Arts & Crafts: Reindeer Canvas

     I loooove Pinterest. That should really go without saying. I'm a twenty-something girl, of course I love Pinterest. I especially love the cute craft ideas I constantly see on there. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have a board with that exact title. Yet hardly ever do I actually do any of the things I've pinned. That seems to be the case for most of us, with the rare exception of the oh-so-perfect stay at home moms who aren't on a shoe string budget. (I'm not ribbing on you, I'm jealous. So stop staring at me and go back to Mod Podge and Pilates, or straightening your hair, or whatever the hell you do all day.) Regardless, when I came across the (suddenly popular on my feed) Glittery Deer Canvas I decided I was going to finally break down and do a Pinterest craft. Huzzah!  Not only would it be super cute and a fairly easy way to cut my eyeteeth on crafting, I could also kill two birds with one stone. This glittery deer craft was going to my my contribution to this year's Family Christmas!

     Unnecessary necessary information: Family Christmas is the first weekend in December when my mother's side of the family gathers together in one house (which is no small feat) and play Dirty Santa. Gifts have been everything from George Foreman Grills to orange traffic cones to really nice watches, but the limit is supposed to be $15 bucks.  I never know what to get, since I'm a stereotypical black sheep that does not understand the ways of the species known as the cool kids, which the rest of my family is almost entirely made up of. So I always bring something I think is fantastic (one year I got a combo pack of Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias), that one poor, disgruntled cousin ends up with and that nobody else ever steals from them. They go home disappointed with their gift, and I go home feeling like a total loser. Ahhh, Christmas Traditions.

     Either way, this year my offering to the gods of familial harmony is going to be my Deer Canvas! The ones I saw on Pinterest were all just the silhouette of the deer's head, with either a solid color or stripes behind it. I wanted something a little more festive, so I decided to use a rearing reindeer as my silhouette and the names of Santa's sleigh team as my back ground. I wanted to go with the text from the famous poem (story? epic?) "A Visit From St. Nicholas", by Clement Clark Moore. Depending on which translation/edition you're looking at, it reads in part:

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer & Vixen!

On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder & Blitzen!"

     I started by stenciling my letters (in pencil, of course) on the blank canvas. Yes, I'm aware I left out Prancer. His name wouldn't fit. I had hoped to be able to fit each reindeer and punctuation on a separate line, but I could not find a stencil that was the right size. We only have a Walmart, and a crappy Walmart at that. They had three stencil sizes. Big, Bigger, and Tiny. I went with big, but that meant I couldn't fit everything I wanted on the canvas. C'est la vie.

     Next I outlined my letters with the paint I had chosen for them. I bought a green and a red, but the green did not turn out nearly as dark as I had hoped. The red felt much more "Christmasy" to me. I thought about doing the ampersand on the bottom in either green or gold, but I wasn't sure how it would look and wasn't willing to risk ruining the canvas. I'm po', honey chile. 

     Third Step is (Dun Dun Dun!!!!) fill in your letters. Looking at it now, I probably should have centered them on the canvas, but hindsight and all that. It was my first time, okay? Were you good your first time? (Yes, S@HM, we all know you were fantabulous at it the first time around. We can't all be as perfect as you, though, can we? So there!)

     Fourth, I traced my reindeer right in the center. I did it with pencil first (duh), then went over it with a gold paint marker. I read online that it made it easier to see, and boy did it. I had to sit directly under the light just to be able to see my pencil marks to go over them with the paint marker. Once you've got your outline, paint it inside with a thick, thick layer of Elmer's glue. Just like the stuff you used in grade school. (I don't know enough about different brands a glue to know if Walmart brand works as well as Elmer's, so I just swung for the real deal. It might have cost $1.50, total.) I don't think I did a thick enough layer the first time, because once I had "glittered" my deer I could still see the lettering through him. I think the thicker, the better.

     Cover your glue sodden reindeer silhouette with copious amounts of glitter. I opted for the super fine stuff just because I thought it looked prettier, but to each his own. Just pour it out in the general outline of your shape. Then let him sit for about 10-15 minutes.

     Tap your excess glitter off et voila! My reindeer turned out a little stockier than I meant for him to, but still. For my very first attempt ever at a canvas painting/stenciling/glitter craft, I think it turned out pretty darn good. I may try making another one just to fine tune my technique, but this is definitely going to be my Dirty Santa gift. Less than $15.00 for supplies (the canvas was a two pack!) and one entire Saturday was all it took! So go out and make your own! 

 Take that, Stay at Homes! coughcoughI'mOnlyPickingOnYouBecauseI'mJealouscoughcough.