State canvases: revealed! and a tute

I finally finished touching up my state canvases and hung them on the wall this afternoon.  Bella and Summer both made me feel so crafty and proud of myself as we walked up the stairs to nap time.  Bella exclaiming, "Look Mom!  Look at the wall!" and Summer cooing, "Oooohhh..." while trying to knock every last one of them off.

These were so fun and super easy.  You don't have to be "crafty" to finish one, just be able to hold a paint brush and make some fine lines.  :)  Read to get started??  Here's what you'll need:

- canvas.  I chose 10"x10".  $5.99 + 30% off at Hobby Lobby.
- pencil
- scissors
- paint brushes/sponge.  Preferably paint brushes in varying sizes, especially a small/fine tipped one.
- acrylic paint of your color scheme.


Alright, first off, this could be used for any household, but it's special to us military folk since we move around so much.  The 4 states I chose are states that we've lived in together.  I did choose to leave out Washington state, seeing as we were only there for 3 weeks after we were hitched, and we lived in a hotel all the while.  Nevertheless, Trav thinks I should make one for Washington, so I'll humor him as I use it as a mock tutorial.

STEP ONE: get on your computer and google "Washington state outline".  Or whatever state you're choosing.  Find one that fits appropriately on your canvas and print it out.  My states are not all scaled to the same size.  I simply chose ones that were around the same size and went with it.

STEP TWO: once your state is printed, cut around the perimeter of the state, being careful to get all those river-y/coastal borders (or if you're choosing Colorado, you're spoiled).

STEP THREE: use a small piece of tape to position the state as you would like it on your canvas.  Then, trace around it lightly with a pencil.

I'm totally not doing Washington now JUST because of all those islands and inlets!!
Crazy town...

STEP FOUR: once you have your penciled state outline, decide what color scheme you'd like to use and paint!  I used my sponge brush for the majority of the canvas and then really zeroed in on the borders with my fine-tipped brush.  I also painted the states white, even though the background was already white, just to keep in accordance with the texture.

STEP FIVE: let dry and do a double coat/touch-ups with the paint.  One coat wasn't enough to give a full coverage, so I found that two seemed sufficient and made the states "pop" a bit more.

Where we both grew up and met.
Never stationed in CA, but it's our dream!

STEP SIX: place a heart where you live{d}/were stationed, etc.

Where Bella was conceived... :)

STEP SEVEN: I added the names of the towns on the side, just for kicks... feel free to personalize it any other way you would choose!

Where both our girls were born...

STEP EIGHT: nail a bracket on the back and hang for decoration!  As you can probably guess, my lines are not perfect, and I'm sure the shape of the states are a bit off, but with the bold colors, the white stands stark and you'd never know unless you looked really close.

Enjoy your new decor!