Guest Post: DIY Canvas Art

Meet Laura! Laura was one of my very first readers and I adore her! She's so fun to talk to and I love seeing all of her creations as she shares them - today she's sharing how she created some awesome wall art on a college students budget!

Now, without further ado, I'll let Laura take over!

Hi guys! My name is Laura. I recently started my third year of nursing school. Dani asked me to guest post on the blog after we had a few email conversations about crafts and Pinterest. I found her blog on Pinterest when I was trying to find ideas to dress up my makeup brushes. I fell in love with her blog and had to email her to tell her. Not creepy at all! I hope you all like my post! :) 

Living in a college apartment and on a college student’s budget, I am very limited on ways to decorate. 

We are not allowed to paint (hello jail-cell walls). I was looking for something to liven up a bare wall in my bedroom and had a Friday afternoon with nothing to do. I ventured out to Hobby Lobby, and put myself on a $15 limit—I can do some serious damage to my debit card there. I picked up a pack of two white canvases, 16x20 inches for $7.99. I also grabbed a few bottles of acrylic paint at Wal-Mart, each for 57 cents. BIG spender, I know.

I used standard masking tape to make random lines on the canvas. The more tape you use, the more sections of color you’ll have. 

I painted each open area with the colors. I did one canvas with blue, teal, purple and gray, and a second canvas with yellow, pink and orange. Once the paint dried, I peeled the tape and hung them up.

My new wall art cost about $13 dollars and took two hours to make. I am so excited to have some color in my room; it is way less prison-y now.

I would suggest making sure the tape is pressed snug to the canvas with no wrinkles. This will help make crisp lines and prevent paint from seeping under the tape and ruining the white lines. I used tape long enough to secure to the back of the canvas and painted the sides of the canvas too, but you could stop at the edges of the front. Also, peel off the tape slowly and be sure the paint is completely dry. I didn’t let it dry enough and part of the tape peel off a bit with the tape.
 
I love how simple this project is and so versatile; you can do any pattern with the tape (zig-zags, zebra stripes, etc). You can use any color combination to match any décor. I’m thinking I’ll make another in Halloween colors for my front door and one for the boy toy with red, black and silver to start off Husker football season ☺