Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Making Simple Art Works For Girls' Bedrooms


Hello
Today we are talking pretties.  Those of you who have been with me for a while, will remember when I re did my daughter's bedroom .  I began a gallery wall of art at the end of her bed, so she could lie in bed and have something interesting to look at.  Lets face it, the longer I can keep her in there the better right??  



All my makeovers are constructed on a tight budget and with a little creativity you can make some fabulous art work with what you already have floating around.  First I made the love birds piece, you can see above the cushions.  One thing that comes in real handy when you are constructing art work is old frames.  I love the detailed ones with embossing. You can pick them up for under ten bucks at most charity stores.  All you need to do, is string some wire across the frame and peg interesting things such as felt letters or post cards on it and hey presto, you've made an art work.


Then there is the ingenuity of shadow boxes.  The first one I made for the gallery was this small shadow box, using vintage stamps I collected as a child in the 70's.  These images of Queen Elizabeth really appealed to me in their different colours. I have heaps of these stamps left over and I was wondering how I could use more of them to fill up the gallery.  And here's what I came up with. I made a shadow box using my daughter's first pair of shoes and some more of my vintage stamps.


I adore these little leather and satin Robeez shoes my daughter wore when she was tiny.  They are so soft and white and the little satin bows are adorable.  They were too dear to my heart to give away or sell on ebay, so have been sitting in a draw for the last 4 years.  You will remember how I told you how hard she was to get here and there was no way I could throw them away.  So I decided that I would move them out of the draw and onto the wall.


First I purchased a very reasonably priced shadow box.  This is Ikea's Ribba frame.  Man I should have shares in that place, I am there so often.  I picked this up recently for $14.95.


I decided for this piece I would like to make a heart shape with the stamps, which was a little more fiddly, than setting them out geometrically like the QE2 art, so I had a practice before sticking them into place.


Then I played around with the text and colours I wanted to use on the piece.



Then it came time to commit.  I drew a rough shape of the heart and began gluing the bottom half of the stamp down so I could tuck the next one in and shape it as needed.  It was important to get the bottom V of the heart properly set out and lining up with the top of the heart.


It worked well until I got to the top of the heart and had to change direction with the stamps.


I manoeuvred them around until I was happy with the shape.  I think it looks sweet in the gallery and it is an original one off piece that means so much to me and hopefully my little Beach House Brat.  It's amazing how small things seem when you go back to them.  One day she will be amazed that she ever fit into them.


Oh and just to let you know I am capable of throwing my kids things out.  I tried to get rid of an over sized teddy bear yesterday, that my son had won on a chocolate wheel with his final ticket some years back, when he was about four. He's a massive thing and takes up far too much room.  His stuffing is coming out all over the place and just about doing my head in.  Anyway, it's council clean up time around here at the moment and as the bear wouldn't fit in the bin I put him out at the back gate hoping the Beach House Brat wouldn't see him before the council truck arrived.  I mean there's no way he would miss Bernard once he's gone.... he hardly ever touches him these days.  

Well of course this thing is too big to miss and the Beach House Brat saw him out of the corner of his eye, jumped out of the car and ran to the verge to salvage said bear.  He made me laugh, so I thought OK he's a keeper.  He said 'Mum how could you throw Bernard out?  Winning him was about the only bit of luck I've ever had!!!!'  God love him.  I think I'll have to let him win this one, stuffing and all.

Beach House Brat  1
Mean Mother 0

And yes Blogger is still mucking me around..  I am wondering whether it will ever be fixed.  My new posts are not showing up in my GFC follower's dashboards, or on the blog rolls that my lovely readers have put me on.  I usually post on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning Sydney time, so be sure to check back if you don't want to miss something. I also update my facebook, twitter and linky followers and a few of my regulars have started to subscribe using Feedburner.  You can find that link in my sidebar.  So there are other ways you can follow if you desire.  Hopefully Google fixes this soon as it sure is frustrating.

Today I am partying here

11 comments :

  1. what a sweet idea..it looks gorgeous! i like the deep shadow box. trying to think what i could do with one of those ;)
    x

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  2. Carolyn,
    You did a post on Palm Beach which inspired me to check it out this weekend when we go to Sydney. Do you have a favourite lunch spot there? If there is something that stands out could you please stop by blog ...if not we will just wander around & find something on the day.
    x
    Melissah from Coastal Style

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  3. Oh I am seriously starting to regret giving my old stamp collection to my nephew! I love both your stamp artworks! I had to laugh at BHB 1 rescuing his bear from the nature strip. I have to smuggle things out of the house as well, otherwise my pirates insist that need/want/must have/will die without etc etc whatever it is, even if it is something broken, untouched in years, something that's not even theirs and so on! x

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  4. I love the shadow box with the stamps. Great idea. Thanks for sharing at DIYbyDesign.

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  5. The artwork you created for your little girl's room is adorable! Thank you for sharing your wonderful ideaas at Potpourri Friday! Your participation is apppreciated!

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  6. I love the stamp art! Such a beautiful room with beautiful accessories.

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  7. What a sweet room! Love the shadowbox for display!

    makingitfeellikehome.blogspot.com

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  8. I used to have all those Queen Elizabeth stamps too, what a great idea to display them!

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  9. Such a sweet room! The framed shoes are a nice touch!

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  10. Gorgeous! Please come by my linky party hapening now to link it up - I would love to see you there!
    Stacey of Embracing Change
    http://staceyembracingchange.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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