wall art tutorial

in our last episode our heroine, Super Googiemomma, had joined forces with Madam Plexiglas to defeat the nefarious ways of the evil Dr. Brokenglas.

they were triumphant…but there was still work to be done. so SG retired to her Bedroom of Solitude to ponder her next steps, which she now brings to you in tutorial form.

so, here’s where we started:

 

after taking it all apart, i started with the frame. it got a few coats of white primer and then white semi gloss spray paint to cover the wood grain.

then i took my silver spray paint and just randomly sprayed all over—leaving it quite blotchy. finally i watered down some basic brown acrylic paint and wiped it over the whole thing.

(you’re going to notice a distinct lack of photos in this so-called “tutorial”. i tend to get wrapped up in the artistic process…and thusly, forget picture taking. sorry. deal.)

it has a really pretty almost silver-leaf look—that’s unfortunately very hard to capture in pictures. just take my word for it.

next up, the picture:

i had collected some different scrapbook papers when they were on sale (usually 5 for $1 at Joanne’s or Michaels). i went through them and picked out 5 different ones that i thought worked well together—patterns to make it interesting, but neutral enough to stay in the background (which is why i didn’t end up using the houndstooth paper pictured above—even though i LOVE it, it just didn’t work)

i piled them up and cut them in fourths. (remember people—as we all know, measuring is for SISSIES)

then just played around until i got a layout i liked…

and attached them directly onto the existing picture with spray glue.

the mat i simply painted with 4 light coats of burnt umber acrylic craft paint.

now the letters…

my initial plan was to put clear contact paper on the glass to cut the letters out of. but because i ended up buying new plexiglass it already had a contact-paper-like film on it, which worked just as well. i think it’s safe to say this would work with the contact paper too.

i worked out the spacing and layout in photoshop elements—it’s easy to change the page size to match the overall size of the area i wanted to cover with my wording.

it’s not so easy to print out that way from elements though. so i imported it to good old “paint”, reversed it so the letters were backwards and printed it out.

i then taped all my pages together into one big sheet and taped it to the FRONT of the glass.

 

(if you’re font-curious, the bulk of the quote is in “euphorigenic”, and the words ‘admire’ and ‘love’ are  “blackadder”. both can be found at dafont)

then came the cutting. i’m not gonna lie—it was quite tedious. it took me a good solid 3 hours to cut out all the letters. i found myself wishing i had chosen a shorter quote.

but i got some good bonding time with my x-acto knife. plus, what else am i gonna do with my big non-moving 8 month pregnant self?

after all my letters were cut, i sprayed a light coat of silver spray paint on the back. let that dry, and do one more light coat…

and the big reveal…

yay! it worked!

except…wait a minute…

shoot.

yup. missed a letter. ONE STINKIN’ LETTER.

so i laid the glass back down on my paper pattern and freehanded the ‘a’ in with some silver acrylic craft paint. it’s not exactly the same, but it’s indistinguishable enough. and now you know how to correct errors. (yup, i did it for you)

also, i took my x-acto knife and cleaned up all those little spaces that shouldn’t have been painted (like the top loop of the ‘s’ in ‘must’). just scraped the paint off gently.

once it was completely dry it was reassembly time--

new plexiglass in the frame, then the painted mat board, then my new scrapbook “picture”, the cardboard backing, restapled (carefully) into the frame to keep it all together, and hung it up in my living room…

 

i am IN LOVE with it. seriously, i spent about 2 days just sitting on the couch staring at it like it was my new baby or something.

and while it was a little tedious (particularly the cutting part…but we just won’t get into how much easier it may have been with one of those electric personal cutter thingys. ptooey.) it wasn’t difficult by any stretch.

supply wise—i used some white spray paint (which I had), mirror spray paint ($3.50), brown craft paint (had), and 5 sheets of scrapbook paper ($1). if i didn’t break the original glass…and the replacement glass…i could have done this entire project for about $13.

an epic 6 night 7 day GUILT trip on the s.s. finedon’tvoteformethen

i thought we discussed this.

i thought we reached an agreement.

i make projects, you head over to SYTYC and vote for me.
oh, you did, did you?

really?
REALLY?

well then how do you explain this?



THAT, my (so-called) friends, is girlfriend girl in her oscar knock-off dress.

a dress which, may i remind you, BARELY made it through last week’s round.

well, let’s see if you can redeem yourself this week…

head over to SYTYC and vote in this week’s challenge:
SCRAPS ONLY

how to make a cheap thrift shop project…well, not so cheap

last week’s SYTYC theme was “thrift”, and i was excited because i not one, but TWO potential projects i’d been waiting to do.

the one i ended up going with was my wall art:

the other? well, that was a MAJOR craftfail…but that’s a blog post for another day. (trust me, it’s too good not to share)

so this is what i started with:

(sorry about the bad photoshopping…the picture is so big i couldn’t find a place to photograph it without it being pretty obvious that it was my house. hence the bad last minute attempt to white out the background)

really…this thing is HUGE—about 36”x48”. and the best part?

in case you can’t see—that price tag says $7.99. would you believe i almost passed this up? i walked away from it the first time, and then thought “what are you? an idiot? a HUMONGOUS wooden frame and glass and mat in perfect condition for $8!?!?!?”

fortunately, i listened to my inner bargain hunter…and i brought it home.

the picture…well, it’s not horrible. NOT at ALL my style though, so it had to go.

taking it apart was a little painful. it had obviously been professionally done—well done—and very well cared for. but i put on my big girl panties and got to work.

all the paper ripped off…then a thick cardboard layer, then the picture itself followed by the mat. when i got to the glass i paused. it was a LARGE piece of fairly thin glass—relatively sturdy once in the frame, not at all sturdy once taken out of the frame.

  so…with a deep breath i started sliding it out…and…

CRACK.

right through the center.

i was so upset i don’t even have a picture to share with you. plus, i have a fear of glass that mimics my fear of things like toasters and irons—you know, even if it’s unplugged and has been for a week i’m still afraid to touch it because it MIGHT BE HOT. so yeah, it was a big piece of glass with a sharp edge and i’m IMMEDIATELY CONVINCED someone is going to fall on it and die a horrible bloody death even if NO ONE IS AROUND and i wrap it up really well and take it out to the trash right away.

for reals.

i even worry about the garbage man. i don’t want him to get hurt.

so yeah, i’m a little crazy. whatevs. anyway, moving on.

it’s cool. i’ll just load up my four kiddos and my massively pregnant self and head to the local home improvement store to buy a new piece of glass.

cause you know, nothing says classy like a hugely pregnant woman wearing her husband’s sweatpants and t-shirt riding an electric scooter with four other children trailing behind her looking to buy a giant piece of certain death uh, glass.

but i got it. and glass is surprisingly cheap—only about $13 for the replacement piece. which puts my project still under $25—a great price for such a large piece of artwork.

so i brought it home, laid it on the table (once my children were safely in bed) and carefully lifted it out of it’s paper wrapping…

CRACK.

srsly.

i DIDN’T EVEN GET IT OUT OF THE PAPER WRAPPING BEFORE IT CRACKED RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER.

i may have cried a little that time. come on, i’m hormonal.

plus it’s more DEATHKILLDIEBLOODSHARPGLASS in my house.

back to the store…

and this time i wasn’t taking any chances. i sprang (sprung?) for the $23 PLEXIGLASS. and consoled myself that, really, under $50 is STILL a good price for such a big piece of artwork.

right? RIGHT????

so, i finally have all my pieces, and thus begins the actual tutorial of how i went…

but i’m so emotionally drained from recounting all my NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES. i have to take a break and do this in two parts.

hang on to your hats kids—actual picture tutorial coming soon!