, and also used Harrington because my weird brain couldn't just use 3 fonts when each verse and the chorus so easily split into four parts. :)
Screen shot of what the layout looked like |
I trimmed the pages with my handy-dandy trimmer. It's pretty much a requirement for this project unless you happen to be a prodigy with scissors, which I am not. Next I simply Mod Podged the sheets to the canvases. I say simply, but I did have problems with bubbling. You have to have enough podge on the canvas to make the paper stick, but it's VERY easy to put too much, which results in bubbling. Luckily, the bubbling does go down as the podge dries, but if you really want perfectly smooth work, well...good luck! :)
Side note: Some people said the the ink smeared with the podging (I'm totally making up words here). I used acrylic sealant spray on the paper before podging and I didn't get any smearing. I also used a laser printer, so that may have more to do with the no smearing than the sealant.
Put several layers of podge on...the more layers, the more texture you'll see. I think I ended up only doing 3 or 4 layers.
Next, prepare to hang!!! I used parchment paper to trace out where I wanted the canvases in relation to each other so I could get the spacing juuuuuust right. I organized them with one inch between each canvas...I wanted them right next to each other but for some reason they weren't lining up well enough. The hubster traced the corners and edges of the whole project and put the nail holes where we would need them in the paper.
Measuring the exactly placement :) |
Tracing of corners and edges and nail holes |
Nail are in! Now to hang the canvases... |
FINALLY!!!
I'm SO excited to finally have this up! |
We then added a tea-light trough that I've had for YEARS, put LED tea-lights in and now it's romantic. ;-)
lights off |
lights on |
I am so incredibly excited to finally have SOMETHING on the wall in our bedroom.
I hope to get a lot more crafts and new recipes done over the summer, but no promises. Obviously I never know when my life is going to get crazy busy!