DIY Graphic Wall Art

I have been having a little too much fun searching for and creating new wall art to add to our nursery lately. When I started looking for ideas, I was overwhelmed by the variety of things out there. I tried to stick to a simple style and theme, and just couldn't do it! There were too many things I loved! After finding a few different inspiration pieces on Etsy and various online stores, and seeing their price tag, I decided I was just going to set out to make my own instead! That way, I could infuse as many styles and ideas as I like without breaking the bank.

After I decided which direction to head, I hit a major road block: I am NOT a graphic designer. I wanted my art to look somewhat professional, but without photoshop or some other software, how was I to do it? My husband looked at what I wanted and prompted me to just use Microsoft word. Really? It could be that simple?

Well, he was right! A few fun fonts, custom colors, word art and character spacing alterations later and I had almost exactly what I was looking for.

(* I came across this quote idea on either a blog or etsy sight a while back, and cannot get back to find it, if you know where, let me know! I love it and definitely want to give credit where it is due! Thanks!)

It's difficult to explain exactly what I did, but I promise if you are even a tiny bit proficient at Word, you can figure it out in no time at all!

The last touch was to print off the fun designs in colored ink on just the right scrapbook paper. After printing and framing, you will be astonished at what you can produce on your own computer, practically for free, right from your own home!!

I combined my new designs with the vintage flashcards I shared last week, and am very pleased with the eclectic result. The cards were too small on their own, and didn't bring the pop of color I discovered I was really looking for.  Adding the new designs was just what I was looking for in this nursery space!

I'll be linking to these parties this week. Hope you'll stop by and check them out too!

Happy Wednesday!

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Doormat Wall Art

I made these awesome wall hangings last year and they are one of the few decorations in my house that I have never gotten sick of or moved around. I saw the idea in Lowes Creative Solutions and obsessed over it until I could make them for myself. I shared them on my family blog at the time, but I've received so many compliments on them recently that I thought I'd share them here as well.

I started off with a few pieces of poplar board, 1 inch x 12 inches x 6 feet. I had them sawed in half, which left me with two 3 feet x 12 inch boards.

I sanded and stained the boards a dark walnut color,

lined the edges with painters tape, and covered the boards with this doormat that I picked up from Lowes. There were some places on the doormat where there was a little extra rubber attached to the design, so I cut this off first with an exact o knife so that the lines would all be crisp and clean.

I then spray painted 4 light coats of Valspar's Ivory through the doormat - 2 straight down on the mat and 2 from different angles to try to fill in all of the gaps.

I allowed the paint to dry for about 30 minutes after the last coat,

and when I pulled the mat off I literally squealed with delight.

I sealed the wood with a spray polyurethane and hung those babies up as fast as I could.

I used heavy duty sawtooth hangers on the back of the boards, and hung them on wall anchors spaced about 13 inches apart.

The wood shows through beautifully and the design looks so elegant on the wall. The only real problem is that I wanted to put them in every single room of the house-the neutral wood and ivory go with absolutely everything! It took a lot of deliberation before they finally landed in the living room, but I was glad to finally have something to fill the space above the TV, and luckily my mom was willing to hold to hold them up against different walls while I debated.

I'll be linking to these parties this week, so stop by to say hi!!

Have a great week!!

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Damask Stenciled Nursery Walls

You already know how I'm a huge fan of Cutting Edge Stencils and their incredible product, and I have a major love for damask print. So upon discovering that we would be converting my office into a nursery for a little lady, I immediately hopped on over to Cutting Edge's site to finalize my choice for a damask print for her walls.

(Here's a peek - the view from the crib! :)

I was surprised (and thrilled) to discover that several more damask options had just been added in the past few months!! Now I had even more choices in my quest for beautiful walls, and it didn't take me long to settle on this LOVELY Damask Kerry stencil. (I also found out that the new stencils are named after each of the girls who work at Cutting Edge, isn't that sweet? :)

I have lots of pretty and bright colored fabric that I want to use in the nursery, so I decided to go with a cool soothing gray as a more neutral background. I chose Gray Clouds from Sherwin Williams, and enlisted my lovely mother to help transform the room from Office Orange to Nursery Neutral.

Before, with paint samples.

After. Ahhhhhh.

Then came the fun paint. I used this line of Designer Series All-Purpose Home Decor Acrylic Paint from DecoArt, in White, Daffodil Yellow, and Spa Blue, along with their acrylic paint in Desert Turquoise. I just LOVED them!! Let me tell you, these went on perfectly!! The paint was thick enough that it only took 2 coats to get the coverage that I wanted - even when going to a lighter color!! It had practically no fumes so was perfect for an indoor painting project, particularly by a pregnant lady. It also dried really quickly, so I was able to work my way around the room pretty fast. What more could you want in a paint? Particularly when it comes in such beautiful colors as these!

I also got to use this fabulous clip on stencil level, which you can also purchase through Cutting Edge Stencil's site. You just clip it to the top of your stencil and it ensures that the pattern is level. This was such a huge time and headache saver!! I would constantly have been stepping back from the wall, arms crossed, trying to figure out if any of the damasks were crooked. I am too much of a perfectionist to not be driven crazy by an uneven design and I'm glad this kept me from having to endure that!! :)

Since the damask design has so many tiny and intricate details, I decided to use a tacky stencil adhesive to ensure that it laid flat on the wall and stayed in the exact same spot as I painted.

(A note about stencil adhesive: The fumes are kind of strong, so spray your stencil outside or in another room before sticking it to the wall. If you spray it indoors you'll want to do so over some sort of drop cloth, because if it gets on your carpet it feels so nasty!!)

I poured my paint into a "paint tray," had an extra paint tray with paper towels on it to roll of the excess paint, and got to work.

Then I did it again...

and again...

You get the idea.

I loved this project because I could do it a little at a time over a course of a few days. The damask pattern is relatively small, so I would paint one or two when I had the chance, and then store the stencil until the next time that an opportunity arose.

I didn't want a full pattern on the wall, just little pops of color and a pretty design here and there.

I tried to make it completely random, but in the end I could not fight my need for symmetry. I might have been able to pull it off if there wasn't a window in the center of the wall, but all that I could think was that I needed the sides to be mirror images of one another. I did mix up the colors a little bit though, which I thought was something.

I just love it!! Every time that I go upstairs for any reason, I stop in the room, glance around and smile. I'm sure that is partially to do with it being a nursery, but still, it is pretty sweet looking isn't it?!

I kept my stenciling on the feature wall until I get the rest of the decorations settled and put up. But it was so easy with such a sweet impact that I wouldn't be surprised if I sprinkled a few more around the room before it's finished. I can't wait to show you the rest of the details!

Would you like to try out one of Cutting Edge Stencil's new designs? Stop back by on Wednesday because we'll be giving one away for free!! Yay!!

Happy Monday!!

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Empty Frame Gallery

Last week I shared my 10 Tips to a Perfect Empty Frame Gallery, and this week I want to show you mine. Are you ready?! I hope so, I love this!! Hope you like it too!

Almost a year ago I started collecting lots and lots of frames. I got some big and some small, some ornate and some basic, some wood and some metal. You get it, I wanted a variety. It took me over a year to get together a little collection from various thrift stores and garage sales and I just kept setting them all aside. (Which is also why I often start off a post saying, "I've had this frame for a while now, but I just finally...")

We got all of the frames together in the basement, and I started grabbing my favorites and laying them out to get a general idea of which frames would look good together and what groupings would work best.

We then primed and painted them. I was insistent on priming because I had several metal and plastic frames, and I wanted to be sure that the paint would stick. However, I was painting them a dark color, so the white peeking through ensured that the frames each needed 2 coats of color. Ugh. So many steps when I was just so anxious to get them on the wall!!

We took the painted frames upstairs and laid them out on the floor again. There were 2 gorgeous golden frames that I chose to leave as they were and went with a monochromatic color scheme for the rest.

When it came time to make the templates for each frame, I decided to use something that I had plenty of laying around - Christmas wrapping paper. It was so thin that it kept tearing as I cut it, so I switched to a thicker roll of brown shipping paper. Let me just say, DON'T DO THIS! Both types of paper immediately rolled up after they were cut, as pictured above. Trying to make paper lay flat on the walls that just wants to roll up is INCREDIBLY annoying, and it took several pieces of tape to secure down, which ruined the ease factor of being able to move the templates around on the wall. Save yourself the trouble and find some flat paper to use as a template (paper bags, newspaper, etc). You will be much happier.

My sister helped me take the paper to the wall and started taping it up until we found the layout that we liked best. We hammered nails into the templates, removed the templates and started hanging the frames one by one.

Now, a note on the layout that I chose for my walls.

I have always loved the look of framed photo galleries, but one of the major things that held me back from starting one in my home is my darling little 2 year old. I was nervous about him bounding down the stairs one afternoon, running his hand lightly along the wall, hitting a frame, and it (and possibly others) tumbling down on him. Sharp edged-picture frames, pictures matted behind glass, glass that could crack or shatter, the potential domino effect of knocking down one in a series of frames...you can see why I never moved forward with this. But an empty frame gallery, without the potential danger and weight that glass panes would add, that was much more up my alley.

That said, I still decided to hang my frame gallery entirely on the top half of the wall. This would remove the temptation for my little guy to touch the frames every time that he walked past. Out of sight out of mind, right?

Also, my home has an open floor plan, so as soon as you walk in, you see this.

I didn't want all of my beautiful frames and arranging efforts to be hidden behind a sea of white spokes. Hanging the frames above the line of the railing kept this from looking too busy and cluttered from the downstairs, and added some much needed color and interest.

I wanted to maximize the look of the frame wall up close in addition to the view from the rest of the room, so I focused on bringing out the great details in each of my frames.

The color of my frames is Green Bay by Sherwin Williams. I loved the fun turquoise color, but on the walls and amidst the color scheme of rest of the room, it was just a bit too bright. So I turned to one of my favorite things, Valspar's Antiquing Glaze.

I added a light layer to each of the frames and then wiped them off with a dry cloth. This darkened the color just a bit and added some depth. I used an old terry cloth rag which gave even my plastic frames the slight appearance of wood grain - just perfect!!

I also used it to draw out the details on some of my more ornate frames. I brushed it on heavily, let it settle into the recesses, and then very gently wiped it off.

For the more ornate frames where the details were fairly prominent, I highlighted them using this gorgeous DecoArt Metallic Glaze in Olde World Patina. I dipped the edge of my cloth into the glaze and lightly ran it over the details. The color is similar enough that it doesn't take away from the newly darkened color, but there is just enough shimmer that it catches the light perfectly and helps the details pop.

I used a similar technique on the gold frame with DecoArt's Metallic Glaze in Luminous Gold. See how the little details pop?

I was in love with the look of my frame wall, but decided to take an extra step for some additional security. I pulled out my 3M Command Strips and trimmed them into 1 inch strips. Starting from the bottom of the gallery, I applied my strips to the bottom 2 corners of each frame. I leveled each frame, and then pushed the bottom corners until they were secured to the wall. Then I let out a big happy sigh!! This satisfied my "Mom Paranoia" about the frames falling on my little guy, and my perfectionist side that I was sure would always be standing back looking at the frames, trying to determine which of them were crooked. Now I could be assured that they were all level, and wouldn't shift if a troop of 2 year olds came bounding down the stairs.

Sigh! I'm so happy with it! What do you think?

Have any of you braved hanging a similar gallery? We'd love to see it!! And if you put up one of these beauties in your home, be sure to add it to our Flickr page so everyone can enjoy photos of the fruits of your labor!!

I'll be linking this to these great parties. Swing by and say hi!

Have a great week!!

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