Family Cross

Instead of displaying a Family Crest in your home, why not display a Family Cross?

I painted this canvas with a cross that holds the family initials for my friend, Kelli.

Her last name starts with an "M" so I put an M at the top of the cross.

Her children's names both start with "M" and her husband's name starts with "R".

Here's how you can create your own Family Cross...

Supplies:

Canvas- I like the stretched canvas with no staples on the side so the painting doesn't have to be framed.

Pencil

Acrylic Paint

Paint Brushes

I started by sketching a whimsical shaped cross. You could sketch a cross with straight lines if you prefer.

I then started placing my letters.

I always put the letter for the last name at the top.

You have to play around with where the letters look best. In this case, both children's names started with an "M" so they looked better on the arms of the cross.

If there are more than 2 children, then you need to put the parents' names on the arms of the cross and the kids' initials going down the length of the cross. You'll see an example of this at the end of this post.

Once you have the letters how you like, start painting.

I used 3 different shades of turquoise for the letters and cross in this project.

I like to load my brush with more than one color at a time to get a blended effect.

I painted the letters with the lightest colors and added the darker turquoise for the background of the cross.

I added a dove to the center of the cross and then painted the background brown.

Once I had the background painted brown, I blended in a little of the turquoise.

Here's the finished product...

Here is a family cross I painted for another friend. I painted the cross smaller in the center of the canvas and added a line from a song to the canvas.

This family has 3 children so I put the parents' initials on the arms of the cross and added the children's initials down the length of the cross.

I would love to see if any of you try this!!! 

If you do, please post a picture on my Facebook Fan Page!