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This isn't an original idea or anything, but it turned out so well and took so little time and effort that I thought it was worth sharing!
I'm always on the lookout for cheap and easy ways to create great artwork. I change my mind about what I want to display so often that if I didn't create a lot of it myself I'd be broke! Or more broke to be accurate ;) So when I saw this idea on pinterest (I was actually looking for mural ideas for the wall in Max's "woodland" room) I knew I had to give it a try, and in a spare half hour while Max was napping last week Em and I broke out our art supplies and did just that.
You'll need all the usual stuff, plus an old membership card to make the "birch bark" effect. I used acrylic paint for the background and a sample pot of regular wall paint for the bark, cos it was the right color and I had it to hand. ~I've often used house paint in art projects, there's no reason not to unless you're looking for some sort of chunky effect that you'll only get with acrylics or oils.
I just used cheapo masking tape cos I wasn't too fussed about clean lines and I didn't want to waste my frog tape, that stuff isn't cheap!
I taped off the "trees" with two pieces of tape each.
Then I painted in between the trees to make a background.
I wasn't feeling my first attempt to I went back over the pink with grey and white.
Emilia tried to "help", hence the blue marks....they were on taped parts though so no harm done. I removed the tape before the paint dried, leaving me with clean, white "trees".
Then came the fun bit! I dipped the card in the dark paint, tried it out a few times on a piece of paper to get a feel for it (and discovered less is more!) and then just went along the edges of the trees, dragging paint across.
Just don't put too much paint on the card, you can always add more and go back over it if you need to.
It was really quick and easy, I did the whole thing in about twenty minutes.
I added the little gold heart with our initials, cos I'm sentimental like that. (cue uncontrollable laughter from anyone who knows me). Really, I just thought it needed something extra. It would look better done in gold leaf but I didn't have any so I just used gold acrylic paint and it didn't turn out too badly.
So there you have it. I really like it, it was so easy to do and I think it's really striking. It might even be better with a plain white background, I'll try that next! And I'm definitely going to try the technique on a bigger scale on the wall in Max's room, sooner rather than later. Watch this space!
What do you think? Would you give something like this a try?
Linda xx
