How To Make Custom Wall Art On A Budget

I've said that 2018 is all about the easy projects around here.  With a brand new baby, 3 other kids to homeschool and running my fabric shop, there isn't a lot of time for complicated crafts these days or lots of supply shopping, so today's how-to is ideal: Custom Wall Art On A Budget.

My family room had been in need of some decorating updates, but I wanted to keep it economical.  Some new framed art for one wall seemed a simple update, but I couldn't find much in the style & color scheme I have.  Definitely nothing that wasn't crazy high in price anyway.  So I decided to DIY it.  The best part? The concept will work for anyone just using different paper & cut designs!

By using burlap card stock, the simple scrapbook paper layers look richer and more dimensional:

Materials:

- Wood frames (mine were from Ikea)

- Burlap card stock

- Scrapbook paper

- Cutting machine (or scissors)

- Wood tint or acrylic paint

- Tape/glue

Some basic Ikea frames, wood tint, plus paper from the craft store is the extent of the supplies.  Super thrifty to make, but still nice to look at & no one would guess you'd made them:

 

My cheap-y wood frames had spent a decade in my sunroom with some faded photo prints in them.  They'd been purchased at Ikea ages ago for a couple bucks each.  Of course, I forgot to take some good photos of them in their original state prior to this project....so here's a glimpse of what they looked like in the hideous "before" photo from my DIY Sunroom Makeover done in 2016.  Light maple wood, nothing special.  Definitely not a good match for my family room space.



My go-to item for upgrading wood cheaply & easily is this craft wood tint in the grey shade.  It goes on easy, dries fast & doesn't require sanding.  The color is sort of a "griege" (grey/beige), which goes with everything.  I love that.  



I just brushed it onto the frames.  Even though they had a finish on them, it covered great and was dry pretty quick.  It did 2 coats for good coverage.



I used this burlap covered card stock as my background to add texture.  It was just a couple of bucks, plus a coupon made it even cheaper.  It added texture and a nice neutral base for my cutouts:

I taped the burlap card stock onto the back of the mats:

I used some bird-themed scrapbook paper in my peachy/brown/aqua room colors, my Cricut Explore & some free bird clip art to make my art shapes:

I glued the bird cutouts onto burlap:

And stuck them in the frames.  That's it.

Since I had the frames & wood tint already, the cost was just the paper - about $5 total thanks to sales & coupons.  Buying it all from scratch would be maybe $20 for the two.  It maybe took 30 minutes total to make them too.  Not bad for customized framed art!