Gracen and I had so much fun with today’s art project that we actually ended up doing it twice! It’s the simplest technique, but the results are absolutely stunning and in this case, perfect for Valentine’s Day too! {Though my original thought was to use the pieces as art in Miss G’s bedroom…}
The project was sort of inspired by Learn with Play at Home’s easy toddler name art and Kommunicated’s ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go’ canvas. Truthfully, what I’ve been wanting to do forever now is use stick-on letter decals to create a piece of art using a resist method, but since I forgot to bring decals to Kuwait with us and I haven’t been able to find them here, I’ve settled on making my own using contact paper. I know, it’ll probably be a ridiculous amount of work, which is exactly why I decided we’d try the method with a simplified version of the project first. And I’m SO glad it turned out as well as I hoped it would!
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First up, our collection of materials… A small canvas board (Kuwait friends, Office Depot in The Avenues has these on deep discount right now), a small piece of contact paper (found in hardware and dollar stores and often used as a drawer liner), some crafter’s acrylic, a sponge, a pair of scissors, and a Sharpie.
To get started, I folded our contact paper square in half and stapled it in the two corners to prevent it from slipping. Then, I drew half of a heart {with the middle being the folded edge}.
Next, Gracen cut it out. While contact paper can be a little bit tricky to cut, Grae did an amazing job and ended up with a beautiful heart shape.
Next, she peeled the paper backing off of the contact paper and stuck it onto her canvas board. {This was a perfect opportunity to discuss the difference between ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’.)
We firmly pressed the heart down onto the canvas board, making sure to remove any bubbles and creases that had appeared…
Then it was time to paint! Miss G selected 3 colours of acrylic paint and I gave her a small piece of sponge for each. In order to keep the contact paper heart adhered to the canvas throughout the painting process, we focused on using a dabbing technique, which G found quite fun. One thing to be aware of is that acrylics do tend to stain, so a smock or old shirt and some sort of table covering is a good idea.
Before long, Gracen’s canvas looked like this. I wasn’t sure whether or not she’d paint right on top of the heart or not, but it didn’t matter as either way would work just fine. Turns out she was serious about covering the entire canvas board!
While Grae was working on her purple and pink masterpiece, I worked on an aqua ombre version of my own. ☺
After letting our pieces dry for about 40 minutes or so {and making another round while waiting}, it was time for the best part…. Peeling off the contact paper! I helped Grae lift a tiny edge, and then she peeled off the giant sticker to reveal the completed project.
Isn’t it gorgeous?!
Here’s her second one…
And of course she wanted to do mine too! First up my yellow ombre one….
And then the aqua.
Contact paper worked fabulously for our heart resist art and now that I know it works, it’s time to finally take the plunge and do the project I’ve been putting off forever. Stay tuned!
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Love these posts. Do you know the equivalent of contact paper in the UK? I keep seeing such great things that you do with it but can’t find it here!
Hey Rachel! I had to ask some of my UK friends, but apparently it’s called ‘sticky backed paper’ there. Have you heard of it before?
You can get it in Rymans – I think it might be labelled contact paper after all!
Love this idea! I’ve got all the materials at home so I’m going to give it a go this week with my daughter:) thanks for the inspiration!
Out of curiosity, where can letter decals be found (I live in canada)?
Thanks:)
I just use letter stickers from michaels. Or most dollar stores now have scrapbooking sticky letters.
I love this! So simple, but so fantastic. My daughter would love this. I’ll definitely keep it in mind, and of course, pin it to pinterest so I don’t forget. :)
Jen, have you ever tried bubble paint? It’s simple and makes beautiful pictures too! I can totally tell which ones are yours and which ones are Miss G’s! Love them!
I love this! But we do not have contact paper here and I so wish I could find something similar because it looks like so much fun :) Aarya would love doing this for sure :)
These are beautiful!
Such a great idea, we had lots of fun doing it!
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Hi I was wondering how the contact paper sticks to the canvas. I’ve tried 3 different brands from Hobby Lobby and nothing will stick? Any tricks?
I love this idea, I am. Going to do it for my baby class at school as a Valentine’s Day gift.😍😍😍
Aw, such a lovely idea! I bet the parents loved it.