So, do it yourself removable wall decals.  I fell in love with wall decals the first time I discovered them.  I’ve rented all my life and painting on the walls has always been a big, huge, N-O.  So I’ve gotten pretty used to having white walls.  There’s only so much wall hangings can do for a white wall and the “artsy fartsy” side of me wants paint and color on my walls.  Well, good wall decals are such a huge step toward that but most of them are still lacking in that they are only one, maybe two colors, can be very expensive for a large one, and they are a far cry from paint.  So, in a moment of, ‘Yeah… that could work!’ I picked up a roll of clear, removeable, shelf paper and made what you see in the above picture which turned into this tutorial. (oh and please excuse the nails ahead of time… I painted the wall, not the nails)

Materials:

Clear Removeable Shelf Paper ( it doesn’t have to be clear, you can experiment with colors too — think regular decals)
Scisors (or a craft knife if you need more precision)
Paint and brushes
hard, smooth edge for smoothing bubbles (I used a tupperware icing spreader — credit cards work well too)

1) On the back side of your shelf paper, draw out the design you want your wall decal to be. Remember that your actual decal will be the mirror image of what you draw on the back. Cut out the image. If you have an exact image you want, you will need to add about an 1/8″ edge around the entire thing so when you paint you aren’t painting the wall.

2) Decide where on your wall the decal is going to go and start pealing back the backing and smoothing the shelf paper onto the wall with the smooth edge pushing out bubbles as you go. Because I was using a very simple shape, I peeled off half the backing paper before I placed the shelf paper on the wall.

3) Continue smoothing and peeling till the shelf paper is in place and any air bubbles have been pushed out. At this point you can also reposition any parts that aren’t where they should be. Be careful to not reposition too much or your decal will not stay adhered to the wall.

4) Paint as desired being sure to keep about an 1/8″ buffer zone between the edge of the decal and your paint. The goal is to not pain the wall, only the shelf paper.

5) Lather rinse repeat if desired and enjoy the new splash (or bucket spill) of color.

**as a side note: I tested this specific paper on my wall for about a year and the peeled it off and had no problems with paint coming off or excessive sticky residue. My next decal project: A border on my son’s wall.**

The inspiration for this came from a piece of art I found at a dear friends house last weekend. Keep in mind that liquids will wash away your paint — so no glass cleaners on the painted side. Also, remember that the edges of your glass will be covered by the frame so paint accordingly.

Materials:
wood frame with glass
paints and brushes
cotton swab (for fixing mistakes)
computer, printer, paper
ribbon
drill with bit
embroidery needle

1) take the glass out of the frame and set the frame aside. Clean the glass and let dry. Paint the glass how you like. I used the nature printing tutorial for the leaves and flower prints. I placed a white sheet of paper underneath for better visability. If you’re using white paint, use a dark paper underneath. Damp cotton swabs are ideal for fixing little mistakes. Let dry.

2) for the word, I opened up a new word processing document, typed the word I wanted, found the font I liked and enlarged it to the size I wanted. To figure out the right size, zoom to 100% and then hold the painted glass up to the screen, position the word where you want it to be, and adjust the size as needed. In order to get the reverse image, I specified paper type as “t-shirt transfer”, followed the on screen instructions for how to adjust my printer for that setting, and then printed.

3) I then placed the word under the glass and positioned everything where I wanted it to be. Then I painted over the word.

4) while the word is drying I prepped the frame. I drilled two holes at a 45 degree angle from the top. To get the angle, start the bit by drilling a divet straight down, then angle the bit and continue drilling. Thread the needle with the ribbon and insert from top to bottom of one hole and then from bottom to top in the next hole.

5) trim the ribbon, add the glass, and secure. My frame had stays in the frame itself. That’s kind of unusual. You may have to super glue/epoxy the glass to the frame. This picture also shows the back of the frame and what the ribbon looks like back there.

6) tie a bow in the top and make sure it’s going to hold. It doesn’t have to be centered because you can adjust where the bow is located by sliding the ribbon along the back of the frame. Trim ends and hang.

Kids have such a neat way of seeing the world. They can be so much better than adults at seeing the smallest details or the broader picture. My children have taught me to stop and smell the roses — quite literally. They love looking at leaves and bugs and birds and rocks and… nature. They love feeling leaves and describing the different textures, making funny faces at the “stinky” flowers they smell, telling me about all the different colors they see down the road. Their love of nature spills over abundantly into craft time. Between drawing it, decorating it, and gluing it, it’s a wonder it took me so long to stumble on nature printing or using nature as stamps.

The basics of nature printing is that you paint the object, press the painted object onto a surface, remove the object, and enjoy it’s image. Below is a slightly more detailed how to on the basics of nature printing.

Materials:

a couple of sturdy leaves
acrylic paints and paint brushes/sponges
tweezers
a sheet of cardstock
a couple coffee filters or a sheet of scrap paper
a thick, heavy book
tin/aluminum foil

How to:
1) prep your leaves by pressing them in the book. Place them between the pages and put a sticky note to mark where you placed the leaves. Press for about an hour, more if they are really thick leaves, less if they are really thin.

2) place your foil on a flat surface (table, cookie sheet, book etc) and place your leaf, underside up on the foil. Mix your paints to the desired color and paint the leaf. Don’t put too much paint or your image will lack definition, and don’t put too little or the paint will dry before it even gets to the printing stage.

3) with your tweezers, pick up the leaf by its stem and place it paint side down on your cardstock. Once it’s on your paper, do not reposition it or you will end up with a smudged image.

4) Place the coffee filter over the top of the leaf and use your hand to press the leaf into the cardstock. Make sure you apply pressure to the entire leaf. I suggest using a coffee filter because I feel that I can get a better feel for when I have pressed the etire leaf.

5) Carefully lift the coffee filter off and then remove the leaf with the tweezers. Let dry and repeat.

A couple closing notes. There are all sorts of other paints and surfaces you can use for printing, I just used acrylic and cardstock because that’s what I have on hand. Your images can me more realistic or less, it’s up to you. If you want to sink more deeply into the world of nature printing, a really wonderful resource is the book Nature Printing with Herbs, Fruits & Flowers by Laura Donnelly Bethmann. The book has all sorts of helpful tips, tricks, and background information, along with beautiful and inspiring pictures of prints the author has done.