DIY State Canvas Art

*This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, you’ll help support Dwell Beautiful (at no extra cost to you) and you’ll end up with some amazing products you can use for all your DIY endeavors!*

I’mmmmmm baaaaccckkkk! Hi friends. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? But it’s a new month (and my favorite month to boot) and I’m ready for a fresh start and a new look on life. August was a really ridiculously busy and incredibly hard month, but I’m feeling confident that this month will be better. I’m stronger than I was before and driven more than ever to make this blog into something wonderful. So thank you for following along with me! Your comments and shares and pins and interactions and relationships mean the world to me.

So to kick off September right I’m bringing you a fun and easy craft tutorial to make your own state canvas art! I’m a proud PNW resident and I absolutely love living in Washington state (rain included). I thought I would make my love for the Evergreen state even more obvious by making this super easy and stunning stenciled version of my beloved home. Follow along below for the tutorial!

State Canvas Art Materials

– Canvas

– Stencil or printout on cardstock of your state

– Patterned stencil

– Acrylic paint in desired color

– Foam Brush

– Glitter

– X-ACTO Knife and cutting mat (not pictured)

Step 1

If you don’t have a stencil of your state (I’m assuming most people probably don’t have that lying around!) it’s super easy to make one of your own. Google “state name here map outline” and find a clear and large outline. Print it out and then take your X-ACTO Knife and carefully cut around the edges. If your state has fiddly bits (like the San Juan Islands in my map) feel free to just leave them out and make a more basic shape that will still be recognizable.

Step 2

Tape down the edges of your stencil, making sure everything is nice and flush. I use washi tape because it holds well but is still easy to peel up without leaving any lasting damage!

Step 3

Squirt some paint into a tray or onto a disposable plate and dip your foam brush in the paint. You just need a bit! Place your pattern stencil over top of the state stencil. Start dabbing (not brushing) the paint into stencil, being careful not to shift it. If it helps, add more tape or use a movable spray adhesive to secure your stencil. Since my pattern is a very small, I had to move and line up my stencil multiple times to cover the entire state. Once you have finished dabbing, remove both stencils and let it dry. It will turn out something like this:

 Step 4

This step is a little hard to capture as you need to do it quickly! I decided I wanted a heart over the area where I live, so I took some gold acrylic paint and painted a quick little heart. I then quickly dumped some gold glitter onto the heart before the paint dried while trying not to make a huge mess! Once I tapped off the excess glitter I was left with this little pretty:

It’s so cute! I love it. Gold + Teal = pure awesomeness.

Step 5

I decided I wasn’t done there – this canvas state art needed more bling! So I whipped out my gold acrylic paint once again and sprinkled more glitter onto the edges of the canvas (this time making a BIG mess and glittering my entire craft room floor). I posted this pic to Instagram after the glitter-splosion was complete.

Glitter really is the herpes of craft supplies, y’all.

Et voila! Here is my beautiful and glittery finished state canvas art! I’m in love 🙂

It’s glitz, it’s glam, it’s my fave colors and it goes perfectly in my craft room! Gotta rep my Washington love 🙂

It’s just the piece that my little strip of coral wall needed to make it really sparkle (I mean, let’s be real, glitter makes everything better). It reminds me of my roots, and makes me proud to be a Washingtonian. PNW for life!

Where are you all from? I’d love to hear what states you represent. Sound off in the comments below!

*This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, you’ll help support Dwell Beautiful (at no extra cost to you) and you’ll end up with some amazing products you can use for all your DIY endeavors!*