You Can DIY too!!

I have been hard at work these days trying to knock out some DIY/Craft projects around the house.  Most of them being things I have seen in catalogs or online that I want but don't love the price tag.  You wouldn't believe how much money you can save finding ways to do these things yourself.   I've spent years now trying to find ways to get the "Pottery Barn" look without the price tag.  Every time that catalog graces my mailbox I start tearing out pages of things I want but don't want to pay the crazy price for {and honestly, I give in once in a while}.  Now, I am still tearing out pages, I'm just finding my owns ways to create the Pottery Barn look.    I have a feeling now that I'm on a roll, I won't stop there.  Items from  Ballard Designs and the other online boutiques I frequent will be making there way in to our home in a new DIY form.  I'll try my best to keep up the tutorials so you can DIY too!!!



I really have wanted to find some wall decor that designates our dining area from our living area since we took the wall down between the two rooms.  You know so my husband know he has to eat in the dining room.  I like the idea of these canvases from Pottery Barn but the size was a little much for my space and the color was basically the same as our paint color so I decided I would put my own spin on them.   And I decided I wanted to do it for less than $20.

Here's what you'll need.  Three canvases.  Any size you want.  I had two packs of canvases in my attic that I used. 

Fabric to cover your canvases.  I used black burlap from Hobby Lobby. I bought a yard and a half and it was on sale 50% off so I paid less than $5.  Fabric paint. I used white.  A glue gun.  Something transparent to make stencils with. I used contact paper I bought to make paper xmas ornaments with Aidan for his grandparents.  Tracing paper will work.  An Xacto knife.  A pencil.  Paint brush.  Ribbon of your choice to hang canvases.

First thing you want to do is cover your canvases with your fabric using your glue gun and gluing the fabric to the edges of your canvas.  Using burlap was a pain in the bum. I'm not even going to lie.  It pulls all over the place because the weave is so loose.

Next I used Google images to find a picture of a fork, knife and spoon.  I saved them to my computer and then opened them in my photo editing software so I could zoom them in and used my computer as a light box and traced them on to the contact paper.  I then took my Xacto knife and cut out the fork, knife and spoon.  The pieces of contact paper are now stencils and you should have these left over.

I eyeballed the center of each canvas and taped the stencil on to the fabric.  I then took a rough paint brush and painted away from the edges of the stencil to try and prevent bleeding {it worked!} I lifted the stencils and used my paint brush to add some paint to some of the areas that were lighter than others.  I did not want the fork, knife or spoon to be completely filled in because I wanted them to look a little worn.  This is what they looked like when I was finished! Not too shabby.

 I really thought I would want to use a green silk ribbon to hang these but with my new Crate and Barrel china cabinet being red, I didn't want anyone to think it looked like Christmas year round.  So I chose this gun metal colored ribbon and I ended up loving it.  I just cut three pieces 2 ft long, tied a bow in the middle, centered them and hot glued them to the back of the canvas {on the frame}.

I hung them on a nail to show them to you but they will be hung on a wall in our dining room as soon as I can get the time to take down the family photos that are there, patch those holes and hang these.

 I think for the price and the amount of time they took me to make {barely two hours} they are perfect and I can't wait to get them

hung in their proper home.

COMING UP....

{a little sneak peek, can you guess what this is going to be}

I am linking up to the DIY Show Off Today!