Valentine’s Day is a time to show the one you love just how much you care about them, right?
Well, I thought I’d tackle a little DIY I pinned ages ago from A Beautiful Mess as a V-Day gift for Craig. I wanted to make him some wall art for his bar area in our house and I saw the quote “You are the gin to my tonic” written somewhere on Pinterest and decided it would be perfectly appropriate as bar art. Sweet, but not sappy – Craig isn’t into that.
So, I thought I’d share it with you!
I’ll start by saying, that you should totally go check out Elsie’s DIY Wall Art first, because it’s way better (and since the idea was hers after all). Mine ended up being a little “flawed”, but it’s about the journey, not the destination, right?
OK, so here’s what you’ll need:
*Canvas (whatever size you’d like)
*Vinyl Sticker Letters
*Scissors
*Acrylic Paint
*Sponges or Paint Brushes
*Scissors
*(Ignore the hearts – I had planned to use them, but ended up forgoing them)
Cut out the letters you need. If you’re going with this quote you’ll have exactly the right amount of letters in one package. Then arrange them to fit on your canvas. You could get all fancy pants with a ruler, but I hate rulers…plus I’m lazy, so I just eyeballed it.
Then, you peel and stick the letters. Stick them on one at a time, so that your spacing stays even. They’re easy to peel off and move if you don’t like how they’re arranged. Make sure to press the letters down well and that there are no bubbles.
Yep. Not evenly spaced, but I didn’t care enough to fix it. I am kind of obsessive compulsive about a great many things in life, but apparently crafting is not one of them.
Squirt your paint all over your canvas – make silly designs if you feel so inclined.
Use your sponge or paint brush to cover the letters. Make sure you have a good thick layer of paint.
Let it dry – for at least an hour. I peeled them off a little too soon and the lines weren’t as crisp as they would’ve been.
Here’s the finished product. A little wonky. I told Craig he could just drink a couple extra gin and tonics and then it would look perfect :). But, the reason it got messed up was because I didn’t press my stickers down hard enough and they bubbled up in certain spots, letting paint underneath. No bueno. Good thing it’s the thought that counts!
{This DIY project is from Elsie at A Beautiful Mess}
Are you making your Valentine anything special this year?
xo
Lauren
Just dinner! I don’t have a crafty bone in my body, but I love him nonetheless!
Too bad I use to LOVE gin and tonics BUT then there was a night when I made one too many serving myself mason jar sized gin and tonics … no bueno. And as for your craft I LOVE it and I love it even more because I had a craft night doing these same letters … and wrote … coffee I love you … I waited for the paint to dry and low and behold … blobs. Love you lady and keep inspiring.
I love that you made this yourself – I bought a similar print on Etsy, but I never would have thought to do it as a DIY! So cute!
Aw so cute!
I bought Izzy a sign from Barn Owl Primitives. I already gave it to him, because I’m lame at keeping secrets,and he loved it, yay!
I made this canvas but a little differently… I painted little spots of purple, teal, and yellow alllll over the canvas. Once that paint had dried I put the letter stickers down. I had read about the paint seeping under the letters so I mod podged around them. Then I spray painted the whole thing white. Once that dried I removed the letters. So I had a white canvas with colorful letters, it looked amazing! I gave it as a gift and she loved it. A bit more work for sure, but I loved the way it turned out.
Love that! And, if you wanted to get the splotchy parts off (or just distress the canvas a bit), you could always lightly brush it down with sandpaper. Give it a vintage-y look.. and the splotches would look “on-purpose.” 😉 But it’s still super cute.