Whimsical Bunting Subway Art Printable

Target knock off subway art with printable and display DIY from Printable Decor

Today at Printable Decor, I shared this Target knock off subway art printable and the display DIY.  The Target original cost $24.99.  Go see how I created the finished piece for under $2!  Submit a printable while you are there, and be sure to follow along on FB and Twitter for daily freebie prints to decorate your surroundings without emptying your wallet.

Valentine’s Day Printable Wall Art

Valentine's Day Printables

It is time to clear out the Christmas decor and what better to replace it than love themed prints?  These three 11×14 inch frames stay up year round, and I change the prints with the seasons.  I stick to black and white, which I have printed at Office Max for $0.20 per 11×14.  I spent a whopping $0.64 on these three.  I have provided them for you to download over at printable decor.  Get your free Valentine’s Day printables now.

Free Valentine's Day Printable

Free Valentine's Day Printable

Free Valentine's Day Printable

Free Easter Printable Round 2

The cross… the single greatest act of love in history.  Click here to download the full resolution 5×7.  Glory to God.

Free Easter Printable

This is my absolute favorite time of year… Easter.  I made this watercolor from a photo in photoshop and put it with the beautiful verse, Hebrews 11:1.  You can download the full resolution file by clicking here.  

Bird Faux Oil Painting Frugal Wall Art DIY With Tutorial

Birds1
I am obsessed with Mod Podge Brushstrokes these days.  My walls are slowly but surely filling up with what appear to be oil paints on canvas, but are actually art prints on MDF, painted over with the Mod Podge.  These are 12’x34′ and cost me about $10 each total.  I love how they turned out and especially the blue against the wheat colored walls!  You may have seen my earlier post featuring this technique using some Valentine’s Day prints I made in photoshop.  This is a great way to have awesome art for cheap.  You can use old photos, posters, thrifty store finds or any image to create a canvas painting.
I made these prints in photoshop, giving them a painterly effect since I knew I was going to use them in this project.
At Lowes, I picked up a discounted 1x12x72′ board and had them cut my 2 pieces of backing board from it.  The total cost was $8.47.  I even have a little piece of board left over, which I am sure will be used for something!
I sprayed both the board and the back of the print with Super 77, lined up the print with the board and pressed them together, using my hand to flatten the print down and make sure there were no air bubbles.  This stuff is crazy sticky, so make sure you are lined up before laying the print on the board.  No redo is going to happen without ripping the print.
Next, I flipped it over and cut off any excess print with an exact knife.
I lightly sanded the edges to blend and make the print flush with the board.
This is what it looked like after sanding.  Now I put on the Mod Podge Brushstroke.
After this was dry, I primered and painted the edges of the board white to give the canvas look to it.  I attache a wire for hanging on the back, as detailed in my previous post, here.  SImple and lovely!

DIY Fabulous Frugal Faux Canvas Painting Tutorial

Create an oil paint effect on prints, using Mod Podge Brushstrokes.
These prints were mounted on plywood and painted with Mod Podge to create beautiful faux oil paintings! Read on for full tutorial…

tut12I am so excited about the way this project went! As mentioned in the prior post, here, I created these prints in Photoshop with the idea in mind that I would try something similar to the project over at Infarrantly Creative (see this post).

I had the images printed at 12×12′ on glossy stock. At Michael’s, I picked up 1/2x12x12′ birch plywood squares. Since I wanted the pictures mounted on 1′ backing, I used Gorilla Glue to adhere 2 pieces of birch plywood together for each of the 3 prints. You could also use MDF in for the backing, cut to the size of your prints. I used the plywood because it was already cut to the size I wanted, and it was cheap.

Once the gorilla glue was dry, I was ready to adhere the prints to the wood. Super 77 has minimal overspray, but make sure you cover your work surface, cause this stuff is sti-iii-cky, for real. Spray a thin coat on both the back of the print and on the wood surface and lay the print in place, smoothing flat with your hand. This holds big time and bonds immediately, so make sure you have the pic lined up before placing it. I turned the piece over on a flat surface and applied pressure to the back to ensure I hadn’t missed any air bubbles. This part was really much easier than I thought it would be. I had no problem with air bubbles.

Next, the fun step using Mod Podge Brushstrokes. I just recently ran across a post using this medium and I am in love. I used a 1 inch foam bruse and small texturizing brush. I read that if you are painting the Mod Podge onto photo paper, you should use an acrylic sealer before applying. This was just glossy stock, and I had no problem with ink bleeding. You may want to test a small area before painting your entire work. I just applied strokes randomly. There wasn’t a lot of strategy. The prints themselves I made with a painted effect in photoshop, so I kinda followed along the strokes in the images, but mostly it was just random. Look how cool they are. They look like for real oil paintings!

After the Mod Podge dried for about 30 mintues, I applied gesso to the sides of the wood (you could also use primer), then painted with white acrylic over that.

I used thick tacks (U-shaped) and wire for the hanging mechanism.

 
Here they are on the wall…


You can do this with your own images, posters or garage sale finds. The Mod Podge brushstroke effect looks particularly impressive with photos that have been digitally altered using paint effects. That is a photoshop lesson for another day.

Happy Valentine’s Day Free SBL Prints

LoveRedSquare

It has been a rewarding first year of blogging. I have been exposed to such talented and generous fellow artsy bloggers. It would take me two lifetimes to do all the wonderful projects I have bookmarked. I love how supportive the blogosphere can be. As a thank you to all I have met, and all of my loyal followers, I have provided these prints I created for Valentine’s day.

Full resolution downloads:
“Love” (top pic)
“Home”(bottom pic)

Very soon, you will see a detailed post on a project I have in mind for these guys. They are 1212 inch squares, resolution 300 ppi.
You can do whatever you want with them. I would appreciate all who download to sign up to as an email subscriber to SBLC. Have a happy day!
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