I’ve blogged about my mother the artist many times. Unfortunately, her artistic gene did not get passed on to me. Give me a blank canvas, paint brush and free reign – and I will cry. Give me an idea, structure and lines to “color” between and I generally do okay. That is basically how I did my own art for Kenton’s nursery.
A couple months ago, I pinned this fantastic piece from Etsy on my Pinterest account:
At the time, I said it “might be a MUST for the nursery.” Well, after that, I could not get it out of my head. After all, I’d decided on yellow as an accent color in the nursery – and who couldn’t envision singing “You are my SUNNNNNSHINNNE! My only SUNNNNNSHINNNE! You make me HAAAAAAPPPYYYY!!!” over and over to a newborn?! When I went to order it on Etsy – not only was it no longer available (looks like it is now though – if you’re interested!), it came with a pretty hefty pricetag – $125 plus shipping. So, that’s when my creative wheels started spinning. I knew I could create something similar – and I knew I could do it for less than $125. Also, while the weathered look was cool, it didn’t exactly fit in with my modern nursery aesthetic… so I was anxious to amend it a bit to fit our space. What I managed to create isn’t perfect… but ain’t bad either (if-I-do-say-so-myself):
And here’s how it looks in the nursery…
And here’s how I managed to pull it off…
I started with an 18″x18″ wood canvas that I scored on sale at an art supply store for $12. My cute hubby got the ball rolling for me and primed it before I had a chance to take a naked canvas picture, so here’s the label:
After one coat of primer, I painted the front side white – using the same paint we used for the dresser/changing table:
Then… the letters. Oh, the letters. Aren’t they fun? Yeah, I couldn’t figure out (for the LIFE of me) what font they were – so I just printed the original image and kept blowing it up until the letters were the size I wanted for my creation. They were a little fuzzy – but clear enough that I would be able to trace them – which I did, on sticker paper:
After making sure the letters fit into the space, I peeled the back off the sticker paper – and tried to get the letters to stick to the surface. As you can see, I was only somewhat successful:
Not to be dismayed, I pressed on. I knew if I totally screwed this up – I wasn’t going to be in the hole as much as I was for those DARN curtains! So, up next, some high-quality spay paint and latex gloves (also a mask because I was still pregnant when I did this). I went crazy with the spray paint and made sure the entire thing – front & sides – were an even coat of my chosen shade of yellow:
Once it was dry, I peeled off the sticker paper…
Overall, not bad. However, that cheap sticker paper did cause some issues…
I just used a small paintbrush to touch up those spots. From a distance, you can’t tell – but don’t get too close!
Here, again, is the completed project:
Wood canvas – $12
Artist’s spray paint – $7 (you could probably use the cheap/regular stuff too – but I needed a very specific color)
Sticker paper – $3
White paint and primer – already had
TOTAL = $22
Not bad for $103 less than the original!
In other news, this email just came in:
Which means the nursery is almost OFFICIALLY done! Once that canvas arrives and we swap out the lamb painting – I will do a full “post” nursery post. Can’t wait!
8 Responses to DIY (Dream it Yourself) Nursery Art