Dream Canvas

Pinterest is probably my favorite source for ideas and, well, favorite website in general. I happened to pin this idea a while ago and when my grandma had found some old canvas in her basement that she didn't want. I knew this was exactly what I was going to do with it. I did everything the same as the original pin I had seen except I didn't use just corkboard. The blog this idea is from is called "Honey & Fitz." This lady has tons of great ideas! Here's her picture of the complete project:

And here's mine:

Supplies:

Canvas

Cork (Try to use as thick as possible cork so the nails will hold)

Linoleum nails (I used a little over 2 packs)

Embroidery string

Black paint

Painter's tape

Paint brushes

Hot glue gun

Directions:

1. On Honey & Fitz's blog, she makes it really easy for you to complete her project by giving you a PDF of the font she used for her letters. To use her font simply download it off of her blog at: Honey & Fitz. If you scroll right after the supplies list there is a link that goes to a Google Doc of the font. I had to download it and resize it to be smaller so it would fit on my canvas. 

2. Once I did that, I taped together the paper and positioned in on my canvas where I wanted the "dream" to be and started nailing along the outline of the letters!

3. The next part is a little tricky. Once you have all of the letters outlined, you need to take off the paper. I slowly lifted the paper and had to tear it at some points so the nails wouldn't lift out. There isn't really a method to it but just try to be as careful as possible or you'll find yourself lifting all of the nails out of the cork and having to re-nail them in.This is what it will look like after you're done!

NOTE: The canvas looks a little rough right now (mine is really old but on top of it, gluing the cork behind the canvas left dents in places. Don't worry though! When you add a trim of black paint, it helps disguise it and you can barely tell)

4. Now it's time to start stringing! I liked the way the rainbow colors looked on Honey & Fitz's version so I stuck with that but you can really do any colors you'd like! I started at the top of the "d" by tying a knot around one nail and then just criss-crossing it until I was ready to switch to another color. Once again, there is not true method to stringing the letters. If you don't like the look of it, just undo your string and start again! 

5. After getting the entire word strung with the embroidery string, it's time to mask off the border with painter's tape! I did my border fairly thick (approx. 3 inches) but again, you can do it however you like!

6. And the final step...PAINT! I did two coats of black paint and also painted the outside edges of the canvas to make it look more crisp and clean.