Have you ever seen that vinyl wall art you can buy at the craft store? Well, I really liked the idea, so I bought some thinking I’d actually peel and stick it somewhere in my kitchen. Problem is, I also knew that one day the kitchen would be repainted, so I never did anything with it. That is until today.
Supplies Needed:
* One canvas in a size that is good for the vinyl word art you’re going to be using
(Hobby Lobby had these for 60% off, so I think I paid around $5 for the one I purchased)
* Modge Podge
* torn book paper for coverage
* white Gesso
* white FLAT spray paint
* vinyl letters you plan to use
* FLAT spray paint of your choice
(I used brown – but made the mistake of buying the glossy and it worked, but flat spray paint is best)
* sand paper or a small sander
The first thing you’ll want to do is to cover your canvas with some old book paper (I used telephone pages). To do this, you’ll need some Modge Podge. For best results (and because Modge Podge dries fast), I used a 5 step process:
1. Rip small sections of the paper depending on the side of your canvas. You want the pieces to overlap, not cover half of the canvas.
2. Determine the area this piece will cover, then using a cheap sponge brush, Modge Podge that area.
3. Lay down the piece of paper and smooth it out as you would if you were wallpapering a wall – making sure you get out as many air bubbles as you can.
4. Cover the paper with more Modge Podge using your sponge to smooth it out. Now this is kind of messy, but you’re going to take your finger or fingers (cuz I used a both of my index fingertips) and press the remaining air bubbles out. I even dabbed my fingertips in Modge Podge to help along the process for areas that were already drying! I found this works better than waiting until you’ve covered the entire piece to worry about air bubbles. By then, the first piece is practically dry!
5. Do this until the entire canvas is covered!
By now you’re probably wondering why I’m covering the canvas in the first place, right? In the end, this is going to help in giving this piece the weathered look you see in the first picture above! Also, I have to admit, the pictures you will see do not do this piece justice. That darn glossy paint made it hard to photograph, but up close and personal, it’s an awesome piece on the wall!
Once you’ve completely covered your canvas and it has dried thoroughly, take the white gesso and cover the entire piece with it. I found my gesso at Hobby Lobby in the paint section, near the professional art area. It looks like this:
This is how it looked after the first coat. Opaque white.
You’ll want to give it another coat though, but make sure the first coat dries thoroughly.
If after the 2nd coat, you can still see the newsprint underneath, spray paint it with white flat spray paint. Be sure and let this dry thoroughly after each coat though.
This is what my piece looked like once I was finished with my coats. As you can see, I’ve already added the vinyl letters to the canvas. It’s pretty easy. Just follow the instructions as if you were rubbing it on the wall. I’ll have to admit that I was a bit impatient, so what you see here is not thoroughly dried. It worked for me, but I wouldn’t recommend it, because I had a slight mishap when I was peeling the vinyl off (which I fixed with gesso). Next time, I’ll try and be more patient. 
After the vinyl letters are in place, take the color of your choice and spray baby spray!
Go outside though! You don’t want to kill yourself with fumes or paint your countertops. Neither one of those would be good at all!
This picture shows my mishap! Ha! If you look closely at the word “cook”, you might see it. I was a bad girl and started peeling the vinyl off before the brown paint dried. I kind of freaked though, thinking that if I waited too long I wouldn’t be able to peel the vinyl letters off since I used that dang glossy paint!
It’s the glossy paint’s fault. Blame him!
Yep, it’s after the 2nd “O” in cook. The layers started coming up with the vinyl! I fixed it though. After this dried I sanded it down and you can barely see it now. It almost makes it look even more distressed and weathered. When it came to the sanding part, I just used some sand paper and sanded it by hand. It worked fine for me.
Here’s a better pic:
XOXXO
