Sometimes I get down on myself because I have never come up with an original craft in my life. I end up doing a lot of copy cat crafts. Ok? I admit. If there is no support group for this, I think I should start one. 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. Sketch out your word or saying on the canvas. This doesn’t have to be perfect. You can adjust here and there as you are placing the thumbtacks.
2. Use the nail and hammer to create a little pilot hole for your thumbtack. If you are like me, you may assume that you will be popping the thumbtacks through the canvas pain free. Not so. At least not for anywhere on the canvas that is supported with wood. Then you will be trying to push the thumbtacks through the wood with your tender thumb tip. 150 times. Not good for your thumbs.
3. Eyeball the project as you go. I used a fork to pry out a few thumb tacks that looked not quite right and then re-tacked them.
4. Wipe down any smudges with a damp paper towel. I might have dampened my paper towel with saliva. I was afraid that a really wet paper towel would leave a mark on the canvas. So, I went with spit. As long as I’m coming clean, I do the same with smudges on my kids faces sometimes, too.