Easy, High Impact, Cheap Canvas Wall Art Tutorial

Hello there! I have been a busy little bee as of late! Making things for the kids rooms' and repurposing clothes for all of us (more on that later). One thing that I have been wanting to do is some wall art for the little man's "Route 66" room. I have painted it a... well, I guess the only way to really describe it is to call it "Cookie Monster Blue." No joke. But when all the furniture and new carpet is in there, you will love it as much as I do! And even if you don't... I love it, so that's all that matters. My poor children have to suffer because I grew up with only white walls at all times. So I go a little crazy in the color department at times because I want lots of color in my house. Onto my post!!!

Material Needed:

*Canvas (I got mine at Michaels as a 2-pack for $4.49! Score!) Use whatever size you want.)

*Craft Paint

*Sponge Brush and Fine Tip Brush

*Freezer Paper (You can also use Contact Paper if you wanted as well. You just need something that will stick onto your canvas.)

*Cricut Cutter (You don't have to use it at all! I just did because I can. You can also print off the image you want and use a razor cutter to cut along the outside.)

*Iron

Step 1: Cut out your image you want out of the freezer paper. Easy.

Step 2: Place the Freezer Paper (waxy side down) onto your canvas, then with your iron set on the hottest heat setting and NO steam iron your image onto your canvas.

** Tip: Because the canvas has an empty back it is hard to get your iron to evenly go over the wax paper. So I took a hard back book, placed a towel/fabric over the top, and put the canvas over the top of the book. I'm sure there are easier ways or more proper ways of doing it but I had to think on my toes and used what I had on hand!

This is the towel over the book.

Step 3: After ironing, being very careful not to burn your finger tips off, run your finger or the back of a butter knife over the edges of the wax paper to make sure that the edges are on tight. If they aren't, just take the iron over it again.

Step 4: PAINT! Take your brush and move out from the center of your Freezer Paper, making sure not to lift the edge of your paper. This will allow your edges to be more straight, however you will probably have to go over it with a fine tip brush after you lift your stencil up.

Step 5: The hardest part.... wait. Make sure your paint is completely dry before lifting your stencil up.

Step 6: If your edges aren't real straight, go over it with a fine tip brush. I have the most unsteady hand in the history of the world, so if I can do it, so can you! Just go slow and make small strokes with your brush. Work from the inside details and work your way out. Then wait for it to dry and then you are done!!!

As you can see the edges are a little spotty here.

Here are my finished products for the little man's room.

Here are all three that I did with the same technique.

The next one I am making is for my daughter's room and I'm thinking I'm going to use spray paint! I will keep you posted!