“Hello” Art DIY

We’re always looking for fast, easy and inexpensive ways to add wall art to the nursery. I whipped up this “hello” art canvas in less than an hour. The great thing about this project is that you can change the color and the word(s) to suit your taste and child’s room.

First create a reverse stencil of the letters you want to use (meaning the letters are the stencil rather than the outline). You can use contact paper or even full page label sheets from an office supply store. Just print out the word in the font and size of your choice, and cut the letters out. I used my Silhouette Cameo (click here for Silhouette discount) to cut adhesive vinyl to create my stencil. Carefully position your letters onto an art canvas. I picked up mine on sale at Michaels. Smooth the edges down the best you can.

Because of the rough nature of the art canvas surface, you won’t be able to seal the edges perfectly. Try moving your paint brush just in one direction, instead of back and forth, to try to avoid pushing paint under the stencil, and don’t overload your brush with paint. If you use label sheets to make your stencil, you have to be more careful about getting too much paint on the paper because you don’t want it to seep through.

I just used some black paint I had around the house. You can use any paint you like, but I recommend not using anything too liquidy as that’s more likely to bleed under your stencil.

Once you’ve gotten good coverage, you can remove the stencil. I removed mine with the paint still wet.

Use a toothpick to lift a corner of the stencil. I used tweezers to grab the lifted corner and quickly pulled off the entire letter. Be careful not to drag it across the canvas.

You can go back and touch up any areas that may have been scraped when you were lifting off the stencil.

You can use white paint or a white paint marker to touch up any stray paint that ended up in your letters, but try to embrace the imperfections—they add to the homemade feel.

I know my high-contrast, black-and-white canvas might not be to everyone’s taste for the nursery, but I personally love the visual impact, especially with a glossy black. Here’s another one I made using my son’s paints and a sponge brush in a softer color palette while he was busy creating his own artwork.

This really is such an easy project and is perfect for anyone who doubts his or her artistic talents. You’ll be filling up your little one’s gallery wall in no time, and you won’t have to spend a fortune to do it.