Craftaholics Gift Part 2

I am not sure how I feel about trying to make things for people I don't know super well.  Sometimes it feels like such a shot in the dark that I feel like I'll never get it right.  Sometimes I use the opportunity to create something I would not normally make.  This is one of those times.  I decided to create a piece of art for my partner to hang in her daughter's nursery.  I have never seen this nursery.  I have never seen this little girl.  Going on the basis of a sage green room in which lavender and rose look nice,  I went for it.

This is what I got:

Hopefully I'll get a picture of it on a wall to replace this.  Ugh.  I know that one of the first things I am going to HAVE to do as a blogger is get better at taking pictures.  And maybe use an actual camera instead of my phone.  Sshhhh...don't tell. :)

I have seen several projects around the www using doilies as stencils.  "Ha," I thought.  "I can do that, no problem," I thought.  I should know better by now.  Whatever.  Anyway, this is what I started with:

Materials:
1.  Large 11 x 14 canvas (from Michaels, on sale in a two pack!)
2.  Paper doilies (Massive package of 24 from Walmart.  Overkill, yes?)
3.  Basting Spray
4.  Scissors

I started by placing some doilies on the white canvas, lightly spraying the back of the doilies with spray starch to stick them down while I was painting.

Then, I painted the entire canvas a nice rosy pink.  I don't even want to talk about the fact that the brush and paint are from when I took art lessons in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!  I was just impressed that I could find my paint brushes after two moves and several years of non-use. 

I didn't bother to paint in the middle of the doilies, since the canvas was covered up under them.  Save myself some time and paint!  Now for a difficult part: wait for the paint to dry.  At least most of the way.  I am terrible at this part.

I put some more doilies on next, WITHOUT taking off the first doilies.  Same process.  No need for another picture yet, okay?

Then, I painted the whole works lavender.   I left one doily pink around the edges.  I thought it might look cool.  Some of the doilies are overlapped.  And again, the waiting game...

Eventually I couldn't stand it any longer and started peeling my doilies off.  That was MUCH harder than I thought it would be.  If anyone has suggestions for a better temporary glue, please let me know. 

This process took a while, and involved picking lots of tiny pieces of paper off the canvas.  Not much fun.

Eventually, it looked like it does above.  I think I like this look!  So did Miss Priss, my crafty sabotager helper.

Last, I painted on the initials, following the basic design of a font I like.  Very broadly defined following.

And, bam!  There we are.  Something cutesy to hang on the wall.  I don't know quite what to do with the edges of the canvas.  It would probably look sweet if the whole works was framed in a nice white frame.

I just hope my partner likes it!