I've made a couple different types of gifts, and I wanted to walk you through the steps for one. I had seen different ideas on Pinterest and other blogs, and I sort of took an amalgam of several items and pieced them together into my gift.
I call these "initial canvasses." You can use one letter, a shape, or a whole word (using small letters), and you can use any color of canvas (painting the bottom layer first) or stencil. I made all mine the same because I didn't know what colors the hostesses had their houses decorated in, so I chose to keep it neutral. I love how easy this was to make and how personal you can make it.
Here is what you need:
*a canvas (I used a 12x12" canvas because I bought 10" round doilies. You can customize and go bigger/smaller as you desire.)
*doilies (Mine came in a package of 10, located at the cake decorating section of Hobby Lobby.)
*wooden letters (These came in a 2-pack, so I super glued them together to add some depth.)
*acrylic paint--any color for the letter and the doily (You could even use 1 color for the letters and a different color for the outer rim.)
*ribbon to string up the canvas (I used a really pretty white lace ribbon, but just didn't get a picture of it.)
*super glue or other adhesive
*sponge-top paintbrushes, small and large
The canvasses were the most expensive part of this project, because the bigger they are, the more they cost. You could buy a 2-pack or set if they have them on sale, or use a coupon that Hobby Lobby always seems to have online. I bought the letter pack, the doily pack and a spool of ribbon. I had the paint and brushes and super glue on hand already.
Step 1: Paint your canvas base color and/or your wooden letters. A light color would be best on your canvas so that you can paint a darker color on top. If you want a dark color on the whole canvas, use as few coats as possible and know that you'll need a heavy coat of paint on top. Paint your letters first so that they can be drying while you paint the canvasses. (*Side note: painting the edges of the wooden letters tore up my sponge brushes. You may want to use bristle brushes for this part, just make sure you don't have streaks on the face of the letter.*)
Step 2: Lay the doily down on top of the canvas to paint. You could use some spray or roll-on adhesive to get the middle of the doily to stick, but my adhesive didn't work so well, and I found that just using my hands to hold it down and the paint to stick it in place worked fine. You could center it like I did or use parts of the doily to fall off the edges of the canvas at different points. That would look cool.
Step 3: Take a small sponge brush and put a generous amount of paint on it. Using the paint as a sort of adhesive, start to dab/paint CAREFULLY in the same direction around the circle pattern. You don't want to drag your brush too much because it will get under the doily you're trying to stencil and might bend the delicate doily pattern. Make sure to hold the doily firmly in place with one hand while painting with the other. Because the doily is round, it will want to wrinkle and shift as you paint your way around the edges.
Step 4: Paint the whole outer edge of the pattern and make sure you get all the intricacies of the pattern.
Step 5: Slowly and gently, peel up one edge of the doily and pull it completely off the canvas. You may feel comfortable letting it dry some, but if you let it dry a lot, the doily may stick to the canvas. I found that slow and steady is the best method after doing 7 of these one night. :)
Step 6: Once the paint is a little more dry, you can glue on your letter to the center. Super glue worked great for me. I thought about hot glue, but I hate all the little stringy things that are left behind. I wanted a clean finish.
Step 7: Give the canvas a way to hang by attaching ribbon to the back. You can use more super glue or a staple gun or a dab of hot glue. I cut about 8 inches of lace, made a loop and glued both ends together so that it was a narrow, skinny hanging loop. Sorry I forgot a picture!
My nursery colors are purple and green, so I also included some lavender and green Yankee votive candles and a glass candle holder as a personal touch.
The last thing you need to do is wrap your gift!
I found purple bags, green tissue paper, and the cutest green/purple polka dot ribbon at Hobby Lobby. I bought several spools to keep on hand for gifts!
I'm so happy with the way these gifts turned out, and I think the hostesses liked them too. Depending on what colors and size you do, they could hang in a bathroom, bedroom, child's room, on a door, or be set out on a small easel. They are relatively inexpensive, personal and don't take too long to create. I made all 7 assembly-line style, and it took me one entire evening. You could easily break it up in pieces over several days.
Good luck, and happy crafting!
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