Cheap Nursery Art

Check this out! After spending a ridiculous amount of money on my son's professionally-painted and hand-crafted nursery name art, I decided my daughter should have an equally-beautiful version at a fraction of the price. I came up with an idea while shopping at Ikea one day. (Favorite store, by the way!) So here's the finished product. Not bad, huh?

Maggie's wall art hanging above her crib

What I used:

A 3-pack of plain wood frames is $1.99 at Ikea. I bought two packs. I Googled the different letters I wanted, searched images, and chose the best black and white versions of the letters for Maggie's name. They look funky and awesome, and were free!  Can't beat that! I already had the red ribbon, craft glue, panel board nails, and white acrylic paint lurking in my craft box. For the sake of coming up with the total cost, I listed the cost of the ribbon and paint, since I remember how much they cost when I purchased them. (When I buy things for a bargain, I tend to remember!)

So here's my list of items for this project....

• 6 plain wood frames from Ikea ($3.98)
• white acrylic paint (already in my craft box, but cost $1 a few months ago)
• craft glue (lurking in my craft box)
• red ribbon ($1 in clearance bin at fabric store)
• two panel board nails (found in husband's toolbox)
• black and white fancy letters (free!) 

Final cost: $5.98! Not too shabby!

Here are some close-ups of the finished project...

Note the different funky letters - I wanted all of them to be black & white, but different fonts.
I used landscape and portrait orientations by accident based on which letters fit in the frames.

I hung bows at the top and bottom of the long ribbon.

I glued the frames onto the ribbon first, then hung the ribbon from the panel board nails.

I painted one coat of white and sanded to create a distressed look.

Since you are here, and it's pretty obvious I am just starting this blog, help me out and follow me! If you leave me a comment with your blog address, I'd be happy to follow you too. Thanks in advance!

I linked this project to the following great blogs: