I Love You Because....Burlap Panel Tutorial

Have you seen these fun new Burlap Panels from Michaels? As soon as I walked past them I was in love and wanted to try them out right away. This package had three 8" x 10" flat panels and with a 40% off coupon, super reasonable in price.

This is the year of starting new traditions and this panel will go along perfectly with a new tradition I want to start. More on that later.....first lets talk about how I created this project.

Design your sign in Silhouette Studio {unfortunately I do not have the designer edition so I can not create a .SVG file to share with you all. Instead I have a .Studio file you can download from here. If you use my file on another project I would love to see it so be sure to link back and give me credit for my design. This is the first time I am trying to share a file so PLEASE let me know if it does not work.}

As you can see I did not center mine very well but this was a first time cutting on vinyl too! A lot of firsts in this post...YEA! Get you vinyl cut and gather you other items for your project.

I used:

Black and Red Liquitex Acrylic Color

Sponge Brushes

Burlap Panel

Silhouette Portrait

Cutting File

Weed out the vinyl sign after cutting it and place it on the burlap panel. As with a lot of firsts there is some trial and error. I was able to line the sides up but then used a clear ruler to help me center my saying from top to bottom.

Note: When lifting off the transfer paper from the vinyl take your time. The little pieces for the letter will lift with the transfer paper. Also be sure to take your finger or something else and trace all the edges of your cutout.

Put a bit of paint on the sponge brush and dab onto the burlap.

Note: The burlap has loose fibers so the vinyl won't always create a perfect 'seal' this is why dabbing instead of brushing is the way to go. If you brush the paint will push under the vinyl a bit and will not give you such a crisp line, but that might be what you are going for. Dabbing will also allow more paint to sink into the burlap so that your image will be more saturated.

If you find yourself in the same situation as me {the cutout is super close to one edge} you can use masking tape to extend the edge then you will not have to worry so much about your paint going over.

Pill the vinyl off once the paint is mostly dry. The reason to pull it up while it is still a bit tacky is so that when the vinyl is lifted the paint will separate easier and not come up with vinyl, making you design look choppy.

See how I used my burlap panel for our new Valentine tradition here.