My First How-To: Canvas Monogram

I have been spending at least 8 hours at work every day for the past week. I needed something to help me unwind from work and give me some kind of outlet. Rolling burritos all day doesn't exactly inspire the mind. My roommates and I have been talking about decorating our living room (finally) and making the wall behind our couch the focal point. Since all of our last names start with "B" we thought of having a giant letter "B" on the wall. It has been kind of difficult to find one big enough and since we really only have Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart as our go-to stores-our options were limited. So finally I thought...I will just make it myself. So here's a fairly simple project that pretty much anyone can do!

The Materials: 

1 canvas (size is your choice mine is 20x24) 

                        paint brushes (I got one thick for the background, one small flat brush, and I had to go back to get a really fine brush for the details)

Paint! (The fun part! You'll need one background color, and as many colors as you want in your pattern)

Exacto blade

Make your own stencil (available at Wal-Mart) OR whatever stencil you pick out

Ruler

Pencil

And a season or two of Grey's Anatomy doesn't hurt either.

Canvas, Paint, Brushes (Not pictured is the small brush for details)

My colors! Black is for the back ground and the other colors are already present in our living room.

Process: So I wasn't very good at documenting the process-I became very absorbed in the project and it got dark a lot faster than I anticipated.
 First: I measured out and faintly drew the "B" on to my canvas. This is where the ruler comes in handy. I put my capital "B" in the center of the canvas but feel free to get crazy with your letter.
Pre-Second step: I started to draw my pattern (free-hand) inside of the B. Then I realized I should paint the B white before I do anything else. So I had to go to the store and pick up white paint. This happened to be a blessing in disguise because that's when I found the Make Your Own Stencil kit!
Second: Paint the inside of your letter. Mine was white but obviously you get to choose whatever color you want!

If you look really hard you can see the white B on the canvas

Third: After your letter is dry then comes the tedious work. I had to create my own stencil so I printed out a free template of the paisley pattern I wanted. To make the stencil I traced my pattern onto the material and then used the exacto blade to cut it out. If there are really small details I would suggest not putting them in the stencil-use the stencil for large shapes and patterns and then free hand any small details later.

Stencil making fun!

I didn't paint the stencil because some of the lines weren't as clean or smooth as I would have liked.

So it was pencil first! Which worked out well because I could make whatever adjustments I want.

 

Fourth: Begin the painting fun! I did this part in stages. First I went through with the blue color and started to fill the pattern in. I was trying to avoid having the same color too close to each other. It got a little tricky since I only had a few colors.

After the first stage of blue and pink!

I went back in with grey and black and also added some more blue and pink!

I decided to add some black into the pattern but since the background was also going to be black I only filled in shapes that weren't touching the border so that lines of the letter stay crisp. I also found the colors needed to have several layers apply to truly be opaque (once again wait until completely dry before going back over it with new paint).
Fifth: I painted the background before I finished all the small details-I couldn't wait to see what it would look like! I waited to paint it before so that if I went outside of the lines it wouldn't matter-the black would just cover it up!

It's not completely finished. I still have some flowers to paint on and touch up a few of the slender curves.

Finishing Details: I used the end of my paintbrush to add some dots. Hopefully the pattern will look more complete when I'm done. I pretty happy with the results so far. I will post a picture of the FINAL work when I'm finally done! I will also include how it looks on the wall.

Overall: It's a simple project and can be personalized so easily. Mine has taken me over a week but that's because of my work schedule. It could be done in a few days though no problem.

Comments and questions? Thanks for hanging with me through this first (rough) How-to!