Love Birds

Love Birds

I have started decorating for Valentine's day around the house and wanted a Love sign to place in my entry way. After searching some of my favorite blogs for ideas I put together this sign in my head. I knew what I wanted but needed something to guide me before I started painting. As I'm sure most of you that know me know that I am totally addicted to Pinterest. I have pinned quite a few free fonts and went directly to those looking for the font I wanted to use for the word Love. I ended up choosing Coneria Script from the Lil Luna blog. I really liked the way it made the word Love look. Just what I was wanting. :)

Now for the rest of the canvas. I knew that I wanted two birds sitting on a branch but wasn't sure where to get my inspiration. I Googled birds on a branch and a ton of images popped up. Some free and some REALLY expensive. I wanted free so I went with the site Clker.com and downloaded the free image.

I have been very interested in transferring images onto canvas, wood etc. and have been seeing several pins on this topic. After reading and trying several unsuccessful transferring techniques I decided to go with, what I think, is the easiest for me at this point. The wax paper method is what I chose from Unexpected Elegance.com. It's really very easy. Her website explains it well, but here is a quick run down. ;)

Wax Paper Method:

• Copy paper
• Wax paper cut to your copy paper size
• A printer
• A photo editing program such as Photoshop

What to do with your image:

• Type the word you like onto a new page in Photoshop
• Go to Image, Rotate, and then flip horizontal (this makes your image a mirror image so that when you place it onto the canvas it is written correctly)

Directions:

• Glue the non wax side of the wax paper to the copy paper
• Place the wax paper side down into your printer
• Print the image reversed
• Quickly place your copy onto the canvas. Your copy is wet so do not touch the ink. Also, once you place it onto the canvas do not move it because it will smear. (I learned this from experience)
• Rub really hard with your fingers or the back of a spoon to transfer the image onto the canvas.
• After checking the corners of your print to make sure you like the transfer then you can remove the paper 

For this project I bought an Artist's Loft 12in x 24in canvas from Michael's , Krylon indoor/outdoor banner red spray paint, and used a craftsmart paint pen in black.

How I made the canvas:

• I spray painted the canvas in red
• Transferred both my images using the wax paper method
• Then went over my transfers using the black paint pen. I found that when I transfered the images they weren't dark enough so I tried the paint pen and LOVED the way it turned out. 

I hope that you like the way the canvas turned out as much as I did. I am very happy. Here is a picture of the canvas in my entry way along with my two new topiary's. I'll explain how I made them in my next post. :)