DIY Pinboard – A Disney Watercolor Pinboard made with paint and a canvas

I'm a pin collector and lately I've been snatching up a lot of Disney pins. I just need a cute DIY pinboard to display them! In fact, I just bought an entire box set from Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Walt Disney World. It's kinda of an obsession, but a really fun one! I have all these pins and no place to put them. I'm fairly new at the pin collecting world and have never even traded a pin – gasps! I've honestly never looked for a way to store pins because I'd rather come up with something myself – so I did. After many failed attempts at creating a pinboard, I finally came up with something that I love.

This hand painted Disney pinboard is easy for anyone to do. You can do this alone or with your kids. Trust me, I am not an artist but I do love a good Disney craft every once in awhile. You only need a few supplies and some creative juices flowing.

DIY pinboard tutorial

What You Need:

A blank canvas of any size. I used 9×12
A silhouette of your favorite Disney princess or castle (use Google search “Disney Silhouette”)
Scrapbook paper or cardstock (optional)
A printer or silhouette cameo cutting machine
Scissors
Acrylic paints – whatever colors you desire. It looks best with 3+ colors
1 black acrylic paint
2 paint brushes – one thin brush and one small brush
Black sharpie, pen, or pencil
Cup/jar of water

How to make your Disney Pinboard

First, you'll want to cut out the Disney silhouette. Be sure to cut it as perfectly as possible. I used my Silhouette Cameo Cutting Machine to get clean, straight lines. If you'll be hand cutting, I highly recommend printing the Disney silhouette on a piece of cardstock or scrapbook paper. The thick paper makes it easier to trace.

Size the stencil based on the size of your canvas. If your canvas is 8×10 then x9 or even 6×8 is the best! You don't want your entire canvas to be black. You can size it using an editing program or simply adjust your print settings. Cut your silhouette and set it aside. You'll use it later.

Put your paint on a palette or get a piece of wax paper to squirt your paint onto. I use a small piece of cardboard with wax paper on top, so it doesn't bleed. Choose 3-5 colors that you love! I recommend brighter colors, but do whatever you want. It's your artwork. You can even choose colors based on the Disney character. For example, I used red, yellow, blue, and gold for my Beauty and The Beast pinboard.

Dip your larger brush into the water, then dip it into the paint. You want the paint to be very thin and watery, so don't tap the brush after dipping it into the water.

Begin painting! You can paint however you'd like. I dabbed my brush, but you can swirl it or brush it. Do whatever you'd like – whatever you think looks good. I used a lot of yellow in my Beauty and The Beast watercolor painting because yellow is the main color for that princess. If I were creating a Cinderella painting, I'd use a lot of light blue.

You can paint weird shapes, small circles, large ones – anything you'd like. Get creative with it. Splatter bright colors onto bold ones. Try different shapes and sizes. It will look good in the end. Be sure to dip your brush into the water between colors because you don't want your paint colors to mix.

After you've colored your entire canvas (edges are optional) let it dry completely. After it's fully dry, you'll begin painting the silhouette on! Woohoo!

Place your stencil onto the dry watercolor painting. Be sure to center it. Hold the silhouette in place and trace it with a black sharpie (a pencil or pen should work, too. A sharpie is the most effective).

After you've traced your full stencil, remove it and grab your small paint brush. Dip it into the black paint and paint over your entire outline before coloring it in.

After the entire outline is painted, color it in with the larger paint brush. You will most likely need 2-3 coats of black. You don't want to see any streaks. Just make sure you do one coat at a time and don't overdo it!

Once your DIY Disney pinboard is completely dry – you can add your pins to it. You want to keep the pins inside the silhouette, just make sure you don't push your pin into the wood part of the canvas because it could break your pin.

Apply your pins one at a time. Press them into the canvas, push the back on, and repeat. If you do multiple pins at once you'll notice how difficult it is to keep them from falling out when flipping the canvas to add the backs.

Now you can hang your pinboard up, so everyone can admire your artwork. If you're anything like me, you'll love it so much that you might not want to pin to it. I am keeping my gorgeous Belle pinboard as artwork. It's too pretty to touch.