Wooden Letter Painting: Pinterest Challenge

Do you know what Pinterest is? It’s basically a web clipping site where you can save inspiration, recipes, projects or any link from the internet. To call it addicting would be understatement.

Last week some of my favorite bloggers at Young House Love and Bower Power (who are also obsessed with Pinterest)  issued  a challenge.

Side note: If you hadn’t heard of Young House Love before now, you’re welcome. And don’t blame me if you spend hours searching their archives for all their awesome projects.

The idea was to choose something you’ve ‘pinned’ on Pinterest, make your own version, post about it and link back to the challenge post.

I chose to re-create this pin:

I loved the simple lettering and monochromatic look. I didn’t love the

£195 price tag.

So I made my own version for around $10.

I started with a plain white canvas and a $3.99 pack of wooden letters from Hobby Lobby.

Just a tip if you shop at Hobby Lobby: NEVER pay full price for photo frames, fabric, or canvas. They are on sale every other week or so. This canvas was $10 but on sale for %30 off last week.

*Also, I apologize for the picture quality in the first few photos. My big camera was down for the count so I had to use my phone.

First, I chose what quote I wanted to use. After several different combinations, I chose an old favorite from Abraham Lincoln.

Whatever you are, be a good one.

I picked out where I wanted the letters to be, and used a pencil and ruler to sketch lines on the canvas so the letters would be straight.

After I had the lines sketched out, I heated up my trusty glue gun and carefully glued the wooden letters to the canvas.

After the letters were all glued down, I added a layer of gesso to create texture on the canvas.

Next, I let the gesso dry overnight.

Hey look the next day I got my camera working again! Here’s what it looked like after 24 hours.

Then I added several layers of white paint. I started with a few coats of the cheap (and much thinner) all purpose acrylic paint on the right, and finished with a generous coat of the ‘real’ acrylic.

I had to use a small paintbrush to get in the crevices of each letter.

I don’t have any pictures, but I actually ended up adding a thin coat of glossy white spray paint because I didn’t like the matte finish of the acrylic.

The finished product:

I love it! It doesn’t photograph well, but the letters and texture on the canvas are striking yet subtle. Does that make sense?

And here it is in its current resting place, our front entry. I love the idea that our guests will be greeted with such a great quote when they walk in the door.

I like it even better than the original and it only cost me a fraction of the price.

Anyone else out there as obsessed with
Pinterest as I am?