Decoupage Wall Art

In my post An Artist In The Making, I mentioned that while Eli was finger painting, I was painting too. Well, my artwork is finally finished and I am absolutely thrilled with how it came out!

While it did take some time, it really wasn't very difficult to do. I apologize in advance for my lack of photos throughout the process. As I got closer to finishing, I got more excited and forgot to get pictures of some of the steps, but I'll do my best to explain...

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1. Choose a large canvas and paint the entire thing. I chose a light blue. This will take a few coats, but I didn't worry too much about white spaces showing on mine since I was going for a messy look anyway.

2. After the paint dries completely, use a dark brown paint and really water it down so that it is basically brown water. It's better to keep it very thin and transparent and add several coats than to make it too thick and mess up your canvas.

3. Take a very porous sponge and brush it across the canvas from side to side. It's important to brush it in the same direction because you will see the stroke marks.

4. Use the same brown paint you previously watered down, and apply the thick paint to the edges with a small brush. With each small section, run a paper towel over it to smudge it up before it dries.

And this, dear readers, is where I've failed you with my lack of photos. I'm so sorry... I swear, I really do love you! Here's what happens next:

5. Cut out many different flowers in varying shapes and sizes out of an assortment of scrapbook papers. Once they are all cut, distress the edges.

6. Lay all of the flowers out on the canvas. Use a pencil to make a small dot where you would like the stems to reach the paper and remove the flowers.

7. Put a good amount of green paint on a paper plate and dip a piece of yarn into the paint. You'll want to pull the yarn tight. I tried to make a picture as an example of how to hold the yarn...

8. Once you cover your yarn with paint, make straight vertical lines from the bottom of the canvas to the dots you drew in pencil. Allow paint to dry completely.

9. Put all of your flowers back in place and decoupage them onto the canvas with a paint brush, making sure you get all air bubbles out from under your paper.

10. Hang your work of art for all to admire =)

A few tips:

-When distressing the edges of your flowers, don't be shy on the distressing ink... it adds a really cool effect when you put them on the canvas since it will smear a bit and it really makes the artwork!

-Once you draw your pencil dots, I would suggest taking a picture before removing the flowers so you can remember where you placed them.

-I preferred to only keep about 6 inches of yarn between your thumbs at a time when applying the paint for your flower stems.

-It worked best for me to go over the whole thing with my Mod Podge for the initial coat and, instead of waiting for it to dry to add another coat, I went over it again while it was still wet. After second coat, I started squeezing out all the air bubbles, pushing air out towards the end of the flower petals.

-The Mod Podge I used had a glossy finish which I really liked. Because you can see the stroke marks, it's good to make sure your brush strokes are all in the same direction.

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If you decide to try this, please email me your photos... I would love to see your creations! Have a happy weekend!