A little Thanksgiving painting project

Last Halloween, we made our own rendition of a Pinterest inspired canvas painting project. The boys created Jack-O-Lanterns to display each year, that I could not wait to hang up this year.

 

Ever since, I have been slightly obsessed with coming up with canvas paintings for every holiday! A while back, I bought 2 - 12"x24" canvases, but could not figure out what to do with them. Then I came across a pin that had a child's name spelled out, and that's where I got the idea for this project.

All you need is a blank canvas and a roll of masking tape. I measured the board to be sure that I had the letters semi-centered, and then tore the tape into bits and pieced the letters together.

 

This is what it looked like when I got done taping. 

Then came the fun part! I used a single sponge brush and 3 paint colors - brown, orange and yellow. I figured they were "fall-ish" and the yellow would help to brighten it up.

After about 2 minutes, it looked like this - and I realized that I had squirted enough paint for 1, maybe 2 more canvases! Oops.

Once the paint had dried, I peeled the tape off. At times I had to use a razorblade to lift pry it from the paint.

 Then I used a Sharpie pen to trace the letters, following the paint line. The lettering is a bit more 'edgy' than I like for a Thanksgiving look, so next time I'll try using longer tape strips to create a smoother look.

I've got one more of these 12"x24" canvases left - I'm thinking a Christmas or New Year's message... maybe some glitter over the paint to add some sparkle!

 

Just a tip, if you are interested in creating a canvas collection, check out Aaron Brothers. They have sales that include Buy 1, Get 2 Free on canvases!

Halloween painting project

Since I've become somewhat of a Pinterest additct pro, I've decided that I really need to be more serious about actually trying out things I've pinned, instead of just collecting them.

 

I have discovered that Baking Soda is a fantastic cleaner, especially with some of our hard water issues; a simple 15 minute workout can leave you searching for the handrail in the bathroom for two days; there are some Yummy recipes to be found and there are Tutorials for anything I could ever want to attempt on my own.

 

Here are some of the kids projects that I've pinned... that I've never tried! What's the point of searching out activities to do with your kids if you're not going to do them? A couple of months ago I came across this adorable canvas snowflake painting project! I thought it would be a perfect rainy day activity, the only problem was ... I didn't want to wait that long!

 

So... I ran out and picked up a couple of canvases, put them in a drawer, and waited for the middle of September to pass, so we could do our own Fall rendition!

 

First we gathered our materials: canvas, masking tape, paints, brushes

 

 

 First, use the masking tape to outline your print. The pin I found was for snowlfakes - we opted for Jack-o-Lanterns! Be sure you press the tape down cleanly on the canvas.

 

Then choose your color palate - we went with brown, red, orange and yellow.

 

 

Paint your canvas - All Of It! Cover the tape, the full board and around the edges. This part was a bit harder to explain. The oldest was doing his best to paint a "real" Jack-o-Lantern!





The next step - Wait. Wait until the paint has dried completely. We opted for over night. This was the hardest step of them all! 

I get a kick out of this one! Their personalities really come through in the end result of their paint trays!

 The next morning, we peeled off the tape... aaannnddd... 

 



  Ta- Da! I used a Sharpie to outline the paint border as suggested in the snowflake post. This makes a Huge difference in the image.

 These adorable works of art will be with us through Thanksgiving! We are already on the hunt for a canvas sale, so we can make one for each Holiday!