2 Types of Artwork {For FREE!}

 

Welcome to the latest post in the seemingly never ending project that has become my master bedroom! (Some of the other projects including The Patchwork Headboard are here, here and here). It's almost finished. I can't wait! 

I am trying to spend as little as possible to finish the room, and what's better than FREE? Nothing, right? 

Let's start with the watercolor paintings.

Oh, isn't that kid cute?!? I may be a little biased....

I'm sure you've seen these watercolor portraits from Grow Creative floating around. They're so cute, and as it turns out, super easy to do. Be sure to listen to her tip about picking the right picture, though. I started out with 4 different pictures of my little guy, but the others turned out looking a little too much like kids from another planet for my liking. No problem! I just did the same picture in four different colors.

How to do it for free? 

• Recycle some old frames. You can leave them as is or paint them like I did. Mine were originally black.
• You don't need fancy watercolor paints. I used some that were from a kids' art set I got when I was in high school a few (ok, over ten-yikes!) years ago. 
• I used some drawing/sketch paper I've had forever too. 

And now for the second type of artwork which involves one of my favorite things...paper! I have a slight paper obsession, so gathering supplies for this project was no problem for me. I was first inspired by this project from Creative Passage, and then this one from Simply Living inspired me to make it into a smaller version.

To make this project: 

• Cut square pieces of plywood and paint them white (or whatever color you'd like). I happen to have a few 8x8 inch squares leftover from the Patchwork Headboard, so I used those and some white paint I had sitting around.
• Cut out lots and lots of petals/leaves to create your art. I tried to use the same shape as the version from Simply Living.
• Create your pattern and use Mod Podge to fasten the pieces onto the wood. Seal them all with a coat of Mod Podge.
• Oh, but how will we hang them? This is the BEST part of the whole thing. Pop can tabs! Check out the post from Practically Functional to see how to do this. It's genius!

And there you have it! Two simple and FREE artwork projects.

Questions? Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I love hearing from you!

I'm linking at these great parties:
Mondays: Sweet Sharing Monday *  The Girl Creative * Destination: Cutesy Monday * What's In The Gunny Sack *  Made by you Monday*Make It Yourself Monday*Mop It Up Mondays*Make The Scene Monday*Make It Pretty Monday*
Tuesdays: Riverton Housewives Roundup *  Show Me What You Got * Tuesday Time Out  * Tasteful Tuesdays * Too Cute Tuesday*Tuesday's Treasures*Crafty Tuesday* Trendy Tuesday
Wednesdays: Super Link Party * Show & Share * {Wow Me} Wednesday *From Dream To Reality*Create & Share*What I Whipped Up Wednesday*What We Wore & Made Wednesday*The Creative Spark Wednesdays* Milk & Cuddles*Made By Me Wednesdays*Adorned From Above*
Thursday: Pin'Inspirational Thursday * Recipe Roundup *A Crafty Soiriee * Creative Thursday *Taylor House Thursday*Transformation Thursday*Hookin Up With HoH*Creative Juice Thursday*Live Laugh Linky Thursday* Link Party Thursday*Taking A Time Out Thursday*Eat Make Grow*
Fridays: Delicately Constructed Fridays * Flaunt It Friday * Financial Friday Link Up  *Friday Fun Party* Friday Flair*Pity Party*Frugal Friday*Friday Favorites*Weekend Craft Soiree*Weekend Warmth*One Creative Weekend
Saturdays: Strut Your Stuff Saturday * Once Upon A Weekend * Sharing Saturday * Dare To Share Saturday * Craft, Create and Inspire * A Pinteresting Party*Serenity Saturday
Sundays: Nifty Thrifty Sunday * It's Overflowing Sunday Party  * Cooking & Crafts Party

Related articles

• Patchwork Headboard {Tutorial}
• Braided Curtain Tie Backs
• Blended Ombre Walls

Blended Ombre Walls

 

I've been busy, busy these last few days! We've had the same color scheme in our room since we were married (a little over 6 years ago), so I'm ready for a change! Here's the color scheme now:

I've loved it, but change is good. It breathes fresh life into things. So, I'm going for something totally different. Colors more like this:

Source: target.com via Erin on Pinterest

The first step? Getting rid of those blue and teal(ish) walls! I can't just paint a room just one color though. Oh, no, that's just not fun! (My dad thinks I'm crazy with all my different colors in the house). So what would be fun to do? Ombre walls! I wanted them to be a little blended together, though, because I have ombre walls in another room of the house that have defined sections (you can see them a little here).

I thought I'd figure it out on my own and then post a tutorial, but I had a hard time getting it to work. I went searching, searching, searching for help, and finally, came across this technique from Lowes. It worked great! There was still a little trial and error getting my technique down, but it turned out fabulous!

There's still more work to be done before the room is finished, but we're off to a good start! 

I'm linking at these great parties:
Mondays: Sweet Sharing Monday *  The Girl Creative * Destination: Cutesy Monday * What's In The Gunny Sack * Etcetorize * Made by you Monday*Make It Yourself Monday*Mop It Up Mondays*Make The Scene Monday*
Tuesdays: Riverton Housewives Roundup *  Show Me What You Got * Tuesday Time Out  * Tasteful Tuesdays * 
Wednesdays: Super Link Party * Show & Share * {Wow Me} Wednesday *From Dream To Reality*Create & Share*What I Whipped Up Wednesday*What We Wore & Made Wednesday*The Creative Spark Wednesdays* Milk & Cuddles*Made By Me Wednesdays*
Thursday: Pin'Inspirational Thursday * Recipe Roundup *A Crafty Soiriee * Creative Thursday *Taylor House Thursday*Transformation Thursday*Hookin Up With HoH*Creative Juice Thursday*Live Laugh Linky Thursday* Link Party Thursday*
Fridays: Delicately Constructed Fridays * Flaunt It Friday * Financial Friday Link Up  *Friday Fun Party* Friday Flair*Pity Party*Frugal Friday*Friday Favorites*Weekend Craft Soiree*
Saturdays: Strut Your Stuff Saturday * Once Upon A Weekend * Sharing Saturday * Dare To Share Saturday * Craft, Create and Inspire * 
Sundays: Nifty Thrifty Sunday * It's Overflowing Sunday Party  * Cooking & Crafts Party

Subway Art Mirror

I found this mirror at Ace Hardware back in their clearance section one day. 

It was a little banged up, but I saw some potential. Plus it was only a couple dollars. Who could resist that? I figured I could paint it at the very least. 

Ace also had their Paint Pods (samples of paint) on sale for 50 cents! They're usually $3-$4, so that was quite a savings! I removed the mirror from the frame and painted the frame a blueish color. I got too excited and didn't take a picture of the mirror just painted, but you can still see the paint color below. :-)

I've been wanting to try out Mod Podge (can't believe I've never used it before!), so this seemed like the perfect project to try it out.

I printed out the different words for the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in different fonts I found on dafont.com. 

I cut out the words and put them together on the mirror frame like a puzzle (once the paint was dry of course). Some of the words had to be cut into several pieces which added to the look of the mirror. I used the Mod Podge to adhere the words to the frame and then did a layer of it over the words to seal them to the frame.

It was a great first time experience with Mod Podge, and I'm sure I'll be using it again!

I'm having a blast at these lovely linking parties. 

Chalkboard Birthday Plants

You've probably seen similar plant pots around, but I thought I'd create some for my sister's birthday. I picked up a few pots and started a little herb garden for her. I wanted to have a way to show her what the plants were, and since I used chalkboard paint, she'll be able to use them for other plants in the future.

 Since my pots were already painted different colors, I just taped the off and then painted the chalkboard paint. Super simple.

 And to add a little color, I made a few pinwheels for the pots. Cute!

I'm having a blast at these lovely linking parties.