Wall Art

Lately I've felt the need to cover some of the empty spaces on the walls of our home, so I thought I'd share a couple of my latest projects with you. What's really neat about these projects is that you probably have everything you need to make them already!

First I wanted to show you what I ended up doing with the my kids' silhouettes. I'm not sure how much I like it, though. I think I want something that stands out a bit more. Maybe I'll try a dark paper on top next time.
This project is very simple. All you need is paper, an Xacto knife (or very sharp scissors) and a frame. You can find more detailed instructions in the post titled "Simple silhouettes".





Again, another super simple project using just paper, a photo and a frame. This time I wanted to display some 8"x10" photographs of our kids with their grandparents, but the frames I wanted to use were 16"x20". So rather than spend a bunch of money on mattes, I bought two rolls of clearance wrapping paper at World Market and cut them to fit the frame. Then I used some plain coordinating scrapbooking paper and cut it to 9"x11", making a perfect 1" border behind my photo. I then layered everything using double sided tape and now I've got some very pretty, very custom art in our guest room.



Yesterday I felt the need to go on a thrift store hunt, but with a specific goal in mind: find some sturdy, cheap wood frames and a bird book. I have a thing for birds lately, so my idea was to find some nice illustrations and frame them as art. I know, not very original, but it turned out quite nice, don't you think?

I actually came home with 4 books then went through them page by page and cut out each one that had a picture I liked. Now I've got a good stack that I can use how I want. This little guy is just so cute. I might end up painting the frames someday, but the wood matches the frame of my giant bulletin board, so I'll live with them as-is for a while.

And lastly, this project was also mentioned in my silhouettes post. I don't think mine turned out quite as cute as the original, but that's okay. I did it a little differently, though. Instead of painting paper then tracing and cutting out the animal shapes, I just printed them onto colored cardstock and then cut out the images. If you do it like this you need to remember that your animal will end up facing the opposite direction that you print it, because you'll need to flip it over when you're done so as not to see the printed ink. Keep this in mind especially if you're using one-sided paper like I did with the elephant. I accidentally printed onto the red side the first time, only to realize that the back was white.

Instead of printing the French text provided in the original instructions, I chose to write the lyrics to 3 lullabies that I sing to my babies. It makes this art project just a little more personal and special to me. Do you recognize the words behind the birdy? Not exactly a lullaby, but they don't mind. :) I've got a couple more ideas for some wall art that I'll be trying out soon, so I'll be sure to show you the results (if it works out!) right here. Hope you'll give some of these ideas a try!