How To Make An Easy Hand-Lettered Canvas – ORC Week 2 Update

It’s no secret that I love a great budget-friendly, time-saving DIY home decor project. If I see a piece of art that I really want in our home and know that I can make it myself for less money and a little time – I usually try it. This lead to my latest creation. I used a super simple method to make a personalized hand lettered canvas that turned out beautifully!

It is also week 2 of the One Room Challenge hosted by Calling It Home and I have updates on what I have been working on for my modern farmhouse girl’s room makeover. I’ve purchased a few items for my daughter’s room and I’m so excited about how everything is coming together so far. If you follow me on Instagram you will be able to see some sneak peeks of my progress. You’ll definitely want to stick around for the next few weeks to see the reveal!

UPDATE:

Here are the links for the remaining weeks and the full reveal!

Week One | Week Three | Week Four | Week Five | Week Six Reveal!

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I admire artists that do hand-lettering with ease – it is a beautiful art and is quite mesmerizing to watch. Have you seen videos of calligraphy/hand-lettering in motion? I could watch those all day. They are seriously amazing and therapeutic. I have tried to do some hand-lettering on my own, but sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way that I want it to. It is definitely an art that can take a lot of practice to master.

For this canvas I wanted to try out a short-cut to see if I could trace some lettering onto the canvas using a pencil-transfer method, and then trace it again with a permanent marker. It totally worked! I was able to print out the word from my home printer, trace the outline of the word with pencil, then flip it over and trace it again – transferring a light pencil outline onto the canvas. Then I went over it with a gold marker tracing the outline that was “drawn” onto the canvas. It worked like a charm!

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Materials needed:

• White Canvas
• Pencil
• Gold Sharpie
• Home Computer & Printer

How to make your DIY hand lettered canvas:

Measure the width of the space on your canvas you want your word to cover. Now you will type out your word and pick a font – enlarge your word making sure that you stay within the width that you previously measured. Then you will flip your word so that it is backwards. In Adobe Illustrator you do this by selecting object > transform > reflect (vertical). Next you will print out your word and trim any extra paper around it.

Now you will start tracing the outline of the word with your pencil. You want to get a good amount of lead on your paper so that you will have enough to be transferred to your canvas.

When you are finished you will then flip over your paper, and tape it to the canvas so that it doesn’t move out of place. I found that scotch tape didn’t stick very well to the texture of the canvas, so I would recommend painter’s tape/masking tape instead. I kept my canvas un-painted because I wanted a white background that would give a good contrast against the gold lettering. Now you will start tracing your word around the outline and make sure to press down fairly hard with your pencil to transfer the lead onto the canvas.

TIP: You can place a couple magazines or a book behind the canvas where you will tracing so that you have a hard surface behind it. This will make up for the “space” behind the middle part of the canvas and will prevent the canvas from stretching while you are tracing your word onto it.

When you lift off your paper you will have a pencil outline of your word on the canvas!  If you see any sparse places or areas that you may have missed, you can use your printed word as a guide and fill in the missing lines with the pencil. Now you are ready to trace over it with your sharpie/permanent marker.

I used a gold sharpie that looks amazing against the white background! When tracing with the marker make sure to move slowly to make sure you are following the lines. I find that if I start going too fast that is when I start making mistakes.

 

This hand-lettered canvas looks beautiful – and will look great in my daughter’s new room! Here is the post from ORC Week 1 that shows my inspiration board for the decor. I’m getting excited for the next project for her room – it will add some much needed character and charm!

Updates on her room makeover:

• I purchased some art for the walls. I fell in love with some pieces from Hobby Lobby.
• I bought a chair for her room that I purchased second-hand for only $50! Total bargain!
• I scored the cutest little farmhouse side table at Marshall’s for only $19.99. I’m a bargain shopper and love a good deal!
• I’m almost finished fixing up the antique dresser that we got for free.
• I’ve decided on the treatment for the walls to give them some texture and interest.

Here are a couple pictures of my recent finds for her room:

Everything is coming together nicely and I’m excited to tackle the rest of my to-do list for the room. Check back next week for the next round of updates! Are you a bargain shopper like me? Have you scored any great deals lately? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

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If you loved this DIY hand lettered canvas, you’ll also love my DIY drop cloth headboard and my DIY hoop wreath tutorial!

For more updates and home decor ideas, make sure to follow me on Pinterest, Instagram & Facebook!

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