Wall Art: Make Chic Art For CHEAP!

This post is long and spastic, and probably one big grammar-implosion, but it's filled with pretty pictures and cowboy references, so bear with me. Plus, we've been hit by an ice storm and I'm stuck in my house for who-knows-how-long, so just humor me. I love ya for doing so.

You probably already know that I'm not one of these awe-inspiring bloggers who churns out 50 projects a week. I truly wish that I could, as I know it would make this blog much better.  I just have a really difficult time with forcing creativity. As my husband can confirm, I've always been the type of person who has ups and down, good days and bad days, and creativity surges and dry spells. Seriously, you can set your watch to it.  My creative streak suffers the most. I'll be on a creative roll for awhile (like in December, seen here, here, here, and here, where I lassoed my Christmas spirit like the award-winning-county-fair-cowboy), and then my creativity will wither like a raisin (and not one of those awesome ones that sing and dance) and I'll just fall off the face of the earth for awhile...aka January.

So, that's what's up...I've had a hard time finding my blog-mojo lately. So, I really appreciate all of my readers sticking with me while I fumble around and try to figure out this blogging thing. Most bloggers might keep mum about a 'slump' (and rightly so), but I'm telling you....slump city over here.

Anyways, the point is this: (There's not really a point. I'm stranded at my house during an ice storm, but let's pretend!!!) I actually broke free of my slump for a teensy weensy bit this week and  made something!  I'm crossing my fingers that perhaps this is the beginning of my blog-funk dissipating, and that I will soon return to my county-fair-cowboy-ways we spoke of earlier. 

So, hhhhhhhhere's Johnny!
Some simple & chic DIY sequin art I made out of a junky 1990's print that I scored at the thrift store.








Check out what it looked like when I brought it home. Total 1990's magenta awesomeness.



I found it for $3 at the thrift store, and it was a custom framed print with a nice shape and good size mat. I knew it would be perfect for what I had in mind.






I actually made this art specifically for a room in the house I've been working on (coming soon!), but I couldn't wait to show you, so I propped this bad boy up in the bedroom for a few days until I could put him in his rightful home.

It was super easy to make. All you need is a frame, a mat, some paper, hot glue, and some sequins. Easy peasy.

Here's what I did. Take apart your frame, and disassemble all of the pieces.



I decided to spray paint my frame silver, spray paint the mat white, and then use the backside of the art to glue my sequins to. I chose to use Rust-Oleum Flat White for the mat so that it wouldn't stick to the glass. I've had problems with that before, and have found that flat white spray paint works great for this.

Brace for obligatory spray paint picture....



My neighbors know of me by that sound now.

Now for the art. I found it helpful to draw a little guide on the backside of artwork. The original print was actually glued to a foamboard, so it was the perfect surface for my purposes.

You can really design any shape/pattern/whosamawhatsit you want. I chose to make this. I don't know what it is....half chevron/half herringbone. So, sketch your design with a pen. I used a ruler to help. No one will ever see your lines, so don't worry about messing up.





Then, I gathered my supplies: sequins, paper, ribbon, and hotglue.




Here's a tip: hotglue your sequins on first. Start from the bottom row and then work your way up, overlapping from left to right, and overlapping each layer vertically.

Then, cut stripes of paper (I used an exacto knife) to fit the next row. Glue those on as well. This will cover up parts of your last row of sequins and make a nice clean line.

I chose to trim everything with silver ribbon, too. It gave it a nice finished look.



Then, put the mat back on, insert your new art back into the frame, and voila! Some chic new art for pennies on the dollar!

So what do you think? I can't wait to show you where it's gonna go!

(Maybe if my slump is over I can actually finish a project in FEBRUARY!)

Thanks for stopping by! 

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