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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Contact paper art

Project Big-Girl-Room is underway!

So far, the only thing I've accomplished is to start sanding her headboard and to make 2 of the 3 Contact Paper canvases.  Most of you will wonder why I'm even posting pictures of this project because it seems like such a no-brainer, but every DIY-er has had at least ONE of those "this-will-only-take-me-a-couple-of-hours-and-will-look-better-than-anything-I've-ever-seen-in-a-store" projects that turned into a "2-trips-to-Home Depot-and-6-trips-to-WalMart-later-I've-spent-more-on-this-than-our-entire-kitchen-remodel-and-it-still-looks-more-like-it-was-made-by-a-6-year-old-than-something-that-was-purchased-at-an-upscale-children's-boutique-and-I-should-have-just-bought-the-PotteryBarn-original-in-the-first-place-I-am-never-making-anything-ever-again" project.  SOOOOO in order to prevent THIS little gem of a project from becoming one of THOSE projects for some poor unsuspecting greenhorn, I'm posting a seemingly ridiculous number of pictures to make it absolutely doable for anyone.

What you need:  scissors, a straight edge (a spatula, ruler, wall-paper-smoother-tool-thingy will all work just fine) some pretty Contact paper (got mine at Michael's from the bargain bins for $3/ roll), as many canvases as you want to make (this could even be done on varying pieces of cardboard).

First, open your pretty Contact paper, and unroll it.  Weight the ends (not pictured) and let it sit for a few hours or overnight, so it's not so eager to return to its comfy little roll shape.

Next, position your canvas on the back of the paper to measure how much you need.  Leave at least an inch overhang.  Don't forget to include the depth of the canvas; otherwise, your paper will not wrap around the edges.

Then, starting at the top, peel back a few inches of the backing to expose the sticky side.

Go ahead and stick the top of the canvas to the top of the paper.

Slide the whole thing to the edge of the table.  This makes it SO much easier to get the backing off the paper a little at a time.  Hang the paper that still has the backing on it off the edge of the table.  With one hand, slide the canvas up while holding on to the backing with the other hand.  (sorry about the orientation of this picture...can't change it for some reason...it previews the other way then posts like this???)

Once all the backing is off, and the whole piece of Contact paper is stuck to the front of the canvas, you need to smooth it either with your hand or with a straight edge like a ruler or a wallpaper-smoother-thingy.  First do the middle of the canvas, then the sides, but leave the corners open at this point.
 Smoothing center

Smoothing edges


Open corners

Now you just need to wrap the corners like a present.  Make sure that you do opposite corners in the opposite directions so that both of the top seams are either on the top of the canvas or on the sides and that both of the bottom seams match.






Smooth the corners with your hand, ruler, or wallpaper-smoother-thingy, and VOILA!  Beautiful wall-art!




Thanks for stopping by!  I'd love to see your fun and creative wall-art solutions!  Link up!
~Melissa

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