Personal Family Squares

I made these a while ago and have gotten quite a few compliments on them so I thought I'd share it with all of you. I really love the way it came out and it was super easy -- I think I made all three of our squares in one evening. Granted, I stayed up til midnight, but still, it was one night.

All you need is:
Canvas (I used 8x8s)
Paint
Mod-podge
Cardstock
Cricut (or scissors and some patience)

First you've got to brainstorm! Think up some words for each member of your family -- adjectives, phrases, things they love, things the like to do, nicknames, etc. I had the hardest time thinking up words for myself so had to ask Mr. Cakes and other friends and family for ideas.

I really wanted the letters to pop so I painted the canvas black -- obviously you can use whatever colors you want to go with your decor. To figure out spacing and how big to make the letters, I cut out a piece of paper the same size as my canvas and just wrote the words out in pencil so I could erase and play around with it and see around how big I wanted which words. (PS, the big black paper at the top of the canvas is my "crafty" way of protecting my son's and husband's privacy. I couldn't figure out how to add a black bar to a photo.)

I then used my Cricut to cut out the different words. If you don't have a Cricut, then you need to go out and buy one. Just kidding (kind of) -- you'll have to use your computer to find fonts and print the words out, trace them onto cardstock and then cut them out. Or make friends with someone with a Cricut. Side note: I LOVE MY CRICUT. It was my push present/Christmas gift (our son was born in December) and it took me a while to start using it but now that I have, it's the most fabulous thing ever. It makes so many projects so much easier.

Once I had all my words cut out, I laid them out on the painted canvas to make sure that my spacing was right and that I liked the layout and that words didn't blend together or anything. I really tried to put different fonts next to each other so that there was a clear distinction between words and also tried to leave a pretty clear space between words for the same reason. When I had the words laid out just right I used my little paintbrush and Mod-Podge to glue the letters to the canvas and then gave the whole thing a couple good coats of Mod-Podge to seal it all in. Let it dry, hang it up, and you've got great, personal decor!