Have you ever seen those awesome, super cute, and often prophetic canvas quotes?  But, then you see the price tag and change your mind about purchasing one because you can’t justify paying that much for words on a picture?  This article is all about how to easily make DIY canvas quotes or signs of your choice.  I used my Cricut to cut out my desired quote in vinyl, but this project can be done by hand.

 

Supplies

1. Canvas
2. Vinyl
3. Transfer Tape
4. Scissors, Cricut, or other vinyl cutting machine
5. Optional: Paints for Canvas

 

Steps

1. Prepare Canvas – Paint if desired
2. Choose Quote
3. Cut Quote out of Vinyl
4. Transfer Quote to Transfer Tape
5. Place Onto Canvas

 

1.  Prepare Canvas – Paint if desired

Plain white canvases can be bought very cheaply at art supply stores, or my favorite place to purchase them is Ross Dress for Less.  Most of the Ross stores nearby have a nice collection of blank canvases in different sizes that range in price from $4.99-8.99 for a set of 5-6.  The size used for the painted canvases in this project were 11″ x 14 “.  Canvases can also be left plain white, which looks especially great with glitter vinyl quotes.

 

 

Below are examples of completed painted canvas quotes.

 

 

 

 

The canvases were painted with acrylic paint by my children, who had a blast designing and painting them.

Another option is to have a picture on the canvas, either adhered with Mod Podge or by buying a photo canvas.  Wal-Mart, Costco, and CVS sell very affordable photo canvas options.  These companies also have stock professional photos for purchase.  I used some canvas photos from pictures that I took on my iPhone as well as a few that were purchased for the stock photograph.  Amazon also has options that are available online with free shipping.  Shopping around and comparing prices is encouraged in order to snag the cheapest prices.

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Choose Quote

Pick a favorite quote or saying.  It could be an original quote or a favorite saying from a loved one.  The quotes depicted were all purposefully motivational as my finished projects were designed to help inspire patients in my husband’s physical therapy clinic.  Personal favorites are motivational quotes from Inky Johnson and Eric Thomas.  Find quotes easily by searching for motivation quotes, or other desired theme, on Google.

 

3.  Cut Quote out of Vinyl

The next step is to cut the quote out of adhesive vinyl.  If cutting by hand, print out the quote, adhere to the top of adhesive vinyl with tape, and cut out the words using an Xacto knife or a small, sharp pair of scissors.  Using Cricut’s Design space it’s a snap to enter the chosen quote(s) and to have the machine cut the words out.  After the machine cuts out the quote, then weed out all the unwanted vinyl.  Usually it means weeding out the outline and center pieces.

 

 

4.  Transfer Quote to Transfer Tape

Using transfer tape, adhere the adhesive vinyl quote.  Sticky side of transfer tape to non-sticky side of vinyl.  This allows proper positioning and placement of the quote before adhering the vinyl to the canvas.  Transfer tape is not 100% necessary.  The adhesive vinyl could be peeled off and used like a sticker at this point.  I personally find that using transfer tape ensures that my finished product is straight before I adhere it.  Make sure to reuse the transfer tape.  I used the same large piece of transfer tape for all the canvas quotes in the pictures.  Below are some affordable transfer tape options available on Amazon.

 

 

5.  Place Onto Canvas

The very last step for this canvas quote is to position the quote properly, and adhere to the canvas.  Place the words onto the canvas using the Transfer tape.  The transfer tape is then very carefully peeled away.  Some tips are to pull back the transfer tape at a sharp angle; parallel and flat to the canvas.  Depending on how easily the vinyl sticks to the canvas it may be necessary to glue the vinyl down with craft or tacky glue in order to better seal the quote onto the canvas.  The vinyl quotes attached to the photo canvases below did not require glue, but the previous quotes attached to the painted canvases did.  A great test for this is to rub the words after done with the application and see if the words start to peel off.

 

Viola, canvas quote is complete and ready for hanging.

 

 

 

 

For more visual learners check out the YouTube Video instructions

 

Ready Made Canvas Quotes

Short on time or don’t feel like cutting out all those letters by hand without a Cricut, then look at Etsy’s and Amazon’s extensive canvas quotes collections that are more pricey, but come ready to hang.

 

 

The product links above are provided for your convenience with no obligation to buy.  I am a Cricut, Etsy, and Amazon affiliate and may make a small commission if you choose to use the links above to buy needed and loved products.  All products that I used were bought by me and all opinions are my own.

 

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