Hoo doesn’t love monograms? Whether you consider yourself a “master crafter” or simply want to try something new, here’s how to create a customized, monogrammed canvas for a fraction of the cost of one made by someone else on Etsy!
What You’ll Need:
- Canvas (any size)
- Sponge Brushes (2)
- Acrylic Paint (3 colors, your choice: I used Apple Barrel brand White, “Cloudless” and “Pink Parfait”)
- Thick Paper or thin cardboard (I used an old notebook cover)
- Newspaper
- Empty Toilet Paper Roll
- Scissors
The Canvas
1. Lay out a generous amount of newspaper on a flat surface
2. Pour a small amount of the base color of paint on the newspaper
I used “Cloudless” by Apple Barrel
3. Dip one sponge brush in the paint and completely cover the surface of the canvas. Make sure you get the sides and corners, too!
I put a light coat of paint for a softer color, but you may want to put a thicker coat of paint on, depending on your color of choice
4. Let the base coat dry, and add touch-ups as needed.
5. Once the base coat is dry, take the second color (I used white) and put it on the newspaper in a separate location than the base color.
6. Using a technique picked up from a fellow DIY blogger and found on Pinterest, take the toilet paper roll and dip one side in the second paint color. It helps to do this from above rather than at an angle.
7. Using your own discretion, gently place the painted toilet paper roll on the canvas from a birds’ eye view. You may have to go over this a few times if you want fuller, completely solid circles.
Tip: You can also overlap the circles! Don’t worry if the circle goes off the canvas and seems “incomplete,” it looks just fine in the end!
8. Let the circles dry completely.
9. While the canvas is drying, get started on the monogram!
The Monogram:
1. There are many places online that will make custom, printable monograms. I used the wallpaper feature in the Marley Lilly app (available for iOS and Android) to create mine.
2. Keep in mind that you’ll have to print and cut out the monogram; I suggest using the circular monogram and border option and keeping a plain background for this project.
Here’s what the Marley Lilly app looks like!
3. The app allows you to download your project.
4. Crop the monogram so that there is minimal background. Simply put the monogram image into Word or another program and expand it to the desired size. Print.
5. Tape the monogram onto the thick paper or cardboard.
6. Carefully cut out the monogram. Make one cut for each letter, this will help later.
7. Tape down the cut edges of the final monogram product. You may want to tape down the remaining computer paper to the thick paper or cardboard, or simply remove it altogether.
Create the final product:
1. With the third color (I used “Pink Parfait” from Apple Barrel), use the second sponge brush to stencil the monogram onto the dried canvas. Use paint carefully to avoid sloppy lines, but make sure you put enough on to have a good, solid coat of paint.
“Pink Parfait” from Apple Barrel
2. Light weights may help if the edges of your stencil come up while drying.
I used some coins to keep the edges of the stencil down as it dried.
3. Let the monogram dry. Once complete, slowly remove the stencil. Do not worry if the monogram isn’t perfect at this stage. Here’s what mine looked like:
The first stencil won’t be perfect, but there’s an easy solution to fix the lines!
4. Once the monogram is completely dry, using the tip of each sponge and the other two paint colors, fix the small places at the areas where the monogram may have dripped. This will make a huge difference!
5. Hang it up, step back and admire your masterpiece