The Christmas decorating season has officially begun and I am so excited to show you my first project of the year – this twinkling Christmas canvas.
Last year I fell in love with this canvas over at Holly Mathis Intereriors {created by Lindsay Letters} and knew I had to do something similar. I must say that I am quite in love!
Materials
- Canvas of your choice {mine is 24 x 30}. If you are going to be adding the twinkle likes you will need to make sure that you purchase a canvas that has thicker sides so that they will accommodate the battery pack of your lights.
- Black acrylic paint
- Sponge Brush
- White white board marker {a chalkboard pen should also work}
- Eyelet setter {a drill should also work to set the holes if you do not have one of these}
- Battery operated twinkle lights {I used a string of 20 although I did not actually punch 20 holes}
Directions
- Paint your canvas black.
- Lightly trace out the letters of your saying. I practiced on a blank sheet of paper first to see how to line everything up. I wrote directly on to the canvas with the white board pen but you could lightly outline in pencil first if you would like. I started with the middle line to help me space things out easier on the canvas. If you make a mistake, make sure you let the white board pen dry and then just paint back over it with the black paint and start again! Nothing to worry about! Go back over your letters to add some extra dimension and embellishments as you would like.
- If you are not comfortable with doing this freehand, you might still be able to purchase a print HERE or print out another printable that you love. Then you can just follow my DIY photo canvas tutorial HERE to complete.
- Now for the twinkle lights! Figure out how many you would like and where you would like to position them. Use you eyelet setter to punch out the holes {I used the smallest eyelet setter I had} and insert your lights. I taped the cord of the lights down at the back of the canvas just so they would not tug on the canvas. They will stay in place without doing this however. Do not pull too tightly on the light cord as the canvas will tear slightly if the lights are yanked out.
- I hung my canvas on a nail and it comes easily off and on the wall to turn on the twinkle lights. The battery pack just sits on the inside bottom ledge of the canvas.
So what about you? Have you started decorating for Christmas yet? I already have a few other projects done that I can’t wait to show you. Stay tuned!
If you are a fan of chalkboard art, you many also like my chalkboard Christmas ornaments…
You create lovely pieces!! Very inspiring!! Thanks! 🙂
Thanks so much Deb!
I love this! I might have to try it out this year if I manage to find the time 🙂
Looks great! Love it!
Oh I’m so ready for Christmas! This is the cutest canvas, Jenn! And that’s my favorite Christmas song.
Thanks Chelsea! I love that song too! {not my best song to sing myself mind you!}
Love this idea! I think I’ll have to give it a try this year. Our mantel is badly in need of some word art!
Yes! Give it a go! It is an easy project to correct if you make a mistake! 😉
oh I just love this! featuring in my weekly wow’s on friday.
Ok, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this! Totally “attempting” to do this! I invite you to share this project in my link party http://www.thefamilyfunspot.com/2013/11/bloggers-unidas-1.html hope to see you there 😉 I think I just found another FAV blog. I love your taste in decorating and everything! I put you button under my Fav blogs pages
Thanks so much Vivian! I’ll pop over to your party!
I LOVE this!! The twinkling lights make it so much fun!
It is so pretty Jenn – and what a great idea! I must pin it to remember it… thanks for sharing the tutorial. You make it seem easy:)
This is so clever!! Love it, Jenn!
Jenn! I LOOOVE this!!! May have to try to recreate…
OH I so love this. I have a 4 foot black tree that I do on a small table next to our fireplace. I use all black and white with silver on the tree and this mantel art would look great there.
Hi Jenn! Visiting from the Monday Funday party – I just love this! It’s so lovely and you did a wonderful job! Thank you so much for sharing and definitely pinning! Hope you had a great weekend and have a happy week!
Thanks so much Cindy! Happy week to you too! 🙂
This sign is gorgeous! Adding the lights is so clever. Pinning for sure! I’d love it if you would share this at our Get Your DIY on Party. This week’s theme is Holiday signs. This would be perfect! http://www.confessionsofaserialdiyer.com/get-your-diy-on-holiday-signs-features/
Hope to see you there 🙂
XO,
Christy
WOW! The best DIY Christmas decor I’ve seen yet this season – I have none of the tools needed to make it, but just might run out and buy them all so I can have one of these as the mantel centerpiece this Christmas! 🙂
Thanks Dena! You only really need a few supplies so i say just do it! 😉
I found a black canvas at Hobby Lobby today, so that makes it even easier! 🙂
Wow! I didn’t even know that they made black canvases! Hope it turns out well!
I’ve been seeing these twinkling canvases popping up all over and I have to say, I love each one I see more than the last! You did a great job on this one!!
I’d love to invite you to our weekly linkup party! http://www.sowderingabout.com/2013/12/awesome-things-tuesday.html
Thanks Randi! They look so pretty when they are all lit up at night. Thanks for the invite!
I love twinkling lights and when you ‘add’ them to this song it is the perfect combination for Christmas.
What a great decoration!! I love it!
Oh my gosh I just love this so much!
Would black spray paint work as well?
I can’t see why not! 🙂
Very creative. Loved it.
Hi Jenn,
I just did something very similar to this but with the lights off it doesn’t look very good because the lights are so visible on the black canvas. Did you find this a problem?
Thanks.
I’m not sure what you mean – are you just seeing the light and not the wording? Can you change the type of light that you are using to a soft white?
The print is no longer available, but I found another one. Just wondering when I have it printed to do I have it printed on regular paper or photo paper? Do you have any suggestions on where to have it printed?
I drew mine so I didn’t have to print it but i would probably get it printed on photo paper so it was a little thicker. I’m sure it would work with either though – you’d just have to be more careful that the paper doesn’t tear {so make sure it has totally dried}. Costco would probably print it the cheapest although you could get it done at an office supply store if you were just doing paper.
Thanks, I believe I read that someone bought a black canvas at hobby lobby hopefully it’s thick enough to hide the battery and I found someone who sells the template for $5. Now I need to find the cheapest price to print.
How many coats of paint did you use, since it’s a thicker canvas? I’ve used 2 so far and it looks like there is still little white dots.
I got good coverage with two coats but I guess it depends on what paint you use and how thick you put it on. Just give it another coat if it is not enough coverage for you. 🙂
I’ve been obsessing over this project for a couple years and finally attempting it now. But I am struggling finding the correct lights that can go through the canvas! All I am picturing in my head are christmas lights, and I have a feeling they should be a smaller light. Do you have any pictures or links of what lights you used?
I’m glad you’re finally trying it! It’s still one of my favorite Christmas projects. The lights have more of a flat head and are fairly small. I just got mine at Michaels. Here”s a similar image that I found on the web. Hope that helps!
https://www.google.ca/search?q=small+battery+operated+christmas+lights&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=708&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWoqre0OjPAhURxWMKHTFQCCgQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=zHEUnBeR1zcZSM%3A