I'm SO excited to share a fun project that I did with some of my blogging BFFs. One of the best things about blogging is connecting with people who think the same way you do and always have a fun creative project on the brain! This past month Jenna from SAS Interiors, Kim from Sand and Sisal, Monica and Jess from East Coast Creative and Allison from House of Hepworths and I have been chatting it up on the phone, sending emails and sharing SO many great ideas.
We decided it would be fun to have a little challenge and see what each of us could come up with from the same list of DIY ingredients. Beckie from Infarrantly Creative compiled a list of stuff that we had to incorporate into our projects. Ready to see what I did?
I made a fun map for my niece's bedroom makeover! I'm doing a whole bedroom makeover for her as a surprise! Ready to learn how I made it?
First I started with a TON of fabric scraps and a road map from Walmart. I would suggest using a wall map because trying to cut out states from a road map was a challenge!
Then I cut out all the states and got my Heat N Bond and Iron ready.
Iron the heat n bond onto the wrong side of fabric and then turn your state upside down and trace it onto the heat n bond.
Then cut out the state and peel the backing off the heat n bond.
Then I started with Kansas since it's pretty much in the middle (notice it's CORAL!) and ironed it onto my white fabric. My white fabric was an old fabric shower curtain-got to love free!
Then I just started ironing on the other states working my way out from the middle which helped keep the map even and straight. Having a map printout helped get the states in the right spot.
Once I had all my states ironed I cried and wished I would have picked a smaller project. Haha...totally kidding. Then I put the wood that I was using to make a frame on the fabric to estimate how big I wanted the wood for the backing to be. My wood ended up being 33"x44". This map is HUGE!
Then I stained my pine with my special aging technique that I'm totally into right now. You just take some steel wool pads, rip them up and put them in a jar and cover with vinegar and leave overnight. Then brew some tea.
Brush your tea onto the wood and let dry and then brush the vinegar/steel wool mixture and it will totally change color! It makes the wood look grey and ages it just like BARN WOOD. I totally cheated on the wood since I didn't have any pallets or a barn to tear down!
After my wood was dry I cut some 4x4 pieces for the corners and STENCILED a little flower onto them with a Martha Stewart stencil.
While my stencil was drying I primed my 1/4" plywood piece with white primer .
Then I used MOD PODGE to glue my map to the 1/4" plywood. I rolled my map up and then just started at the top with the glue and slowly unrolled and smoothed it. The great thing about using fabric with mod podge is that you can pull it back up and try again if you don't get it perfect the first time since it won't rip.
Once the mod podge was dry I used liquid nails to glue the frame pieces to the board. Finished! I hope my niece likes it!
The best part is that the whole project only cost me $6 since all I had to buy was the plywood for the back. It's also fun to remember all the stuff that I made with all the fabric before it became scraps!
So what would you make with that list of ingredients?
