10.20.2011

Beautiful, My Darling

I've been working up the courage to DIY my own art for Princess's room.  Pinterest has lovely images and ideas, but I'm still new at this whole creating thing.  Plus, purchasing the supplies can be intimidating and pricey.  After spending a few hours at my local arts and crafts store rummaging through all the aisles, I finally had the items I needed.  Please don't laugh when you see the finished product.  I'm really only arty in the sense that my best friend got a degree in Art History.  Maybe some of it rubbed off on me.  Probably not.

So I began with a phrase I found on Pinterest.  Its actually a scripture, Song of Solomon 4:7 to be exact.  Yes, I found the inspiration from the internets instead of my own scripture reading time.  Please don't rub it in.  Then, I thought about how I could make it into a frame-able piece of art.  I thought about painting.  No experience there.  Stencils seem too easy and artificial.  Not that I really should be judging anything.  Then, I found scrapbook paper.  Some of them are beautiful works of art in and of themselves.  My goal was to find a pretty one in the right color that I could enhance.
Bingo.  A whole book of beautiful paper.
Next, I had to figure out how I was going to get the wording on there.  I tried acrylic painting.  Lets just say I wasn't able to produce the effect I wanted.  Enter in Sharpie Paint Markers.
I love Sharpie markers.  And the fact that is has paint in the name sounds a bit more artistic than a plain old marker.  Plus one for the advertising team.

Ok, here she is:
Ok, so I can't take a picture without also capturing my reflection.  Stupid reflective surface.  Anyone have tips for me?  However, this picture does capture the green color the best.
Less camera, more yellow.  I clearly still have more to learn about taking pictures.  But at least these are bright photos, with more light.  No more auto mode for me.
And here is a picture of it in here room.  I might hang it on the wall, but I haven't decided yet.  I love the idea of my daughter reading this everyday as she grows up.  Ok, so maybe she really won't be reading for two to three more years.  I am an over achiever, after all, and had to have it finished early.  Just in case she is brilliant or something.

Overall, I am happy with how it turned out.  It really wasn't that expensive.  Definitely less than paying someone to do it for me, or scrounging the internets for a suitable substitute.  And now I have lots of scrapbook paper to do something with.  Heaven knows I don't scrapbook.

What do you think?  Have you taken on any projects outside your comfort zone?  Anyone else still working up the courage to start a project?

5 comments:

tiffany said...

I like how that turned out. What a great verse. I too refuse to pay rediculous amounts of money for kiddo's room, so I'm in the process of painting less expensive copies of animal critters I found online. So far DIY fox and DIY owl have saved me about 80 bucks. :)

Unknown said...

Thanks, Tiffany! I love your idea of painting critters, but I have no idea where to start. I'd love to see how they turn out! I love the idea of something personal and handmade for my kiddo's room.

Carly said...

I love it! I'm thinking of doing Jubee and Sam's rooms both in a Narnia motif, lots of cute animals and castles and such. I really like this illustration, I could do it around this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/68382156/mr-mrs-beaver

Unknown said...

that print is darling! I'm sure you could make something just as lovely. Are they sharing a room?

Carly said...

They are right now, while Cam takes months to refinish Sam's floor. They actually like sharing a room, too, so we might keep it this way for a while.