.Canvas Logo Art.

Adam's painting project is finished.

It feels AMAZING.

Before I get into the tutorial and revealing the final result, I need to share some background information on why I chose to do a project for Adam. My husband is an incredibly talented man and is always working on perfecting his "craft." He is a motion graphics artist. Adam creates visual effects, motion graphics, and logo animations. He works not one job, but two--yes, my baby is something else! At his 9-to-5 job Adam is the Creative Director at Hello Studios here in Lynchburg. On the "side" Adam is the Site Editor for Aetuts+, one of the largest Adobe After Effects training sites in the world.  Aetuts+ is part of a network of educational sites created by Envato, an Australia-based company. Their mission is to help people earn money by selling digital goods and grow in their fields by learning new skills. (Yes, he walked me through that word for word) 

Pictured below are the logos for each of the different tuts+ sites:

I wanted to create these logos for Adam to display in his studio office. I easily could have printed these out and framed them..but where is the fun in that? I decided to familiarize myself with my set of paint brushes and practice painting. Let me state one fact: "I, Katie Miller, am NOT painter." I enjoy painting and the idea of painting but have never been a painter. Drawing has been more my "thing." So this project is for all of you non-painters out there. 

Here is a shot of my finished paintings:

   Materials needed to create Logo Paintings:

      - Canvases (Michaels has a package of 10 canvases for $19.99--that is $2

        per canvas PLUS you can use a past receipt from their store for an extra 

        40% off--talk about a great deal!)

      - Acrylic Paint (To complete Adam's project, I needed many ounces of 

        numerous shades. Michaels had a sale for 8oz Acrylic paint for $1.99! I

        lucked out as an 8oz bottle is originally $3.50)
      - Paint brushes: one thin, angled brush and one thick brush

      - Paper plates

      - Pencil

      - Sharpie fine tip marker

      - Projector

      - Ruler (I used an old laundry card from college since I had to draw many

        small straight edges)

 This entire project cost me under $40.00! Keep in mind I completed not one, but ten canvases for Adam's studio office.

Making Your Logo Paintings

1. Download a logo of your choice onto your desktop or laptop.

2. If you have access to a projector, connect the projector up to your 

   computer and project your logo of choice onto a wall. 

3. Once your image is projected, grab your blank canvas and hold it against the 

    wall until you are satisfied with the sizing of the logo on your canvas. The 

    pictures above and below captured me lining up "ae" with my canvas. My goal 

    was to have "ae" as large as it could be with fitting perfectly on my canvas. 

    Adam's projector was situated on the chair a few feet away from the wall in 

    his office.

Our friend, the projector. You do not need a projector that looks just like this one--have any teacher friends? I'm sure by asking around you can find one in a school, I know they still "exist" because I used them 2 years ago during my student teaching! Your church may have access to one as well, just ask around :)

 4. When your canvas is in place, using your pencil, carefully trace the 

    logo. 

   Hint: Take your time as you trace. I learned this is

   the most important step. If you have a spouse, 

   child, or friend nearby have them hold your canvas

   in place while you trace. Feel free to even use a

   ruler or another straight edge to help with your 

   lines. I did this by myself and rushed the process 

   thinking I could "fix" my lines later on. To my 

   surprise, I relied on the exact pencil lines I drew

   during this step. Take your time! 

Canvas before and after tracing the logo. Please note the not-so-straight lines.

5. Depending on how many canvases you plan on painting, repeat steps #1-4 

    until you have completed tracing all logos on your canvases.

6. Set your traced canvases aside and set up your painting station. Your station

    should include a paper plate with your choice of paint color on it and paint 

    brushes (one thin and angled, one thicker).

7. Begin using your thin, angled brush to outline your pencil lines with paint.

    Hint: Use very small amounts of paint on your brush

   during this step and take your time. You can 

   practice "getting to know your paint brush" on your 

   paper plate. Try and get a feel for the different 

   angles the bristles make and how to use this to 

   your benefit.

    After completing one coat of paint, painting only around the outline of your

    pencil lines, your canvas will look like this:

8. Wait as long as it takes for your canvas to dry. This project will definitely 
    teach patience :)

9. Continue the method you used in step #7 to paint a second coat. Pictured 

    below is the beginning of painting my second coat. (Yes, I am a certified 
    Elementary school teacher even though I hold my pen and paint brush in a 
    horrid, horrid way)

   Hint: Please notice the way the bristles are hugging 

   the pencil line. Be confident in your brush and trust

   the way it moves.

10. Allow time for your second coat to dry.

11. When it is dry, using your thicker bristled brush, paint a light first coat on the

      remaining canvas including all sides. 

12. Wait for the paint to dry and repeat for a second coat including all sides.

      Hint: The lighter, warmer colors only require 2 

    coats while the darker, cooler colors required up to

    4. The purples were the hardest to cover up the

    white canvas.

13. When your canvas is completely painted (as many coats as it took you) it will

      look like this:

 14. The edges will appear rather rough and will be needing some extra love from
      you. Take your Sharpie fine tip marker as well as your ruler (or old hotel key,

      gift card, old laundry card, etc.) and begin outlining your logo. By using a 

      ruler or old card, it will allow you to trace your logo with your Sharpie and 

      create straight lines.

    Hint: This is the step I "fixed" my not-so-straight

    lines I drew during step #4. I made sure my 

    laundry card was aligned with the rest of my 

    canvas before tracing it with the Sharpie. You can 
    press harder on your Sharpie to create a thicker 
    line which is great for fixing your lines. Pressing 
    lighter on your Sharpie will create thinner lines.

15. Using your Sharpie, continue tracing the curved edges. You cannot use 

     anything as a guideline so remember to take your time. If it is not perfect, 

     that is okay! Your final logo painting will look something like this:

16. Hang up your hard work and enjoy your painting--YES!--you completed a 

      canvas painting! Now show it off :)

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this tutorial. I really wanted to share this painting project with you because the result is clean, fresh, modern, and very attainable! I think these would look darling in a little boy or girls room using their initials..or is a kitchen reading "eat"..get creative everyone! Where would you use a craft like this in your home? Stay tuned for a similar painting project, one that does not require using a projector, just a simply pattern made of cardstock:) I hope you will all come back and visit me at Little Things Bring Smiles.

  

 Happy Living--Happy Crafting

and remember

--Little Things Bring Smiles--

.Spring Wreaths.

This afternoon I had a few hours to myself and decided to hold off on unpacking, laundry, and cleaning..I decided to craft. It's been a while and I've missed it. Adam and I had a wonderful weekend visiting family in DE and came home to find VA in bloom! The colors inspired me to add a few more "Spring" touches to our little home. I chose to work with green (surprise, surprise) and thought it would be perfect for Spring as well as a certain holiday coming up :) If you have completely forgotten what holiday this is, here is one hint for you:

Kiss Me,

I'm Irish!

St. Patrick's Day is coming soon and even though I normally do not decorate for most holidays other than Christmas, I thought I would change it up this year! I made two small wreaths to hang on our sliding glass doors in our dining room. They were cheap, fast, and easy to make! (the perfect kind of craft!) Here are the materials needed:

Materials needed to create Spring (St. Patrick's Day) Wreaths:

      - Split Peas (purchased from Walmart for $.79)
      - Two 8 inch straw wreaths (purchased from Michaels for $.99 each with coupon, 

        originally $1.99 each)
      - Hot Glue Gun
      - Hot Glue Sticks

      - Elmer's Glue

      - Paint brush

      - Cookie sheet

      - Foil

      - Twine

This entire project cost me under $5.00 thanks to using supplies found in my home. Love when that happens! Because I am a nanny of two little girls who love to craft and watch me craft, I made a quick tutorial for your children to make a wreath of their very own :) Now your little ones can craft with you AND make the same thing as you! Fun right?!

Making Your Wreaths

1. Gather all of your supplies and prepare a clean, organized space to begin 

    crafting. (We all know it will not last this way BUT it's fun to start clean!)

2. After covering your cookie sheet with foil, pour your split peas into cookie

    sheet.

3a. For your children, pour Elmer's glue onto paper plate with paint brush and

       straw wreath close by.

3b. For yourself, grab your handy dandy hot glue gun and prepare to use a lot 

       of hot glue sticks ;)

4a. For your children, demonstrate how to dip the paint brush into the glue 

       and how to "paint" the straw wreath by smoothing out the gops of glue.

4b. For yourself, choose a small section to work on at a time. Draw lines of 

       hot glue to fill entire section. (I started by drawing a rectangle and then

       drew lines to fill in the middle.)

Now comes the fun step for both parties! Things are about to get "cooking!"

5a. For your children, once the wreath is covered in Elmer's glue (except the 

       backside), have your child or children place the wreath upside down into 

       the cookie sheet filled with split peas. Using their hands, they can rotate 

       the wreath into the peas and "smush" the peas up the sides of the 

       wreath. (Just like Mommy when she breads chicken!) When they are 

       finished, they can carefully turn it over to sit and dry. Here is the final 

       look:

It will not be filled completely with peas and that is o k a y. It's perfect because of the hands who made it :) {reminds me of an everything bagel..yep, I'm a Jersey girl!}

5b. For yourself, once your hot glue is filling in a small section of your 

       wreath, hold wreath on top of peas in cookie sheet and use your hand to 

       cup peas on top of your wreath. Again, this will be extremely reminiscent 

       of breading chicken. After completing a few small sections, it will begin to

       look like this:

6. Your child/children will be finished with their wreath but you still have 

     some work to do ;) Continue hot gluing small sections of your wreath and

     covering immediately with peas. It will begin to resemble this:

7. After about 15-20 minutes, you will be finished and left with a darling little

     wreath to enjoy!

Before I ran out of daylight, I managed to snap these two shots of my wreaths hanging up! I will post of few more pics tomorrow so you can see the whole room.

Thank you for reading! I hope you and your kids will enjoy making these Spring/St. Patrick's Day Wreaths! Remember..cheap, fast, and easy to make..the perfect craft ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

.Textured Letters.

After teasing you with this, I feel awful for waiting an entire month to show the final result. I hope you do not mind too much :)

I did a craft involving letters again..please forgive..they are just fun, what can I say! I have had some ideas for a while and decided it was time to let my creative juices free to do a craft for my little home. There is no tutorial to follow along with because let's face it--I did not know what my final product would be. I was simply feeling crafty and found myself roaming the aisles of Michaels, imagine that! I knew I wanted to incorporate a "K" and an "A" to place on my walls in a spot I stare at everyday..a very bare, BIG, spot..did you find it in this post? Okay, I'll give you a minute to look.

.....

Did ya find it? Well here it is:

See friends, it even calls out to me everyday.. everyday I stare at it's emptiness.

I started this whole process by purchasing two wooden letters, a "K" and an "A", with beveled edges from Michaels. I brought my letters home and began my experimenting. Textures have always fascinated me and I love incorporating them into the projects I do. My first thought was to cover my wooden letters in glue and cover them in a light colored sand. FAIL. The color sand did not cover the shade of the wood and the wood grain. I quickly gave my letter a bath and let dry while I pondered. Good news at this point..I was not feeling defeated, just challenged :) When my letter was dry, I used white acrylic paint I had in my craft corner and painted both letters white. Paint covered perfectly! When I was pleased with the letters, I did one last coat of white paint and before the paint was dry, I sprinkled my light colored sand onto the letters. SUCCESS. The letters appeared just as they did in my head. I was thrilled.

Once the letters were nice and dry, I pulled out my hot glue gun and began outlining the beveled edges. When I had a straight line of hot glue drawn, I took some twine I had in the house and placed it on the glue. My intension was to outline the letters using the beveled edges they provided me with..FAIL. The hot glue did not want to stick to the sand.. Good news again, the glue and twine pulled off the letter like a Twizzlers Pull N' Peel! No damage done. I was persistent and found a way to have the glue stick. I used my fingernails, yes I know, and scraped off the sand and some of the paint that was on the beveled edges. When there was a little bit of wood showing, SUCCESS, the hot glue stuck perfectly followed by the twine. Phew. Again, my letters looked the way I pictured it..just took a few more steps than anticipated ;)

Here they are:

Now that my letters were made and I was one happy crafter, I knew I was not finished. I needed to place my letters on something to make them pop and pop on my wall. Hm. I like nature and rustic items and my favorite color is green..what is something that has both..MOSS! Perfect. I found two lids from old shoeboxes I had in my closet that were the right size..no pun intended ;) 

I got in my car and headed back to Michaels to pick up some moss. When I came home I had my work station already set up--hot glue gun CHECK, hot glue sticks CHECK, two shoebox lids CHECK, clean table CHECK, and I added bags of moss! Friends, I will not lie to you..working with the moss kinda grossed me out. The smell and all the little things I found within the moss got my mind wandering and I did not like the direction my thoughts were traveling. I got over it..kinda..and finished hot gluing until the lids (top and sides) were completely covered with moss.

They looked like this:

Now the moss and letters were ready to meet. How did I attach them?--HOT GLUE! I am amazed at the strength of the moss and hot glue..so far so good, it all seems to be stuck rather well..keep those fingers crossed!

Take a look:

Does it look finished?--well, maybe, but I was not done! I bought two wooden frames 3 years ago at a garage sale for 25 cents. They were used in my first college townhouse and have been sitting in a closet since being married. I decided to bust them out, give them a fresh coat of brown spray paint, and hang them on my wall! The sizing again is spot on!


Enjoy the final result! I am not certain how "final" this set up is over our television, but for now, it fills the space and that was the only goal!! :) 

Thanks for reading about my unexpected "adventures" in creating my Textured Letters. I hope you like them and are inspired to make something lovely for your home! Have a wonderful day :)

Happy Living--Happy Crafting

and remember 

--Little Things Bring Smiles--