A Letter to Your Baby Wall Art Tutorial

By far one of my FAVORITE parts of Rad's nursery is the letter we wrote to him.

It was the last project we took on before he was born. 

At the time we had been told that Rad had 2 heart defects and had a high probability of being born with Downs. 

So for me, this letter was a way to kind of deal with what might happen during and after his birth.

Thankfully he was somehow born completely fine, and healthy and handsome can be.

(You can read more about it here and here.)

The idea came to me one afternoon while I was sitting in his room.

I wanted something that would be a reminder at a 3:30AM feeding of all the good that lay ahead. 

Plus I had like exactly $18 left in my budget so I had to get creative. 

Here are the supplies I used:

A 24X30 white canvas from JoAnn's

A sample paint pot from Lowes in Canvas by Valspar

A white paint pen from JoAnn's

Chartreuse acrylic paint from JoAnn's

Small paint brush

Small foam roller

Step one was to paint the canvas. 

I just poured a small amount of paint on the middle of the canvas and used my roller to spread it evenly. 

In the end I did two coats to make sure there was even coverage.

Once the paint had dried (it took about 20 minutes) I just started to write.

I wanted it to be from my heart and my biggest concern wasn't that it was perfect; but that it said what I felt toward my little boy.

If you want to be a little more exact in the spacing of your sentences, try marking down the sides of the canvas with bits of painters tape to get a visualization of where your lines will be.

As a side note, when working with a paint pen, make sure to follow the directions and shake it often. Also, test it on a scrap piece of paper after each shake to ensure it won't splatter or bleed onto your canvas.

Once the letter was done, I used a small paint brush and the acrylic paint to free hand his name and the heart just to add a little more color to it. 

They do sell paint pens in a variety of colors, they just didn't have the color I wanted so I opted to free hand it. 

And there you have it.

Easy, affordable and most importantly from the heart. :)

Total cost breakdown:

24X30 canvas (JoAnn's): $13 on sale for 50% off plus a 20% off my order coupon

Tester paint pot (Lowes): Already had on hand, but are about $3

Paint pen (JoAnn's): $3 after %20 off coupon

Acrylic Paint (JoAnn's): $.80 after %20 off coupon

Small foam roller (Lowes): Already had on hand, but are about $5

Paint brush: Already hand on hand. (Honestly, you could use a Q-Tip and get the same result.)

Total: About $17