Oh, The Things I Think: DIY wall art with Mod Podge

I have been planning this project for awhile.. I have done a lot of googling for "paint chip art" and loved some of the things people were creating with different colours.

I have a friend's birthday coming up, and I have been wanting to make her something. But not sure what to make.

This is what I ended up doing!

This is what I used...

Some of my planning.

Shopping list. Plus a cup of tea. You can always use a cup of tea.

This is how I went about it...

I used a canvas that I bought from Hobby Lobby, and I left the surface plain. I tossed back and forward about whether to paint it white or not, but I liked the slightly rough texture, so left it as is.

I used 6 A4 pieces of coloured paper. You could use any colour or pattern, I just think of her as a blue and white kind of girl (much like myself). So I went with 6 shades of blue, ranging from dark to light.

I bought a small craft hole punch from Hobby Lobby and spent an evening cutting out snowflakes from the blue paper. I threw them all together in a zip lock bag. Tip - leave them separate, it will make the next step easier.

On the canvas I marked the centre point at the top and bottom of the canvas, and I marked the two quarter points on the top third of the canvas. I used pencil, and covered these up afterwards.

Measuring up the canvas, in draft stage.

Initially, I laid all my snowflakes out on the table and roughly laid them into colour sections on the canvas to plan the overall shape of my heart image.

The lightest blue formed the base of the heart.

Using a small sponge brush, I applied a thin layer of mod podge to the bottom end of the canvas where I wanted the image to start. I used the lightest colour at the bottom. I initially laid down several snowflakes flat, and then folded a couple so that the icicle branches would stick out from the canvas, making the image 3D. The snow flakes that were 3D had a thin layer of mod podge on the straight branch, and a little applied to the centre when I stuck it down.

Given that the icicle cut outs were quite delicate, I worked with the small sponge brush in one hand, and a pair of tweezers in the other to help position the flakes on the canvas.

After I had a base layer of snowflakes and then a second sporadic layer of folded flakes, i used the sponge brush to spread the next layer of mod podge for the next colour. I then did the same thing as before, where I put the initial layer of flat flakes and a second layer of folded flakes.

I added darker shades as the heart progressed.

I did this successively up the canvas until I got to the last two colours. I laid the edge of the next colour out and then used the brush to smear mod podge in two semi circles to make the top of the heart. I used the pencil points that were in the middle and two quarter sections, to guide where the podge should go.

Then I laid down the edge of the last colour to fit the top of the heart, and filled in the rest of the space with the two darkest colours.

After the mod podge had dried, I went back and added more folded flakes to each colour, and filled in any gaps that had been left.

I am sooo happy with how this turned out. It is definitely a fiddly project, but it looks so great, and I love the colour shading. I am glad I spent the time planning how to carry it out. The mod podge was the best option, as it dries clear. The small sponge with the thin edge was really useful because of the thin snow flake "branches".

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What do you think?
I can't wait to start the next one.. I have the coloured paper and just need a spare afternoon!