How to Make Beautiful Wall Art

I came across this on SugarDoodle when I was looking for Conference Packets. It looked like something I might need to take upon myself and do one of these days. Check it out:

How to Make Beautiful (and Affordable) Wall Art
by Emily Norton from the Little Window Shoppe



What you Need to Get Started: (All materials may be obtained at your local craft store)

Styrofoam: 1″ x 12″ x 36″ blocks of Styrofoam

Other Materials:

Scrapbook paper: 12″ x 12″ (or 12″ x 12″ Photos or 12″ x 12″ squares of fabric)
Ribbon, 1″ or 7/8″ matte ribbon (you will probably need about 12 yds)
Ruler
Sharp pencil
Serrated knife
Thick, white craft glue or Elmer’s Cement Glue
Straight pins (optional)
Nine Sawtooth picture hangers or foam adhesive squares
1-2 hours to complete


{Photo Steps by DIY Maven from Curbly}

1. If you want to include photos in your collage, decide which photos you want to use and then crop them to 12″ x 12″ at 300 dpi. You can also go to a photo lab if you need a little help getting your pictures formatted just right. Coordinating colors, black and white photos or sepia tones seem to work best so that your colors do not clash.

2. Choose matching colored designer scrapbook papers at your local craft store. (Or visit these links to find cute paper: Luxe Classic Black or Black Berry Paper).

3. Buy 12″ x 36″ x 1″ blocks of Styrofoam and cut them into 12″ x 12″ blocks with a utility knife, be sure to keep the lines as straight and perfect as possible. You may want to use foam board for this instead, but if you like the depth, Styrofoam would be best.

4. Set the photos and papers how you want them. Spread white craft glue on the foam square (or Elmer’s cement glue may be better - this is supposed to help keep your paper from rippling), center your 12″ x 12″ paper or photo, and adhere it to the foam. Repeat, covering all foam squares. Once you have glued, press the Styrofoam upside down against a flat surface to obtain good adhesion.

5. Pin or glue your ribbon around the edges. You’ll want to pull it as tight as possible and once you pin it, you may want to color the pins to match the ribbon.

6. Finally, after it’s dry, attach it to your wall: You can either use a small saw-tooth picture hook for the back of each Styrofoam block, or if you want to skip the nails altogether you can attach foam adhesive squares to each corner and press them onto the wall. Foam corners don’t adhere very well to Styrofoam, so you may need to glue them to the Styrofoam for extra strength.

My inspiration and tutorial information for this project came from two helpful sources. The top photo is courtesy of Myra from We Make Three and Moon and Back Studios. I loved her personal touch to this wall art collage with her family photos included and I thought that her hands-on tutorial was really thorough. The second photo comes from Dow Crafts, where they also include a basic tutorial and list a variety of additional craft projects that you can make out of Styrofoam.
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