DIY Painted Canvas “ART” & Thank you Notes

Our new $15 wall hanging

Remember a few weeks ago when I shared this fabulous store in Brooklyn? I walked away from that shop with so much inspiration. They have a gallery wall behind the cash wrap with all different kinds of art pieces in black and white and every shade of cream. The one thing that caught my eye was a simple piece of canvas with an even simpler design of painted stripes and dots. I knew just the place for something like this and it inspired my holiday thank notes too, which is a complete bonus! 

Update to the original post: We added grommets for hanging

With a $10 Grommet kit we added them to our canvas for a better solution to hanging art in hallways

The contenders.

A few other things I have been considering for the wall going up the stairs are all sort of similar in design and color.

A Quilt from Madewell

 I love this quilt designed by Laura Preston in her Texas Studio. It’s part of the Madewell Hometown Heroes Collective. It’s handmade and even comes with hanging tabs and a wooden dowel. 

A scarf from Block Shop Textiles

Scarves make the perfect wall hanging. I have this one from Block Shop Textiles on the wall by the front door as you walk into our home. Update: It’s now in the stairway! Always moving things around.

A Tea Towel from west elm

I think even this tea towel from west elm could be used as art. It’s hand-drawn and screen printed by April Nemeth of Little Korboose for west elm. I would consider framing it for a wall in the kitchen or laundry room. It would pair nicely with this one.

A macramé wall hanging also from west elm

A beautiful macramé wall hanging by artists Alexis Olivia & Yanira Lopez of Yerbamala Designs for west elm.

I could find a place for any of the above in my home but decided a piece of canvas and leftover paints will do just fine for now! You might like this post for the DIY round art project.

The Supplies for my wall hanging

• unprimed cotton canvas 
• leftover house paints in black and white or whatever colors you choose
• painter’s tape
• small paintbrushes
• ruler or yardstick
• bulldog clips for hanging, or
• grommets for hanging. 

We stopped at Blick Art Supply and picked up a piece of unprimed cotton canvas (15 ounces) for around $15. I used leftover Behr Paint samples of house paint. The only hard part was measuring. I left that to my husband. I hung the “art” on a blank wall that has been missing something ever since we moved in. I used two Bulldog Clips that were $1 each. I may trade them out for these.

DIY painted canvas Thank you notes

I love to send my friends original DIY thank you notes, but some years I have trouble thinking up new ideas. Thankfully the recipients are all blog readers, so they won’t be confused when they receive an envelope with something so simple painted on canvas. Using the extra canvas, I created thank you notes. The white dots were made by dipping a new pencil eraser into paint and placing it on the canvas. I originally thought I would actually write the note on the back of the canvas, but that seemed a little impractical, so I wrote a note on a Kraft paper card and tucked it into an envelope the same size as the canvas. 

Stamps & washi tape 

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