Kids' Art Display

Kids can be prolific artists. I love being able to hang my sons' artwork somewhere visible and the fridge just doesn't cut it sometimes!

In my recent hall makeover you saw my developing gallery wall that includes this art display board. I love how it turned out, but the idea was not original. This pin is what really got me started on this project.

Source: Random Thoughts of a Supermom

I had the perfect board hanging around so I painted it blue. Why blue? Um, because this shade of blue is my new favorite color. It's from our master bedroom ceiling--which is reason #2--I had it around! Yay for free!
 

I thought maybe I'd just use my Cricut and black vinyl and be done, but I'd seen an interesting technique using contact paper instead of vinyl, painting over the letters and then peeling them off so your words are the color of the base coat. Had to try it.

For you A students taking notes, the contact paper was super easy to work with and cut just fine in my machine. I eyeballed the layout and when everything was good enough, I really rubbed those letters onto the board with a used-up gift card. Who needs fancy tools? 

I slapped on a couple coats of slate-black paint and started the task of peeling off the letters. That's when I ran into trouble. I don't have a great record of straight lines and paint, and this was no different. Some letters bled, others peeled off a tiny bit of paint. 

I gave up and the board sat around in various resting spots in our house... Seriously. I found these process pictures in my "February" folder. It's April now. 

Eventually I prevailed and with the help of a Sharpie to smooth the outline of the letters it was good enough. 

The next step (which I apparently didn't photograph) was to paint clothespins and glue them on the board with hot glue. In less than an afternoon, my project was done at last!

I used long screws drilled right through the board and into the wall. Professional, I am not. I hung the board low enough that my boys can hang their art whenever they want to. This is a collection of those awesome water color pages where the paint is already in little dots all over the picture--do you remember doing those? My husband apparently had this book when he was young. Aw. It's vintage! 

(Am I the only one bothered by things from the 80s being called vintage? Yikes!)
 

So there you have it! This project took, oh, a day, give or take three months. It was also free as I had everything on hand. The boys are loving that they can see their art on display!

Has Pinterest inspired you to do anything lately? Or is it much easier to just be overwhelmed by the creativity of others? Yeah, me too.