Wall Art

I saw a pin on pinterest that I really loved, but it turned out to be a "fake" pin that lead no where.  I hate that.  It is only one of the many things I dislike about Pinterest, but I digress.  It still gave me a good idea.
Since we moved to a new place, we have had a hard time figuring out what we wanted to do on this enormous wall that stretches from out kitchen to the front door (basically two rooms long).  As you might remember or find from some other posts on this wall, we light bright colors in the kitchen, especially because of the Fiesta dishes.
This phantom pin was a wall hanging with the outline of a state and a heart over a specific city.  We both thought it was adorable, we both love where we live but didn't grow up here, we both have lived in a few places that have remained firmly in our hearts, so this was the perfect idea.  Here is what we did and some pictures to go along with it.  I just used my phone for pics, so the quality is bad, but you get the idea.
The materials we used:

• cheap canvases from Hobby Lobby
• cheap acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby
• outlines from a website Nate found
• pencils
• thin cardboard (I used a giant gift box)
• painter's tape
• wax paper

 I cut out the outlines of the states that Nate found.

Then I traced that shape onto the cardboard and cut that out.  I didn't take a picture, but I think you get the idea. I used the cardboard so that I would have a more sturdy outline.

Now, at this point I used two methods.  For some of the states I simply traced the shape onto the canvas and then painted around it free hand.  Here are some pics of that:

The other method I used required wax paper and painters tape.  I tore off a piece of waxed paper and laid it flat.  I then layers enough painters tape on it to cover the size of the outline.  Then I traced the outline onto the painter's tape.  I cut out the shape and peeled the waxed paper off.  Then I stuck the shape to the canvas and used it as a reverse stencil.  I really liked this method and it still gave me really clean lines.  I originally did it with the yellow because I was worried that the pencil lead would bleed into the color, but it worked so well that I did it with the green too.  Here are some pictures of that.

 

And here is the final product above out lovely red table!