quote canvas.

I love quotes, and lately have been trying to figure out ways to incorporate more words around my house. So when I saw the tutorial for this quote canvas, I knew I was going to have to steal the idea.

I chose a line from Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

And here's the end result:


The concept behind making this is pretty straightforward, but be forewarned - its a long, somewhat tedious process.

I started by laying out the quote, in the font I wanted, in Microsoft Publisher (which I use for layout stuff all the time). The tutorial above mentioned having your final image printed on a large paper at a copy shop, which I seriously considered doing, then decided I was too cheap and printed it out on four separate pieces of paper instead. This meant I had to cut and fold and tape them all together, which was a pain. But it was also free.

Once it was ready, I laid the combined papers on top of my canvas, and taped the top it securely, and the bottom a bit more loosely. Then, I moved a piece of transfer paper around underneath the difference sections and just traced the outline of the letters with a pencil. This part takes a little while.

When I was done, I lifted the paper, only to discover that I had missed a couple words and letter details (like the circle inside an "o"). This is why I would recommend only detaching the bottom of the paper, and keeping the top securely attached, because I can only imagine how impossible it would have been to line everything up twice.


Then came the really tedious part. I started by tracing the letter using a black sharpie (because I don't trust that I have a steady hand with a paintbrush). Once that was done, I painted around the letters with a really small brush. Then I did it again, because the whole thing really needed two coats. It took several hours to do both coats, though that might be because I went really slowly to avoid mistakes.

I made a few mistakes anyway, but I just went back with some white paint to touch them up. This also helped me get rid of any accidentally pencil transfer marks in the whites of the letters.


I really love the end result, so I think I'd be willing to do this again, though I'm not going to walk around and offer to do it for just anybody. For a Christmas or birthday gift, maybe. Hmm....

For more DIY inspiration, visit A Soft Place To Land.