Pinterest Inspired: Canvas States

This past weekend I decided to stop just pinning DIY inspiration and finally actually do a project!

I was inspired by this pin of a canvas painted with the shape of Texas

Source: etsy.com via Lauren on Pinterest

It was so cute and looks so simple, I knew I could tackle it in one sitting.  Chris (the resident artist in the household) helped me pick out supplies at Micheal's.  Haven't been there in forever...all of those wedding planning memories came flooding back as soon as I stepped foot into the store. Thankfully the art supplies were all on sale AND I had an extra 15% off of everything including sale items coupon.  Score!

With the welcome rain in our area, I took advantage of my Friday night at home and got to work.  Supplies included two 12x12 canvas wraps, acrylic paint, and paint brushes.  A quick Google search and I was able to print out the outlines of Texas and Pennsylvania onto some left over cardstock.

I started off by painting a layer of white paint over the area of the canvas.  I probably didn't need to since it's already white, but I liked the look of the states being painted as well.

Probably one of the longest steps in this project was deciding where to place PA.  I loved TX in the lower right hand corner, but I couldn't pick between the same or opposite for PA.  Thankfully with the cut outs I was able to look at it in both positions, and with Chris' opinion went for PA in the bottom left corner.

Tape the cut outs down and start painting.  Since I didn't tape very close to the edge, some of the paint made its way under my cut out.  A little white cover up after the paint dried helped out that situation.

Freehand a couple of hearts over our cities of birth and project accomplished!

The blue didn't come out as solid as the green, but I'm starting to dig the shading because it reminds me of water.  We don't have much wall space left (those pictures were taken hanging from hooks of another frame), and since we'll be packing up in a couple of months I probably won't do anything with them until we move into our house.

Project breakdown:
-3 Brushes @ .69 each = $2.07
-3 Acrylic paints (normally 3.99 each) @ 1.99 each = $5.97
-2 12x12 canvas (normally 10.99 each) @ 4.39 each = $8.78
-Test canvas pack = $2.99

With tax, this would have cost $42.23.  With the sale prices and extra 15% off I paid $18.22.  Not too shabby! Completing this project has me itchin' to do another project.  Can't wait to get into a house and get back into more DIY projects.

Have you found and re-created any DIY projects on Pintrest?