Use A Dollar Tree Canvas & A Flashlight To DIY Adorable Bird Wall Art

Very few of us are great artists, and that's okay! No matter a person's skill level, there are wall decor DIYs that won't leave you swearing and tossing your paintbrushes in the garbage. Dollar Tree sells stretched art canvases in lots of sizes. Their $1.25 price helps lower the stakes of risk-taking, and their design makes creating silhouette art an easy endeavor. With a solid profile printout of a bird perched prettily on a branch and some backlighting, you can trace the already beautiful shape right onto the canvas for a custom project that practically anyone can do. Sure, you can pull off a similar effect with a stencil, but this method is cheap and opens up many more possibilities for images.

Make this cute and customizable wall art with just a canvas, a black (or other dark color) permanent marker, a pencil, painter's tape, a flashlight, and a printed silhouette of a bird or any other animal or shape that strikes your fancy. This tracing project is made easier with the help of a flat piece of glass (think a large pane from a picture frame or a glass tabletop). By laying the canvas on top of the glass and the printed image, you can shine the light from beneath the glass to illuminate the printout for tracing. If you're using a pane of glass, you'll need something to elevate it over your light source, like stacked books at each corner. If you only have a conventional forward-shining flashlight, you may want to swap it out for a puck light that won't take up much vertical space under an elevated pane of glass.

The easiest types of pictures to trace with backlighting have a dark profile with a light background. Digital images are ideal, since you can adjust their size and remove the background with a tool like Canva or before printing. Do an image search for silhouettes of birds or other animals. You can also use personal photographs for art you'll actually love (how cute would your pet's profile be?).

Our inspirational TikToker @arecelichandiy inverted the canvas for a built-in frame effect that also made the surface sit flush with the glass. This route requires some touch-ups on the underside of the canvas, though. Use a utility blade to trim the excess canvas reaching beyond the frame, then smooth a very small amount of white caulking over the staples with a plastic knife. Let the caulk dry before moving on.

If you don't like the look of the canvas' underside, you can easily commit your image to its finished side. On a work surface, place the glass pane so that its corners sit atop four objects of equal height, providing enough space beneath it to fit the light. In the case of a glass tabletop, set the flashlight on a stack of books or a basket, so the light is close enough to the glass. Place your image on the glass pane, and tape the corners to keep it from moving. Set the inverted canvas on top of the image and frame. If you prefer working with the finished side of the canvas, tape the image to the back of the canvas itself, rather than to the glass.

Grab your pencil, switch on the light beneath the glass, and trace the outline of your bird or other creature. If you're tracing on the finished side of the canvas, go with light pressure on the pencil. If the image isn't sharp enough, move the light closer to the glass. It's helpful to reposition the light to illuminate different parts of the image as you work, especially if you're working with a large canvas and a detailed image.

@aracelichandiy

I love using these Dollar Tree canvases to create unique home decor pieces! . #aracelichandiy #dollartreediy #dollartreehacks #dollartreefinds #springdecor

♬ sonido original – elias.marin.govea

When you've completed the pencil outline, set the canvas flat on a table to trace the outline in marker. If you're working on the finished side of the canvas, set it on top of an object that fits inside the frame, like a book. This will give you a hard surface that prevents the canvas from bowing too much as you work. Fill the outlines in with marker. If your tastes run more on the simple side, you can consider your work finished and ready to hang. However, a few decorative additions might be just the finishing touches you need. Dollar Tree's faux flower and greenery selection might present you some blossoms you'd like to see scattered at points around the canvas. If your picture includes a branch, consider adorning it with leaves. Attach any accents with a reliable hot glue for crafting, like Gorilla Hot Glue.

Now your own custom home decor piece is ready to show off! If you're working with an inverted canvas, you'll need to attach some hanging hardware like a hammer-on sawtooth picture holder to the other side. For projects done on the finished side of the canvas, you can hang it simply by resting the frame over a nail or hook.