Mothers Day gift- Family Tree Canvas

Yesterday I shared the Family subway art pillowcase I made for my traveling Mom…  Today is the family tree art I made for my Mother in law!  She likes browns, golds, and metallic in her decorating so the metallic and pearl colors of the Plaid- Martha Stewart collection paint was PERFECT!

I actually used a lot more from the bag of goodies Plaid Crafts sent me for this project!  I made a few mistakes and there are a few things I’d change if Iwas going to do it again….

I started with a large 18×25 canvas.  Turns out vinyl, stencils and tape don’t stick to canvas very well, and these paints tended to bleed. If I was going to do it again I’d use a board instead!

See the blank medallion?  My SIL is expecting a baby, and is most likely the last grandchild my in laws will get (funny how both my parents and my in laws are mostly getting their last grandbabies this year- esp considering they are 10 years apart in age, and have totally different numbers of children)

I first started using the tape to create the tree shape I wanted.  But as I stepped back I noticed it was leaning to wards the left.

So I pulled it off and used vinyl instead…  MISTAKE 1.  It did NOT stick for some reason!  LIKE AT ALL….

Since I didn’t want the paint to completely bleed through I decided to add some texture for the tree.  I used the texture brush to create lines coming up the trunk and out to the branches!  I used canvas specific texture paint as well.  It held down the vinyl pretty good, but it did bleed under a bit.

Then mixing my primary colors, red, yellow and blue, in satin paint I created a pretty brown…

and rolled it right on top of the textured paint

Peel it off and you have your tree!

I decided to attempts vinyl again for my leaf shapes, and they worked OKAY.  they did bleed a bit as I couldn’t get it to stick down completely, but for leaves it worked.  Start with your lightest color first, this gold, then my pearl orange…

and finally a red/pink, also a part of the pearl/metallic collection.  These foam pouncers are PERFECT for stenciling!

and done…  I love fall, and these are the colors we get to see on our mountain every year!

So tree- DONE! So far a few issues but over all okay.

Now for the FAMILY part of the family tree.  I used these great adhesive stencils.  This medallion shape was perfect for what I wanted.  and the tacky back stuck pretty good, not perfect- because of the stupid canvas, but better than the vinyl for SURE.  AND you can use it over and over again and it stays tacky and re-sticks every time!

For this I used the darker metallic gold, and I did the whole family tree once, then one more time to get the color I wanted.

I worked from the bottom (mom and dad) up and out.  The kids and spouses on the main branches then each of their children branching off from there.

I wasn’t a stickler for having every medallion on a branch, but tried to space it and make it look pretty and not too crowded in any one place!

I was going to use the alphabet stencil they sent me, but the letters were too big, so I tried vinyl ONE LAST TIME, thinking it might stick to the paint better.

I just used first initials (missing the upcoming baby) and added teal paint for the letters.

I had two problems, I waited too long to take the vinyl off, and the paint came up with it…  AND these were SO small it was difficult to work with the details.  The letters are 3/4 inch tall and 1/2 inch wide.  Itty Bitty….

So I grabbed one of the amazing brushes and hand painted the letters over what was left from the stenciled initials!

I was thinking about adding our last name, but my husband thought it looked best simple like this…  So for now I’m leaving it.  I think the MAIN thing I can tell you is to find a tree shape that fits your family.  I have a single sister in law with no children, a single sister in law with three kids and the couples haev 2, 4 and 5 (us) kids so it’s not like we were very well balanced.  I love this tree, it fit our strange family sizes perfectly!

My Mother in law is in Israel right now, but I think she’ll really love it when she comes home!