DIY Nursery Artwork – Baby Boy Painting Tutorial

I am really excited about this little painting project tutorial because it is my first one to post to my new blog! Yeah me!! LOL  It makes the cutest nursery artwork or it would look great in a kitchen too.     I hope you love it just as much as me

Old MacDonald Nursery Artwork DIY tutorial

This adorable piece of art cost me under $5!

I will first give you the instructions but to make it easier I will also include a printout for you to trace.

If you can trace and paint like you were in kindergarten then you can do this!

You will need:

• computer to print out the image
• pencil to trace with (or a red ink pen works best)
• ruler to trace straight edges
• 11×14 canvas
• carbon transfer paper
• paint
• paintbrush
• sandpaper block
• a papertowel
• bowl
• water

To create this little gem I first went into Microsoft Publisher and created a new “poster” document with a page size the same size as my canvas.  In my case the size was 11×14.  Then I laid out the lettering on the page (using the Wordart tool) and used the oval drawing tool to create the blue oval in the center of the page.  Next you need to go to your internet search engine and type in “free vector clip art cow” (vector means – only lines, like a coloring book).  When you find the one you like just copy/paste it into your project.

Your finished layout should look something like this when you print it.

DIY tutorial for Nursery Artwork

  Notice how I cut the picture on some of the pages?  The poster setting allows for a certain amount of overlap of the image so you can line it up easier when you go to put it together.   You have to cut the white edge off but only on some of the sides, the other sides will not show because they will be under the one you cut.

Here is a close up that shows the “orientation guides” that will print on the page to show you where to line them up.

Shows the orientation guides

Now tape it all together to make a “poster” of your image.  Trim off any excess paper but pay attention to those orientation guides!

Shows the "poster" once you place it all together

Now it’s time to paint! I used one of the flat board canvases that come in packs.  The brown paint that I used is JoAnn Craft Essentials Acrylic Paint #7980683. Just pour the paint directly onto the canvas and smear it all over.

Smear the paint on the canvas going from side to side

Wait for that to dry for about 15-30 minutes and then paint the whole canvas with the blue.  I used a drop of  regular blue and mixed it with white because I didn’t have light blue.  Don’t try to be perfect when painting with either color.  Notice how you still see some of the board peeking out from behind the brown and now some of the brown showing through the blue.  Also use a side to side pattern with the paint.

Allow some of the brown to show through

 Ok, lets trace!  Lay your poster on top of the carbon paper and both of those on top of the canvas.  Notice how in this image I have bent/creased the paper around the edge of the canvas?  I did this to make sure I knew where the edges of the canvas were, this way I could line it up easier.  Make sure you are centered and tape everything down.  I taped mine to the table on 2 sides and to the carbon paper on the other sides.  Start tracing!

Crease your paper along the edges

Use a ruler to make all of the straight edges of the letters.   It makes it look much better.  You could use a stencil for the lettering but I would go ahead and trace the letters because it would give you and idea of how to space the letters for a uniform layout.  Using a stencil is HARD because you have to line everything up and this method solves that problem and allows you to still use the stencil but know exactly where to place each letter.

Use a ruler to get straight edges

Now you should have this

Now you can just fill it in just like when you were in kindergarten!

I used  JoAnn Craft Essentials Crafters Edition Acrylic Paint in white to fill in the letters and black for the cow and the green is #798-2424.  After you finish filling in everything let it dry.

Now that everything is dry, take a sand block in a medium grit and rough it all up.  You can make it as rough as you like.  If you are using a canvas and not a canvas board, you will want to place a book under the canvas so you don’t stretch it out when you push.

Use a medium grit sanding block

Now take the same brown that you painted the whole canvas with the first time and drop about 3-5 drops of it into about 2 tablespoons of  water to make a brown glaze.   Dip your papertowel into the glaze and squeeze it just so it doesn’t drip.  Rub the whole painting with the glaze to give it as much of an antique feel as you would like.

Rub the whole thing with the brown glaze

Wa-laa! You have created your own nursery artwork!

I used a plain black frame that I antiqued with white paint and then scuffed it up. I just left out the glass.

Plain black square edge frame

There you have it!  A perfect Nursery Idea or Nursery Theme!

Old MacDonald Nursery Theme

Check back or subscribe to get all my juicy tutorials and watch for the upcoming posts that are an addition to the Old MacDonald DIY Tutorial where I show you how to make a gender friendly Old MacDonald nursery theme artwork series and one just for little girls!

To print out the “poster” that you can just trace, Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4.

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