DIY Chevron Canvas with Monogram

I'm really excited because I just finished making a chevron canvas and I'm so happy with the results!  I got my inspiration from this lovely creation over at Southeast/Northeast.  I thought I would share the finished product with you all, as well as some steps if you want to recreate it, or something like it! The steps are under the jump!

Happy Crafting!

 First, get together all of your supplies: one canvas (mine was 16x20), choice of paint (Martha Stewart Acrylic Craft Paint in Pink Dahlia and Craftsmart white acrylic paint), painter's tape, sponge or paint brushes, choice of loose glitter (Recollections Extra Fine Glitter in Champagne), ruler, pen knife, homemade mod podge or decoupage glue (I'll provide steps to make the homemade mod podge later on), foam board, printed monogram to trace, hot glue, and setting spray.

 

After you have your supplies, paint the entire white.  You might want to give it two coats.  I found this made the pink paint look brighter and smoother.  After the white paint has dried, you can start measuring out a grid to make your chevron pattern.  I measured every four inches on the side and every five inches on the top, making a notch at ever four or five inches.  Do this all the way around your canvas, and then use a ruler to connect the corresponding notches to their counterparts on the opposite sides of the canvas.  Then, at each intersecting point, make a dot.  You will have a grid that looks like this:

Now you can make the chevron pattern.  Connect the dots accordingly.  Once you have made the chevron pattern, you can begin taping off the sections for your first color.  

The next step I did was place my circle for the monogram.  You might find it easier to do this before you tape off your sections for the first color of paint, but this way worked best for me.  I traced a circle on construction paper, and measured it to fit evenly on the canvas.  Then I taped the edges to the part of the board that I was not painting.

Then, I moved on to painting the chevron.  I chose to paint three sections pink, and two in glitter.  I needed three coats of pink until I was satisfied with color and coverage (the picture is after one coat).

 After the paint dried, I removed the tape and replaced/retaped the circle so I could paint the glitter portions.  To make the glitter, I used a homemade mod podge mixture and A LOT of loose glitter (seriously, I didn't think I would need so much glitter, and I'm glad I got the big size of it instead of the smaller one!).  If you don't want to make your own mod podge, you can go out and buy decoupage glue.  Here are the steps to make mod podge:

• You will need regular white craft glue (I used Elmer's white glue) and water.
• You can use specific measurements of the two, but I didn't.  I poured a decent amount of the glue into a plastic cup, then added some water, and stirred the two together.  Really simple!
• It was a little watery, but it worked just fine.

 After you make the mod podge (or get decoupage glue), mix the glitter in with it.  Like I said, you will need to add a lot of glitter.  I found application was best the thicker the mixture was.  Thicken it by adding more glitter, not glue.  You will also need to mix it constantly while applying to the canvas because the glitter sinks to the bottom.  My mixture looked like this, for reference:

When your glitter mixture is made, you can apply it to the canvas.  Like the paint, it took about three coats to get it to cover thoroughly.

When the glitter is dry, remove the circle from the canvas.  I added another coat of white paint to touch up where some pink/glitter paint had gotten under the stencil.  The touch-ups worked really well and covered all the mistakes.  During this step you can also paint the outside boarder of the canvas (however I did it at the very end).  You can choose to make it glitter and paint striped, or one color.  I chose to make it all pink.

When you are finished painting the board, you can move onto the monogram cut-out.  I will warn you, this part is VERY difficult if you don't have experience cutting foam or the like.  If I would have known how hard it would be, I might've rethought it.  Maybe I didn't use the right type of foam, or I should have researched how to do it more before jumping into it, but it was very difficult for me.  I spent most of my time cutting it out seriously afraid that I would either cut off a finger or cut the entire thing in half.  And to be honest, I did break a couple of the curls and had to reattach them with pins stuck in the side.  So this part is not for the faint of heart.  You might find it easier than I did, but I'm giving you my fair warning!  If you decide not to cut out a monogram, I suggest you paint one on instead.  I think it would look just as great (and I seriously considered this until the whole thing was cut out and painted)!  If you do decide to cut it out, here's what to do: take your print out of your monogram and pin it to the top of the foam.  Make sure it's big enough to fit into the circle.  Then start cutting.  It should look like this:

About an hour and a half of painstaking cutting later (at least for me), your monogram should be done and you can start painting it.  You can use whatever color you'd like, but I chose to make it glittery because the glitter sit better on the foam without showing too much of the texture of the foam.  I also kept the paper on the top to make sure the top looked smoother.  Like the glitter on the canvas, it took a few coats to look smooth, on both the top and the sides.

When you've finished painting the monogram and letting it dry, you can attach it to the canvas.  I used a hot glue gun to make sure it would really stick.  You do have to work fast, though.  Once the monogram is attached, you're almost finished!  Take the canvas outside and spray it with the setting spray.  I used Mod Podge brand Clear Acrylic Sealer.  This is just to make sure the glitter sets and isn't sprinkling off everywhere.  After you've sprayed it, voila!  You're finished!

If you make this project, I hope you have a good time and a great result!  It took me about four days to finish it completely.  Let me know your thoughts and if you've made it in the comments!