Friday, July 23, 2010

Nursery Art- Crafty on the Cheap

I decorated a canvas this week for the nursery door that has a more co-ed theme. The previous canvas had Mogi's name on it. Not sure how AJ would feel about that : )



I saw a similar canvas online and basically copied the idea. It took me four days to get it done with a very curious 13 month-old "underfoot", but it was worth it! I had thought of adding a Bible verse to it, but my handwriting isn't the steadiest and I would have been really bummed if that "messed" it up!

Did I mention it was cheap? (A recurring theme in our life!) The canvas was one that I've had for 10 years, literally, and repurposed multiple times. If you have to buy one they run $7-8 at the art store. I splurged and bought some new brushes that were $4, but I had a 40% off coupon, so $2.40. And then I had the green and brown paint from other projects. The green was good quality acrylic for painting (~$4) and the brown was craft paint. The price tag on it actually says $0.57! And the white paint was also craft acrylic and was $1.27.

Buying something like this in the store or online is likely $25 or upward. And I'm no artist, so if I can do it, anyone can. I painted on the green on Day One. Day Two I drew the cross outline in pencil, erasable, and then painted the white keeping an edge within the cross where the brown outline would be. Day Three I did the brown stripes, the hardest part for me. I'd never attempted zebra before, but I happen to be an animal print fan, as you can see from the picture, and had a few samples to draw inspiration from. One Day Four I added the brown dot edge and touched up the stripes with a super small brush.

Oh, and may I recommend 3M's picture hangers? They're sold almost everywhere, and while pricey, well worth it. This will hang on a solid wood door that I don't want to mark, and I've also used them on the plaster we have on our walls. Basically its a tab with sticky on one side and velcro on the other. With two of them back to back, you peal the adhesive, stick it on your artwork and then press it against the wall. It bonds in 30 seconds and after it sets for an hour you can peel the two halves if its crooked and needs leveled. I'm probably no explaining it well, but if you don't want a hole in your wall or any damage, check it out!

And I've been feeling the need for some projects of the creative nature, so they'll probably be some posts about those later, if I get around to starting them!

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