DIY Wall Art - You Are My Sunshine

It's been a while but I am back!  The Easter holiday had me busy, busy!  With Spring on the way, hopefully, I thought it would be a good time to share a project I did with my son last year at this time.  Since he was a baby, I have sang "You Are My Sunshine" to him.  My Grandma sang it to me and I've always loved the song, so when I came across this DIY wall art idea, I had to do it.  

Originally found at The Polka Dot Pavilion's Facebook Page

This was another project that was done before Pin or Pass so I don't have any before photos, but I went to the craft store and got a blank canvas and paint in royal blue, red and yellow.  I had coupons and everything was on sale so I probably spent around $10.  

I wanted this to be a project my son and I did together so I let him take his hands, dip them in the royal blue paint and smear it all over the canvas to create the background.  I let it dry for several hours, then I dipped my hands in yellow pant and made hand prints in a circle.  Then he dipped his hands in the yellow and I helped him fill in the areas I missed with his hand prints.  From there, I took a medium sized paint brush and wrote You Are My Sunshine on the picture.

Here's our end result:

It's cute but I am a bit of a perfectionist.  I like DIY projects that don't LOOK like DIY projects.  I should have used a lighter color for the background and I would have gotten a little more meticulous in terms of the background application, maybe adding in a little white as well.  I also would have done the letters differently, I'm not sure how but I feel like mine look a little sloppy.  

Like I said, overall I think the picture is ok and he had fun making it so that is worth it alone but if I had to do it over again, I would do a lot differently and I'm still not sure it would have come out to the point where I'd be really happy with it.  This pin gets a PASS from me but only because I'm nutty and like things to look a certain way!  

What do you think about this one?  PIN or PASS?

A Home For Your Child's Artwork

Original Idea From: Windmill Lettering

As a Mom, I love when my 3 year old comes home from Pre-K with his latest work of art! He's usually so proud of what he's done and can't wait to share it with me. For a while, the side of our fridge was his art gallery but as more and more projects came rolling in, we were quickly running out of room, until I found this!

I loved this idea so I went to JoAnn Fabrics and bought a piece of thin wood that was about $5.  Then I went to Walmart and bought a pack of wood letters. They were $10 but it came with 100 letters.  The letters on the board from Windmill Lettering are vinyl.  They look really nice but I was able to recreate a similar look for the same price AND have wood letters left over to use on future projects.

I gave my board a light sanding and spray painted it with black spray paint.  Then I spray painted the letters cream.  With a hot glue gun, I glued on each of the letters and the clothes pins and wa-la!

I decided not to put my son's name on it because I have two kids and wanted to be able to use it for both of them.  You could do the same or just make a board for each child.  I also made my board a little larger than the original pinner's.

My Finished Product

I spent $2 less than what it would cost to order this from the original site and I think it looks just as good, plus I have wood letters to use on upcoming projects.  So for a total of $15 I have a home for all our artwork and this project gets a definite PIN from me.       

Up next...my new wall art made from the wood of my DIY Wall Art project that bombed!