We Can Paint If We Want To

I’ve wanted to put together a post for a while now about all the crafty things I’ve been doing the past few months but I just haven’t gotten my pictures and everything together yet. So the rest will come later, but I couldn’t wait to share the project I just finished last night!

I am doing a grey, white and yellow color scheme in our bedroom here in Lincoln. I was determined to make my own art for the walls to save some money. I had a large canvas that I had put together from the old house and I decided that size would work really well over our bed.

Imagine the circles on a white canvas. Somehow I have absolutely no pictures of this after I finished it. Go figure, huh?

So I set out to remove the circles that I had Mod Podged onto the canvas so that I could paint it grey and…no dice. Apparently I was very thorough with the Mod Podge a few months ago. (As I type this, I’m having flashbacks of second, third, and fourth coats. So…yeah)

Plan B – rather than removing the circles I was going to cover them up. I got plain grey broadcloth from good ol’ Hobby Lobby at a whopping $2.99/yard and hot glued it onto the canvas to cover up my wonky circles and my sad attempts at removing them. But after one layer of that thin broadcloth you could still see the circles. Sigh. Better make it two layers. : )

After the canvas was completely covered with the grey broadcloth, I let it sit for about two weeks. This ‘resting’ period was not necessary for the project unless you consider me freaking out about ruining my canvas necessary. I apparently did. I spent that time looking up DIY artwork ideas online and trying to muster up the courage to take on this project on my own. Here are some of the ideas that I liked:

Ultimately I decided to TRY to recreate the gorgeous chrysanthemum pattern that I saw on the piece from the Simple Vie shop on Etsy. I loved what she did, but the teal wouldn’t work and I couldn’t afford to pay someone else to do it. So last night I decided enough was enough and I started out.

I used my disappearing ink marker that I occasionally use for sewing and spent roughly 40 minutes drawing out exactly 260 petals on my fabric-covered canvas. (I didn’t count them until I was done painting because I was afraid I would break down sobbing give up. And then—let the painting begin!

I painted…

And painted…

And kept painting…

And then, about three hours later…

Finito! I have to say, I’m beyond happy with how it turned out. I had very little confidence in my ability to paint something like that, but it was really very simple and required basically no skill. It just looks complicated.

Here it is in my room. I love it! Since we don’t have a headboard it really gives the bed a little pizzazz. Now what is missing from the bed? Oh, that’s right. Pillows! That’s right up there on my to-do list too. : )

I also took a couple pictures of the little felt flowers I got at Michael’s and added on to my lampshades. I’m still trying to decide if I think those lamps work in there. A little too small maybe? Hmm…maybe I should go to TJ Maxx just to be safe…