DIY Kids Wall Art

Hello!

Our sweet baby girl is growing like a weed. We were working on the nursery right up to her arrival. We still have a couple of things to finish before I can do a post about the nursery, but there's one special art project I thought I would share separately. 

Right before our son was born, my daughter and I did a similar project (Click here for the post). The concept is pretty simple. You cut out some vinyl. You can do this either with a machine (i.e. a Cricut or a Silhouette), with contact paper and an Exacto knife, or purchase precut letters or a phrase. You put the vinyl either on top of a white canvas or an existing painting. Then you paint on top of the entire surface. When you remove the vinyl letters, you have a burnt out image where the vinyl was. I've done this one other time for a piece of artwork for my daughter's room as well. (Click here for the post) So, this concept certainly isn't new for my blog, but I'm particularly happy with how this version turned out.

This project is perfect for kids because they can be as messy as they like, and you still get something coherent in the end. 

For this project, I used a canvas left over from artwork I used to have in my office. (click here for that post). Before I applied the vinyl, I added some aqua and pink to the painting over the purple sections so the colors showing through would match the room better. 

I cut out the vinyl words using my Silhouette. I applied them to the canvas and then gave my son and daughter paint colors that contrasted well. I told them they could do whatever so long as they covered the entire surface. They used paint brushes, paper towels, and their hands to get the entire thing covered. In my 3 year old son's case, he also painted the entire drop cloth under the painting. 

With the paint still wet, I look the vinyl off with tweezers. If you let the paint dry, there's a chance that vinyl will be stuck to the painting. I did a bit of clean up with a small paintbrush where ever the paint bled under the vinyl.That was an interesting endeavor to find the matching paint colors for such a colorful painting.

The final step was to hand paint some flowers on the canvas. The art was ready for our wildflower inspired nursery. 

 

Gone Junkin': Brookings Junk Jam 2016

Hello!

It's been quiet on the blog lately, because it's been very not quiet at our house! Our baby girl, Hattie, made her appearance last week, so it's been a beautiful mess around here. Not only do we have a new baby in the house, but two kids were starting school too. In fact, my husband had to leave the hospital to take our daughter to her back to school night. So, forgive the tardiness on this post!

Before Hattie made her appearance, I got to attend Junk Jam here in Brookings, South Dakota. There were a ton of fun booths. If you frequent the blog, you know when I lived in Iowa, I used to frequent these type of sales. I was super excited to see one being held so close to our home in South Dakota. There were some local vendors present that I have previously featured on my "Small Buisness Saturday" feature, but there were also some new vendors I have never seen before. Here are three of my favorites.

The event was organized by Funky Junk. They had a great booth with both finished signs and furniture and some untouched vintage finds. I also picked up a new "blessed mama" shirt that fit my pregnant belly. It was a huge hit at the OB office. You can visit Funky Junk's Facebook page by clicking here.

Another booth I am in love with is Dusty Decor by Tamara. Her furniture painting was on point. I loved the colors, and the finish was super professional. I loved LOVED this bench. It was already snagged by another customer, but I did leave with a super cute Fall sign that I'm looking forward to hanging on my front door once the leaves change color. Check out her Facebook page by clicking here.

 The show had a good vibe with food available for purchase and a band playing while you shopped.

The third booth I just loved was by Renewed out of Orange City, Iowa. Their stuff was really unique to a junk sale. There was a good mix of vintage finds, painted/finished furniture and some truly unique automotive themed projects. I just loved the car fronts. I'm thinking one of these would be super cool in my dad's new shop. The mustang front had real working front headlights. Check out their Facebook page by clicking here.

It was a great event, and I hope they hold it again next year!