Sometimes I get down on myself because I have never come up with an original craft in my life. Â I end up doing a lot of copy cat crafts. Â Ok? Â I admit. Â If there is no support group for this, I think I should start one. Â Who’s with me?
Here’s the thing though that I realized tonight.  I made one of those typography/pin cushion/canvas things for Thanksgiving.  Here is what I copied View From the Fridge.  Please go there and pin it or tweet it.  It’s totally adorable.  I didn’t exactly copy it, though.  I couldn’t find a canvas long enough for “give thanks”, so I had to trim down the writing.  I landed on just “Thanks”.  I sketched out the word on the canvas and added the pins.  What I came up with is obviously inspired by the “give thanks” canvas, but it’s also totally my own.  It’s my hand writing, it’s my over excited THANKS! that i close every email with.  It’s so me that I don’t even think I’m going to take it down after Thanksgiving.  And that, friends, is what I love about crafts.  You leave a little bit of you on everything you make.
Are you laughing at me because I think you need a tutorial to make that?  I’m going to tell you a funny story.  I opened up the package of the canvas at 9:03.  I noted that in my head because I seriously thought it was going to take approximately 4.5 minutes to make this thing.  As usual, I was wrong.  45 minutes and one very sore thumb tip later, it was done.  So, in the interest of public safety, I am going to give a quick step by step so that you can learn from my mistakes.
Supplies:
1 canvas (I think mine was 4×12)
Thumbtacks (My project took about 150 tacks)
A nail
Hammer
Paper towel
1. Â Sketch out your word or saying on the canvas. Â This doesn’t have to be perfect. You can adjust here and there as you are placing the thumbtacks.
2. Â Use the nail and hammer to create a little pilot hole for your thumbtack. Â If you are like me, you may assume that you will be popping the thumbtacks through the canvas pain free. Â Not so. Â At least not for anywhere on the canvas that is supported with wood. Â Then you will be trying to push the thumbtacks through the wood with your tender thumb tip. Â 150 times. Â Not good for your thumbs.
3. Â Eyeball the project as you go. Â I used a fork to pry out a few thumb tacks that looked not quite right and then re-tacked them.
4. Â Wipe down any smudges with a damp paper towel. Â I might have dampened my paper towel with saliva. Â I was afraid that a really wet paper towel would leave a mark on the canvas. So, I went with spit. Â As long as I’m coming clean, I do the same with smudges on my kids faces sometimes, too.
