A Split Family Tree on Canvas

Let the vinyl projects begin! I have been waiting for a shipment of vinyl that I ordered. Finally it has been received  sorted and is ready to be used. I must admit my first project was a little ambitious, maybe even a little scary. After a few mishaps it turned out great. Without making you hold onto your seats for a minute longer, I bring you a split family tree.

This is for a friend who wanted her kids names displayed on 5 X 7 canvases. Yes she has 6 kids, that's 2 more then me. I don't know how she is still sane.  I love the font that I choose. Very swirly. 

For those that are interested I finally remembered to take some photos along the journey to show you what I did. For those that aren't interested, indulge me and look anyway just for my amusement.

Here is the back of the canvases. Just simple white canvases that can be bought at any craft store. My favorite go to place is Michaels. 

 I painted the canvases with a few coats of acrylic paint in her favorite color, green. To get the vinyl to stick to the uneven surface, I also applied a thin coat of Modge Podge. The Modge Podge had to sit for a few days to cure. The waiting killed me. I mean I had all this vinyl and wanted to start cutting. 

This next step requires a little bit of additional information. I messed around with a few different vines and leaves on Silhouette Designer Edition. we wanted the vine to wrap around all the canvases.  I finally ended up with a tree design. Lovin the heats with the tree. Coming up with designs is the hardest part of crafting I think.Getting it to separate on all the canvases turned out to be another problem. No matter what I tried in the software the design always came up wonky. I asked for some help on one of the craft groups I belong to, and a lady came up with the perfect solution.  Here it is.

I used painters tape on the back of the canvases to hook them together. Genius.  

Oh how exciting, the cutting of the vinyl has began. This is the inside of the Silhouette Cameo. In short terms, it's like a printer that cuts instead of prints. 

It is next to impossible to see here, but the tree design is being cut by the blade. 

The vinyl I use come in rolls or sheets The sticky part of it is stuck to a carrier sheet. The small intricate design came out perfectly. The weeding (removal of the extra vinyl) on this one was really easy. After the project was weeded You add a transfer sheet to the front. And scrape over it to make sure it sticks. They make a transfer tape for this use, but contact paper works wonderful also. And is much, much cheaper.

With the vinyl stuck to the transfer sheet you peel off the backing and the design really shines. 

I then took the design and moved it over to the connected canvases. I used a squeegee to firmly attach it to the canvas. Even with the Modge Podge I found that the vinyl did not want to stick down and little pieces kept coming up. So frustrating. I din't let it stop me and continued anyway. 

After the vinyl finally stuck I used a X acto knife to cut the design between the canvases. I kinda feel silly that I didn't come up with this, It would have saved hours in front of my computer.

Isn't that font fabulous! Absolutely amazed by the small details that the Silhouette can cut.  With all their names applied I saw there were still little pieces of the vinyl that didn't want to stay down. Modge Podge to the rescue again. I added another coat on top of the entire design, and let cure for a few more days.

They are all ready to be given to my friend. she saw them already, so I am not spoiling the surprise. She is such a wonderful mom, and now can display he kids special names that were picked just for them. 

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