Thirfty Artwork

I was doing some rearranging in our upstairs hallway.  It needed a change.  We don't have a working closet near the kids bathroom, so their towels are just in a big ol' basket in the hallway.  Tired of that arrangement.  I bought a $20 bookshelf at Target last week and put their towels and electronic toothbrushes on it. (old house--no closet, no outlets in the bathroom!)

So then I decided I wanted to change the decor above the bookshelf.  It had previously been very precious photos of my 3 girls, but from when they were toddlers!!  I looked around at Hobby Lobby for art, and as you know it is really pricey.  So I stole a few ideas and this is what I came up with to make myself.

I bought the wood pieces in the unfinished wood section for $2.99 and $.99 and painted them black with acrylic paint. No need to paint the whole thing since it will be covered with paper--save the paint!

I then rummage for paper I already had. I wanted the names of Jesus and was going to just make my own on Word, but found this cool paper in my stash! I  wanted the cream background a little darker so I grunged it up with Distress Inks. I just lightly rub the pad directly on the paper.

I had another sheet of paper that had the fish on it, so I cut out just one of them and applied diamond glaze to make it look like an embellishment.  I then popped it up on pop dots.

I also wanted the paper to be a little more 3D, so I cut out a scrap piece of cardboard(slightly smaller than the paper so it doesn't show)to place under the names of Jesus paper.  This is much less expensive than using the foam tape.  Then it was on to adhering the paper to the board  I used Mod Podge only on the back of the paper because I didn't want a glossy finish.

The cute little cross I found on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $3. And here is the finished large piece.

For the two smaller pieces, I followed the same procedure for place the paper on the board.  I added two really cute drawer pulls I bought at Menards.  They were the most expensive of the entire piece at about $3.50 each!  I think I spent about $14 total for all 3 pieces.

Yes the color of the wall is hideous and is on my "to-do" list for Spring Break!!

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