It’s coming to the end of January, so it’s time to post my first craft for 2012! Below you will see the full tutorial of how-to create this canvas yourself. As well as my own input. 
Inspiration:
“Light Bright” Christmas Light Canvas – found here. (Whaddup, Martha Stewart? Thanks for the idea!)
I loved this the second I saw it. I knew exactly where I wanted to put it in my room, and I was really excited to get started.
What you’ll need:
One stretched canvas – I used a 22×28 and found it at Michael’s for $14 (on sale)
Acrylic paint (Your choice of color) – I fell in love with Martha Stewart’s “Poodle Skirt Pink” at Michael’s for $2 each. I bought two and used a bottle and a half. I was very excited when I had some left over to use for a future project.
Paint roller – to apply paint on the canvas. I didn’t have one handy so I bought a small one that came with a plastic, reusable, paint tray at Home Depot for $2.
One 100-bulb Christmas light strand – I went to get mine at Michael’s a few days after Christmas for $2.70.
An awl – to poke holes in the canvas for the lights to go through. I didn’t have one nor wanted to pay the money, so I used a small, very sharp knife. It worked just as well.
Super glue – this holds the light bulbs in place. (Otherwise, they poke in different directions and fall out very easily.) I used some that I already had.
My total cost of this project = $22.70
Step One:
Using a pencil, sketch out the design you want on the back of your canvas. The original design asks for each dot to be a half an inch apart – but it’s fine to do a full inch.
I wasn’t super happy with any of my sketches – I redid this about 7 times before I decided to leave it and see what happens. I also drew a line between each dot to connect them. That way, when I went back through with the lights, I could remember where to go next. After a bundle of dots I also wrote the number of how many I used – this helped me keep track of how many I had left.
Step Two:
Paint the front of your canvas. And don’t forget to paint the sides of it, as well. I did two full coats of paint with a thin layer on top to smooth things out. (And to use the remaining paint I had poured into the tray.)
Step Three:
Start making the holes for the Christmas lights. (Glue them along the way so you don’t have to go back and redo the whole process)
Step Four:
Repeat the hole – glue – poke process of each light until you’re finished! Then, you can plug it in and hang it up!
The Finished Product:
It didn’t turn out how I wanted it. It’s surprising how different it looks from the sketch to when the lights are in it and turned on. I wished I went back to re-sketch my design for the 8th time, but it’s okay. Once I put it up and placed my previously owned butterfly lights around it, I love it. I put it on the top of my bookshelf and I love the glow it creates in my room.
If I were to make this again, I would buy three small square canvases and use 50-bulb lights (maybe battery powered?) and hang them in a row. Three clusters of lights!
Have you tried this craft? Share your experience/photos below in the comments!
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I tried this craft last year and hated the results! Martha’s looks SO nice and I was terribly disappointed mine did not turn out! It makes me feel a little better to know you had to make a ton of rough sketches as well!
I think if I try again, I will put a thin piece of hardboard over a wood frame instead of using canvas. Also, I might try some of those smaller LED lights. Good idea to glue them in place. I did not, and the weight of the string kept popping lights out! Martha’s original is gone, but I don’t recall that she glued the lights in place. Thanks for posting!
That makes me feel a lot better, too! I’m debating on trying mine again. Great idea about using smaller LED lights!
It looks SO different once the lights are actually in and on compared to the sketching.
Good luck! Would love to see your next final project.
Hi, I’m actually thinking of using battery powered lights too. They’re pretty small and they may work just as well.
Would love to see the ending result!
Well I did make one on my own, based on a light collage I had seen and cut out of a magazine long before I even read Martha Stewart, then I just searched online today to see if I could locate some pointers or find pics of similar art to model. The trouble I am having is the green backings of the wire on the lights keeps poking through. I think we need more instruction from steps 3-4 above. There has to be a way to get the light to poke through and shine without having the green holder of the light string stick out. Or maybe i need a white light cord. I have not tried glue yet, and perhaps the holes I punched were too big. I just poked the light through after making a scissor hole poke.
I would suggest to make smaller holes. I believe this is why they ask for an awl, because it’s small and round. The knife I used caused some problems with the green showing as well, but the glue helped the canvas stay in place. It definitely requires more patience when you don’t have the right tools! If you can’t get an awl or don’t see the point in buying one (like me, haha) try to make smaller holes with the scissors. Let me know if that helps.
Okay cool. In the meantime i went to Joann’s yesterday and got some “Moon Lights” $5.99 little battery operated LED lights, with a tiny copper wire and I think these will work really nice. I also got “Deco Lights teeny bulbs” $3.99 also battery operated accent decor lights. I think these will work better. How to upload a pic and I will post them and the results :> hopefully look nice.
The Deco Lights are tiny and have a thin white wire…
I got the Martha Stewart paints too. The colors are the nicest and I love the metallic and the glitter colors… I’m excited to put this all together. Like I said, I will post the results. Not sure how to upload a pic here on the comments though?
So excited to see it! Feel free to post a link to your blog post about it, if you do post one.