it is well with my soul: tutorial

This past January, I blogged over here about my Christmas present for my mom. This is one of her favorite songs. I pinned it on pinterest and got a lot of hits! When I blogged about it before, I didn't give a tutorial on how I made it, so that's what I'm doing now.

I want to go ahead and say that this is such an easy project that has a lot of empact! I completed this Christmas eve, in a couple of hours. Also, remember that you can use this tutorial on your favorite song or quote.

Start with 2 canvases. I got mine from Michaels, and went with 22x28 inches.  This is a good size, because when used together, you get quite a large piece.

I printed out the words from text edit. At this time, I just got a new computer, so I didn't have Microsoft Word. Since the song is old, I wanted to go with a modern font. In Text Edit, I chose Bebas New. This is a clean, bold font, so I'm sure there is a similar one in other programs. After printing out the letters, carefully cut them out individually. You are going to be tracing them, so it's important to cut them out as perfectly as possible. Next, I used tape to hold the letters to the canvas while I traced lightly traced them with a pencil. Remove the letters when finished.

Now, it's time to paint! I painted the background first, with one coat, and then the letters, with 2 coats. Looking back, I definitely should have painted the entire background first, then traced the letters and then painted them. I just made more work for myself, so dont do that! :) I used really cheap acrylic paint for the background. I mixed together Americana's "Sand" and Americana's "Terra Coral" until I got a nice warm neutral. The letters were painted with Liquitex Basics Acrylic Color in "Copper". I love this color! It has a great metallic sheen to it that changes with the lighting. I chose these colors, because I wanted to piece to be warm. I wanted my mom to feel alive whenever she saw it.

Alright, that's it! So easy. I hope this tutorial helps you create that piece you've been dying to make. Remember you can change the text, font, and colors, but still follow these simple steps, and you'll get your perfect piece. Let me know if you have any questions!

xo,
Lark