Artwork hung on a wall can dramatically enhance the feel of any room. The challenge is finding that perfect artwork for that particular room.

As some of you are aware, it was my nephew’s first birthday last Wednesday. The big 1. The day where he finally phases out of infancy and ventures into childhood and single whole digit numbers. On Saturday, Naysta and Vanny threw him an epic birthday party to commemorate this special transition, this turning of the clocks. It was truly a marvelous day full of sumptuous food and delectable sweets. I will post soon about the actual day, it was a fest for the eyes.

The planned party was numerous months in the making. As an aunty, I wanted to buy him a present that was special, but practical, something that was fit for such a momentous occasion. Those who know me, know that I’ve never really been exposed to infants and children. I grew up playing with family friends of a similar age to me, there were rarely really young kids running amuck and if there were, they weren’t of a close acquaint to me. Thus, it was quite special yet daunting to have my nephew be born and enter my life. Many things I’ve done with him have all been firsts for me, babysitting, changing nappies, playing, putting him to sleep etc etc. Therefore I wanted to get him something that was special and sentimental, to thank him for all the lessons he had taught me.

As part of his present, I thought it would be an exquisite idea if I made him something unique and personalized, to memorialize such a special occasion. I had seen one particular canvas artwork from blogs which appeared to be comparatively easy to make, yet looked exceptionally awesome in nurseries and kids room. As Kai’s room has the green safari theme, I wanted to stay with that theme of jungle animals and so decided to incorporated it into the artwork.

Materials you will need:
• A framed canvas
• Decorative paper in different patterns
• Ribbons in different sizes and patterns
• Mini craft pegs
• Card board paper
• Plain white paper
• Spray adhesive
• Sticky tape
• Scissor

Step one: Firstly, you need to draw the animals and letters on plain paper to use as your template. Once you’ve drawn all the silhouettes that you need, take your scissor and cut those shapes out, taking care to accurately cut precisely what you’ve drawn, especially those little detailed sections.

Step two: Using your template, trace the outline onto the back of your decorative paper. You can use different paper for different animals and letters, or use the same paper for all. Once you’re happy, cut them out.


Step three: Take your different ribbons and measure to find out what lengths you need to cut them. Make sure you give enough at the end so that it can wrap around the canvas and be secured to the back. Arrange the ribbons up the top in whatever order you prefer. You can also line the ribbons vertical if you like, I prefer it horizontal. Wrap the ribbon on the front of the canvas, and using your sticky tape, tape the ribbon to the back of the canvas

Step four: You can paint your mini pegs if you desire, I left them in the natural colour because I thought it actually looked better. Randomly scatter the pegs on the various ribbons, giving it the clothes line look.
Step five: Grap your animal cut outs and spray the adhesive to the back of it. Place it on the canvas before it dries.

Step six: Making the individual name/letter plaque. I decided to use cardboard paper as the backing as I felt it gives the plaque more structure, hence less flimsy. Take your cardboard paper and cut out a shape of your choice. I went with squares as it felt more masculine. Using decorative paper, spray the adhesive to the paper and stick it onto the cardboard to make a nice background. Cut out a small size square for the second layer background.

Step seven: Take your letters which you’ve cut out of decorative paper and stick them onto the plaque. I used the pegs to hold up the plaque, rather than sticking it onto the canvas. This gives the artwork more of a 3d effect.

And there you have it, nice and easy! The hardest part was probably trying to cut the pictures as I had to be extra careful and retain as much detail as I could. Give it a go, it’s very satisfying to make your own artwork. Hopefully Kai loves it as its one of a kind, especially made for him with LOVE!

xox
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