Fall Art

I love the Fall and decorating for the season. A couple years ago, I went to one of those paint along places where they teach you step by step how to paint a "work of art." I happened to go and paint a "Halloween" or "Fall Pumpkin" picture. Of course, after that, I had to have more art to hang on the wall with my lone pumpkin. I've added to the collection last year and again this year. I really wanted to involve my family and document "us" somehow. Here is what we have done so far....

My first "Fall Pumpkin" piece of art that started everything.

 

Last year, we did this ghost print with our footprints. It is simply amazing that I got my
wonderful husband to cooperate. Arts and crafts aren't typically his "thing."

This year's creation was a pumpkin patch of sorts. I used the palm print of each of our
hands for the pumpkins. I think it turned out pretty cute.

I labeled all of our pumpkins so we would remember who is who in years to come! 

FAMILY Wall Display

I saw this idea on Pinterest way back. I have a blank wall that needed something on it and I thought this would be a great addition. I didn't have any two by fours laying around or any vinyl, so I went outside the box a little bit. I found some great wooden square tiles at Michaels and had a wood burning tool from a project a little while back. I thought I'd try my hand at wood burning our family names.

I did this particular project a few months back. It has been hanging on the wall for months. It has needed something else on the wall with it or for me to do something with the tiles. I finally figured it out (for now anyway).

I had to figure out how to arrange all our names on the wall so everything looked aesthetically pleasing. Lots of trial and error. I made a template from Excel with lots of boxes and then just started plugging in our names.

I used my Cricut machine to make a template for the letters. 

This was my first attempt. I had these tiles that I liked a lot. I had picked them up at a craft store a long time ago. When it was time to do the project, I went to the store to find more like the three I already had and no luck. I had to find something else that would work.

These are the wood tiles that I found. They were perfect for wood burning.

I used my template and traced the letters on each wood tile.

Got the wood burning tool hot and ready to go.

Finished tile. Repeat A LOT!

I'm not one for lots of holes in the wall so this is the method I went with for all my tiles. They have been hanging in the heavily travelled hallway (with a 4 year old and 17 month old being the primary travelers) for months now. I haven't had any of the tiles fall or pulled off the wall yet. I count that as a success.

Here's the finished product. On the off white wall, I felt that there needed to be some added color. I contemplated staining the tiles, adding photos or art work. In the end, I just let the tiles "live" in the hallway for a while till I figured something out.

The other day, I decided that I would add some artwork to the wall to see how it looked. I'm pleased with the added color and the fact that the art represents our family as well. I'll just do something else once Halloween is over.

The black and white piece are actually our foot prints made into ghosts that we did last year. The other piece is our "family pumpkin patch" made with all our palm prints that we did this year.