Every once in awhile I get a wild hair.  I was daydreaming about milk glass and how much I really like the effect of chalky painted color inside of a glass vase. 

Then it hit me:  why not painted candles?  I remembered I had some leftover paint specially designed for glass from this project, and some extra glass jars just collecting dust, and I saw some microwaveable candle wax at the craft store, so then my brain started spinning totally out of control. 

Here’s what I came up with:  custom painted glass candles personalized with my own design.  A great gift for Mother’s Day ! 

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I am in the process of redoing my five year old daughter’s room, adding a little French garden inspired style to the space.  All of a sudden I was struck with the grand idea to paint a tree on her wall to carry along with the jardin theme.  What’s very strange is I don’t fancy myself a mural artist by any means, I typically shy away from wall murals as a bit “themey” and I rarely decorate with fake flowers.  Which makes it all the more bizarre that I would take upon myself the task of painting a cherry tree mural on my daughter’s wall and then glueing fake blooms to the branches.  Go figure.  But it turned out pretty cute!

My inspiration came from these images:

For the task, I gathered up some supplies including:

Follow up with your artist’s paintbrush to create finer lines around your edges. (It’s also a good idea to have your wall color paint ready in case you absolutely hate it. . . or just want to clean up the edges a bit more.)   Paint over center of trunk and branches with medium color brown paint to add some depth. Note: all of you folks with ‘orange peel’ wall texture will appreciate the bark effect that results from the texture underneath.  I didn’t paint it that way – it just happened.

While the trunk dries, paint simple leaves with your medium sized paint brush and light green paint in a simple leaf shape.

Then add a lot of dark green paint to your leftover light green paint, mix it, then swipe the leaves on one side or another to give some shading.

 You can even go back a third time with just the dark green paint to add more depth.

Return to your tree trunk with your lightest shade of brown/tan paint. Swipe the center of the tree trunk and the branches with your paintbrush using the paler color, then use a kitchen sponge to smooth it out. This gives the subtle look of light cast upon the tree trunk, and provides even more depth and shadow. If you’re sentimental like I am, carve a message into your tree trunk!

 (if you dare to decorate with faux blooms): Pluck the bloom off the plastic branch, and trim the plastic bottom of the bloom so that your blossom will glue flat to the wall. Apply with hot glue to the end of your painted branches.

And in the end, this is the result!

So tell me readers, give it to me straight.

Is it a botanical beauty, or are you totally allergic?

Learn how to decorate your Easter eggs like these at this link by Better Homes and Gardens.

Happy Easter everyone !

Sneak Peek of Final Product:

There are many ways to cover a corkboard with fabric – this I have done, but I was curious about making a fabric covered magnetic board, so I started poking around online.  In doing my research, I saw that there were not a lot of fabric covered magnetic boards out there, but I did find some where the crafty creator is actually cutting steel for inside of a frame. Perhaps I am lazy, or just a bit chicken when it comes to cutting metal, but I just wanted to cover a magnetic board that I found at the local office supply store. 

Supplies:

1. 18” x 24” magnetic dry erase board from office supply store
2. Heavy duty nickel sized magnets from hardware store (not from office supply, those are too weak)
3. 5/8 yard of cotton fabric of choice (the thinner the better, but not transparent)
4. Decorative brads (or shells, or glass rocks, or whatever you choose to glue to your magnets.)
5. Decorative ribbon for “frame” and for optional hanging. 
6. Hot glue gun

Start by ironing your cotton fabric to remove any creases.  Then lay your magnetic board on top of the fabric.

Begin gluing the fabric to the top of the magnetic board.  (Note: This is easier to do if your fabric has some sort of pattern or stripe that you can follow to align the fabric as you glue.)  Then glue the bottom, and then glue the sides.  Go slowly, because you don’t want any puckering and you want your fabric pattern to be straight. 

My magnetic board came with tiny brackets for hanging on the wall, so I cut into the fabric where I wanted the bracket (16” apart is the width of most wall studs).  Then I glued around the bracket to solidify the fabric edging, and to secure the bracket in place. 

While your glue on the board dries, take your magnets and hot glue the brads on top of the magnets.  [Note: these magnets are powerful, and dangerous around small children, so I would not do this project around, or for, anyone under the age of 5]. 

Allow your new magnets to dry, and turn back to the ribbon “frame” on your magnetic board.  Lay out your ribbon, and glue it slowly, while you trim up the corners.  Apply glue underneath all of the ribbon and let dry. 

Optional:  If you do not want to use the brackets to hang your board, you can add a ribbon trim, like pictured below.   Make sure you use a lot of glue to secure the bow in place.  [Pretend the glue is collagen, and the bow is Meg Ryan’s lips and pump away !  Sorry Meg, I still love ya.]    

So here’s how it looks when it’s complete.  Total time is about 90 minutes. 

Idea Gallery:

Gal’s Office: Do a larger version of this with a dramatic patterned fabric and elegant ribbon, and use antique buttons or scrapbook “jewels” for the magnets. 

Guy’s Office:  Cover the board in slate gray, and make magnets out of polished rocks.  Or would he prefer beer bottle caps?  :-)

Boy’s Room:  For a pirate theme, find a fabric with a map pattern, and make magnets with gold coins.  If your boy loves cars, make a “racetrack” on the board  with gray or black ribbon, and find miniature cars for his magnets.  Zoom zoom.

Beach Style:  Find a cotton linen fabric, then make magnets with shells or sea glass. 

Kitchen:  Find a fabric that compliments your kitchen, then make magnets out of miniature food items found at your local craft store,  or from anything metallic that matches your hardware.

Mudroom/Home Organization Center:  Anything goes.

If you do this project, send me your photos and I will post them !

Oh, and check out these different style handmade magnetic boards on Etsy. These are very chic.  Also, look at Little Birdie Secrets version of a magnetic board.  And also her separate post on fabric covered button magnets.  Love them!