DIY Hand-lettered Wooden Hearts or Wall Art

My two latest novels, Paper Hearts and Change of Heart were both largely inspired by the time we lived in Loveland, Colorado. 

This town is ridiculously adorable and it’s known as “The Sweetheart City.” I mean, what better place to set a whimsical, small-town contemporary romance?

In Paper Hearts, I sort of invented the idea of stringing up hearts as a way to profess one’s love, but in Change of Heart, there’s an important thread about these wooden hearts my two main characters, Trevor and Evelyn, are working together to create. The wooden hearts on the lamp posts is an actual thing in Loveland, so it was fun (and easy) to integrate them in to my story. Of course, in my story, Evelyn is an artist and Trevor is a woodworker, so their collective creativity leads to a different kind of heart than the ones you might see in real life.

I wanted to create a few of these of my own, closer to what I envisioned when I wrote the book.

It’s SO easy I thought I’d show you how to add hand-lettered words to wooden hearts (or, if you don’t have a woodworker for a father, then to any flat surface you can think of: canvases, wood panels, gessoed boards, paper.)

I mean, who wouldn’t love to create their own custom artwork using a favorite quote, Bible verse or, in this case, just one word that conveys something very important.

So, here we go.

Supplies:

• Your wooden heart/canvas/panel etc.
• A computer printer (and a way to print out whatever words you choose)
• Blue painter’s tape (or in a pinch, washi tape)
• 1-3 different paintbrushes
• Acrylic Paint (a thicker more opaque paint works best on the wood, but on canvas any craft paint should be fine
• Carbon Paper
• Scissors
• A pencil

Step One: Print out your word(s).

You don’t have to have a fancy program to do this, Microsoft Word will work fine. For this project, I wanted a large word, so I changed the orientation of my document to Landscape and messed with the size until it was right where I wanted it. If you do have a program like Photoshop, you can create the actual size of your canvas and add the text right to it, eliminating some of the guesswork, but honestly, I use Photoshop all the time and I still did this in Word.

PS. The font I used is called “faith” and I am 98% sure I bought it in a bundle at Creative Market.

Note: The size of my word was larger than one sheet of paper could handle, so I printed it out on two sheets. Notice I included the “V” on both. This is how I lined up the first half of the word with the second half. Always a good idea to avoid painting on an unintentional diagonal. {Not that I would know.}

Step Two: Tape Down Your Word

If I’d had blue painter’s tape, I would’ve used that, but washi tape works just as well. Notice I overlapped my “V’s” here and taped the two sheets together and then I only put the washi tape on the TOP of the word. Make sure the word is centered (or precisely where you want it).

Step Three: Position Carbon Paper

Carbon paper reminds me of the old tickets my my used to write up for my dad’s business when I was a kid and they didn’t use computers. It’s like this awesome tracing paper that lets you transfer hand-lettered fonts because no matter how hard you try you just can’t seem to master anything close with your own handwriting. {Nifty, right?}

You can find a package of carbon paper at Hobby Lobby or Michaels super cheap in the art section, and the best part is, it’s reusable. Don’t throw it away!

Slide a sheet of carbon paper underneath your word. In this case, I had to slide it under each letter, just make sure you get the darker side DOWN.

Step Four: Trace it up, baby!

In the photo, I’m using my all-time favorite pen in the history of forever.

I later found that a good old fashioned, non-fancy pencil worked better. NOT a mechanical pencil, that will break. You want to push down a little, and in this case, the wooden heart was a softer wood so when I used the pencil it created this fabulous little dip in the wood making painting SO easy!

Step Five: Check your lines

Guys. This is important. BEFORE you remove your tape and your template, check your lines. TRUST me. If you take it off, there is no “finding it” again. Make sure you can see the letters on your surface. All parts of your letters. Sometimes you’ll absent-mindedly trace certain parts of the letter more lightly, so this is your chance to go over those parts.

Step Six: Paint!

I used a couple different sizes of paintbrushes. You want a really small one for the smaller parts of the letter and a larger one for the fatter parts of the letter. Obviously, when painting that first coat, you’re going to think “Oh my heck, this looks awful.” Don’t worry. That’s what second (and third) coats are for.

I suppose you could use a paint pen if you don’t like brushes, but to be honest, they’ve never worked well for me. The paint just isn’t thick enough to cover. Also, that cheap craft acrylic paint is the bee’s knees, but NOT if you’re painting stained wood. I had to use a thicker, better quality white paint (and I still advise three coats!)

Other Tips: {From someone who makes lots of mistakes}

• Be sure to let each coat dry completely before moving on to the next coat.
• Be sure not to stick your hand on wet paint and then move on to the next letter, pressing the wet paint in a place it most definitely doesn’t belong.
• Go slowly, especially around the edges.
• Ask your husband {sweetly} to add wall hangers to the back if you’re using a wood panel or heart, like I did.
• Admire your awesomeness.

That’s it! You’re done! Super easy wall art, customized to say exactly what you want it to say!

So tell me, what quote are YOU going to paint first?