Every Day I Love You

I make most of my gifts.  Part of it is because I can generally save money by doing it myself, but most of it is because I delight in spending the time to create something meant for someone.  I hope people enjoy receiving my handmade gifts as much as I enjoy pouring myself into them. 

Since Ben and I are on a tight budget, as most newlyweds are, I have anxiously been awaiting the excuse to make this canvas for him.  Being that the phrase I wanted to put on the canvas was "Every Day I Love You,"  Valentine's day was the perfect occasion to give such a gift. 

I'm super excited about the way it turned out and can't wait to hang it in our new house!

Sorry about the funny glare.  I break the rules and take my pictures in the evening since it's dark when I go to work and almost dark when I get home.  Someday, I will learn better.  Oh, these winter days.

Now, I'm going to teach you how to make your own.  I was inspired by this art print at Modern Chic Home by Sugarboo Designs that is being sold for $250.  I don't know about you, but I don't have an extra $250 just lying around, so making this beautifully inspiring piece of artwork was my only option.  When daydreaming about it, I also envisioned it larger and in charger, with a slightly different color pallette, and slightly different framing of the message.

What you'll need:

-  Blank Canvas (I used size 18x22)
-  Mod Podge
-  Newspaper or phone book pages
-  Letter Stencils (I used these)
-  Paint Brush
-  Paint for the canvas in your color of choice (I used white)
-  Paint for the lettering in your color of choice (I used Rub 'n Buff Metallic Finishes in Antique Gold for a cheaper gold leaf look)

This will be the easiest decoupage project you will ever do.  You can literally slop it on without worry of smoothing it out.  {If you don't want the added texture, you can skip this step or use a bone folder to smooth so you can still see some print through your paint.}  Once the mod podge dries, paint over it with your white paint.  Put on a thick coat because you want some of the newspaper to show through, just not enough that you can tell it's newspaper underneath. 

Once your paint has dried (If your super impatient like me, you've taken a blow dryer to it to speed up the process), figure out where you want your wording to go.  I did mine toward the top left hand corner straight down from the side.  Arrange your stencils letter by letter and fill in using your finger and Rub N' Buff Metallic Finish, or a brush and the paint of your choice.

You can fill in the stencil marks if you wish, but I really liked the stencil look, so I kept it that way.

Allow to dry and stand back to look at your masterpiece.  Hang it somewhere special to share your special words with all the special people you invite into your home.