"Give me the splendid silent sun"

Here is a fun little DIY that I used to make Taylor's birthday present.  It is a great way to showcase your favorite quotes or lyrics in your home.  This project is a little time consuming but not all that difficult.

After I made Taylor's I decided I needed one of my own, so I did the same thing but in reverse.  So, here are two different ways to do this project.

You will need:

-Your favorite quote or lyric (Taylor's is lyrics from his favorite Fleet Foxes song and mine is a line from "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman)
-A canvas (what I used)/poster board/piece of wood/whatever flat surface you want your quote on
-Paint and paintbrushes
-Letter stickers (you can buy them in different sizes and styles at your local Joanns/Michaels)
-If you are doing the second style you will need white (or you could also try another color!) spray paint

First, the one I made for Taylor:

Step 1: Cut out all of the letters you will need for your quote/lyric and lay them out on your canvas so you can figure out how they will fit best.  If you run out of letters and don't want to go back to the store (as I did in the second version) then you can try cutting a few of the letters out of painters tape or forming them out of other letters.

Step 2: Stick your letters onto the canvas 

 Step 3: Paint over the letters.  You can try any design you want.  I went with a simple sun design since the quote is about the sun.  I contemplated other more complicated paintings but I decided that simple would be best.  Unfortunately I had some problems with my letters not sticking well to the canvas.  I think it might be because the letters I had were ones that are meant to be moved around.  If you have the same problem, no need to worry! I just held down the letters and painted over them carefully.  If you mess up a little bit it can be fixed later with a little white paint.

Step 4: After the paint has dried, carefully peel off all of the letters

Step 5:  Use white paint and a small brush to fix any imperfections.  You're done! 














 Next, the one I made for myself.  This is basically the reverse of what I did for Taylor's.

 

Step 1: Paint your design on the canvas. It can really be anything.  If your quote really fills up the canvas well and you have artistic skillz (yes, with a 'z') you could paint something more intricate.  I originally painted a bunch of little dots in different colors but I was lazy and didn't put enough planning into how I did it/the colors weren't quite right so I decided to paint over it.  You can still kind of see the texture of the old design, but I actually really like how it looks.  I settled with a sunset design again since the quote is about the sun (apparently I've been super into the sun lately??...might be something to do with the rainy Portland weather).

Step 2: Cut out all of the letters you will need for your quote/lyric and lay them out on your canvas so you can figure out how they will fit best. For this version I think its best if you choose a longer quote and fill up as much of the canvas as you can (I wish that I had used a smaller canvas--oh well, next time!).  On this one I also ended up using some thin washi tape to fill up the empty space at the top and bottom of the canvas.

 Step 3:  Stick your letters to the canvas

                                                       
      
Step 4: Find a well ventilated area and put your canvas on top of newspapers/something you don't mind turning white.  Spray paint your canvas.  Make sure you are doing it straight down onto the canvas, not at an angle so the paint doesn't sneak under the letter stickers.  You will definitely have to do multiple layers.  Let the paint dry between layers.









Step 5:  Once your canvas is thoroughly spray painted and dry peel off all of the letters.  You're done! 


Have fun!