The Name Painting

One of the mamas at playgroup hosted a painting event where the kids names were stickered on the canvas and then later you peel it off so their name is white surrounded by their masterpiece.  I thought it was pretty cool, but didn't feel like being around 20+ kids with paint.  Since I already had most of the supplies at home we just stayed home and did it.

The big thing I didn't have was sticker paper.  Now, sticker paper is really the way to go here.  But I used masking tape.  And not how you're thinking.  I put several rows of masking tape down on my desk top, slightly overlapping.  Then I drew the letters with a pencil, and cut them out with an exacto knife*.  From there it was pretty easy to transfer them to the canvases.

You may be able to see here (better in the top one) that I put a little space between the letters.  This is so that there would be a line of paint there for separation.  On the bottom one I changed my mind about the font and so I wrote over it with pen.

Once it was on, I'm sure you can guess the next step.  I got out all the paints and let the kids have at it.  Then I set them in a back room to dry (I was afraid they'd get debris in them if I left them outside).  Once they were mostly dry I used the exacto to peel up a corner of a letter and then yanked it off.  Rinse & repeat.  If you used sticker paper you could save these letters and stick them on something else, with a coat of mod podge to make sure they don't fall off.

Once they were completely dry I went over the whole thing with a coating of Mod Podge.  I was afraid it would make the (washable) paint run but it didn't even in the areas where I made several passes.  The Mod Podge is important with the washable paint because it seals it against moisture.  This paint will rinse off your hands with just water normally, and I don't want the paintings ruined if one of the girls happens to accidentally spray it with a mister.  If you use Mod Podge or another sealer make sure to coat the entire front evenly, even if they did not paint on the entire canvas.  When light shines on their artwork you don't want anything looking patchy!

Here is the finished product:

*Caution!  This method will leave marks on your desk!  If you have cutting pads from a die cutting machine you may want to use those instead of the desk.