Chipboard Canvas "Tutorial"

Last night Russ was out in the yard doing last minute adjustments to our sprinkler system. Before you jump the gun and call me lazy, I tried helping but at this point it was all electrical work (meaning I was no help at all). So I sat down on the couch and turned on some good ol' weeknight television. One word: Parenthood. {I'm obsessed}. Anyway, I then worked on the most perfect lazy night craft. I barely had to get off the couch to finish it. It was great. Here's a quick "tutorial," or more like here's how I did it, and perhaps some ideas to do it better next time.

I was inspired while I was browsing Pinterest one night (surprise!) and found this chipboard canvas. I wanted to make one with a phrase that meant something to us. Once one of my favorite Beatles songs popped in my head I couldn't think of anything else. I found the canvas and chipboard letters from Hobby Lobby for a whopping total of $10. I bought two different sizes of chipboard letters to give variety, but you could make all the words the same size if you wanted.

I arranged the letters and as you can see, I didn't have enough cork letters since duplicates were needed. There was no way I was going to run to the store so I had to improvise. (hint: "more" looks a bit funny, doesn't it?)


If you are in the middle of the project and are also too lazy to go to the store for more letters, just clip pieces of leftover chipboard to make your letter of choice look like it should (i.e. your "c" can become an "e", the "b" can become a "o").

I probably should have used more appropriate glue than jewelry glue, but again, I was being lazy and that's all I could find in the short span of a commercial break. :) I'm assuming a hot glue gun, super glue, or some other strong adhesive would work great.

I wanted to make sure the letters were straight but didn't have a ruler handy, so I used the nearest Martha Stewart magazine on the coffee table. Call it pathetic, but I call it resourceful. :)

And voila! You're just about done. I was tempted to leave it as is because I kind of liked the "natural" looking letters, but decided to stick with the original vision I had in mind. I found some white spray paint in the garage and sprayed the canvas in the middle of the street under the street lamp. Can we say ghett-ooo?

I probably should have sanded some of the rougher chipboard letters before I spray-painted, but I just sanded them down and applied one more coat of spray paint as well as a top-coat to add a bit of shine. This is a matter of preference -- I think next time I might hold off on the top coat for a more "matte" look. It's totally up to you. Chose your phrase, sit down in front of your favorite show, and go to canvas town!