This wonderful wall art is just one of the few things I needed to cross off my to-do list to get my “crafty closet” completely decorated how I’d like. It’s incredibly easy to make and super cute to display!

Materials Needed:

1 Picture frame

Spray Adhesive

Fabric

Clip art of states

Paper (something heavy like cardstock)

Find some clip art in the state(s) that you would like to display. I just typed in “wisconsin map, alaska map, and florida map” in google and found ones that I liked. Keep in mind, you don’t want anything really small unless you’re doing lots of states. You can always resize your images to go smaller but going bigger from starting small doesn’t always produce nice images.

Now depending on the kind of paper you’ll be using, you’ll either print out your images as is, or you’ll mirror them. I chose to mirror mine for two reasons 1) my paper was textured only on 1 side and I wanted that to be the side that faced forward and 2) when you mirror an image and then cut it out, any little marks that you didn’t cut exactly on the line won’t matter because you’ll be flipping it over and those will be on the back. Once you’ve printed out your states, go ahead and cut them out.

Next, you’re going to want to cut your fabric to frame. Meaning, if you have an 8 x 10 frame, cut your fabric 8 x 10 inches. I had to play with the placement of mine a little bit so that I could get “Wisconsin, Alaska, and Florida” to all show and not be covered by the paper cutouts.

Set your frame back, and your states (wrong side up) on some kraft paper/newspaper or something you don’t mind getting spray adhesive on. First, spray your frame back and immediately put your fabric (right side up) on the now sticky frame back. Smooth it out so you don’t get any bubbles or wrinkles. If you get a wrinkle, quickly peel it off and smooth it back out. Set this aside for a sec and spray your states.

You don’t need to soak them with spray but you do want a nice covering. Position them where you would like on your fabric and press down nice and firmly. If you need to adjust them, don’t press them all down at first, just lightly set them where you want them to go until you’re happy with the placemen and then press them firmly down.

Add your newly made art to the frame, hang, and admire with a nice big wonderful grin on your face.

I love it! It goes so wonderfully with the color scheme and feel of my “crafty closet”.

Why Wisconsin, Alaska, and Florida? I was Born in Wisco, B in Alaska, and Gck-1 in Florida. We each have to represent! (Although if it was truly up to me, I would’ve just kept is straight Wisco!)

 

Tags: tutorial, tutorials

This entry was posted on Friday, January 28th, 2011 and is filed under the tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.