Tam, who blogs at Sew Dang Cute Crafts, made this wall art for her guest bedroom.
How gorgeous is this DIY wall art? You might be thinking, “wow, I could never make that wall art.” But yes you can, especially because Tam, who blogs at Sew Dang Cute Crafts and The DIY Club, is going to share her tutorial with us for this DIY wall art. Step-by-step, she’ll show you how she used STYROFOAM brand foam and fabric to make this wall art collage. You can do it! And depending on the fabrics you choose, it’s going to cost you less than $50 bucks.
Here’s the original inspiration, which used scrapbook papers.
The Garden Collage Wall Art uses scrapbook papers instead of fabric.
And here’s another variation, though this one is definitely more complex.
It’s a little more time consuming, but this Rectangle Wall Sculpture is amazing!
Now, back to Tam’s tutorial. (Note: I’ll chime in a couple of times with a hint, and I apologize now for my interruptions!)
Take it away, Tam:
I started out with three sheets of STYROFOAM Brand Foam: Two 1″ x 12″ x 36″ sheets; and one 1″ x 12″ X 12″ sheet.
You’ll start with two, 1″ x 12″ x 36″ foam sheets and one 1″ x 12″ x 12″ square.
Here’s the pattern and the cutting diagram. This was pretty messy, so I recommend cutting it outside if possible. (Note: Here are a few tips for cutting STYROFOAM Brand Foam.)
The foam pieces are arranged according to the diagram.
Next, I went through my fabric and figured out my design.
Arrange your fabrics till you decide you like how they look.
Once that was figured out, I cut each of my fabric pieces slightly larger than each of the coordinating pieces of STYROFOAM brand foam.
Cut fabric large enough to cover the sides and wrap onto the back.
DecoArt just came out with its own decoupage product and I was eager to try it out. First, I decoupaged my fabric to the top of the piece of STYROFOAM.
Then I trimmed each of the corners like so.
Cut a small square from each corner of the fabric so that the fabric will smoothly wrap around the corners on your foam square.
This made it easy to decoupage the sides.
Repeat with all your pieces and allow to dry. Once dry, apply a topcoat of decoupage to each piece.
Add a topcoat of decoupage medium.
This will seal and protect the fabric. Make sure to get all the edges and corners as well.
Seal edges and corners.
Repeat with all your pieces. Once dry, arrange the pieces in your collage pattern and glue together.
Follow the diagram and arrange your wall art.
I used hot glue for this, but when I picked it up to move it after it dried, it fell apart. So I went back to old reliable – Gorilla Glue. That did the trick! (Note: You can reinforce adjoining pieces on the reverse side by gluing on craft sticks or paint stir sticks to connect the pieces. Be sure the reinforcements are not visible from the front.)
I needed to put some sort of hanging hardware on the back of this thing, but the STYROFOAM was so light I didn’t want to do anything too heavy. I remembered some DISChangers I had and those worked perfectly – lightweight and very strong! (Note: You can also try hook & loop picture hangers to hang the wall art.)
Tam used DISChangers to hang the lightweight wall art.
Thank you, Tam, for sharing your tutorial with us. (And by the way, I love the striped walls in your guest bedroom. Sharp!) Which room in your house could use a little more zing? If you’d like even more inspiration, check out our three free, home décor booklets.
And, another “thank you” to everyone who entered our contest to win a copy of the project book A Notion to Celebrate. We had such great participation that I decided to pick two winners – Christine Mays Gant and Jenny Barnett Rohrs. Congratulations! Please contact me with your mailing address.
Happy crafting!
Sharon
I think this is a great idea, it inspires me to create something with photographs and fabric mix. On an even large scale. Maybe the foam and fabric can be a great alternative to canvases… Hmmm… Thanks for the post.
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Could you use strapbooking paper instead of fabric..Im a college student and on a budget….
Hi Michelle, Absolutely! Here’s our DIY scrapbook paper wall art.
Where do you buy the styrafoam? Do you need to cut it or does it come in different sizes?
Whoops. Nevermind about the cutting it but where did you purchase it? What was the overall end dimensions?
Hi Christy, Thanks for stopping in Crafts ‘n Coffee. Michaels, Jo-Ann Stores, and Hobby Lobby all carry our sheets of STYROFOAM Brand Foam. Typically, they measure 12″ x 36″ x 1″, and as you can see, you can cut them to the sizes you need. Happy crafting! Sharon
How do you do it with scrapebook paper?
Hi Cindy, here’s the post about our DIY Wall Art made with scrapbook papers; each photo clicks through to a step-by-step tutorial: http://craftsncoffee.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/fast-fabulous-diy-wall-art-ideas/
What a wonderful piece and it looks and sounds so easy to do! Thank you for sharing!
This is wonderful, I have got to do this with an animal print theme for one of my bedrooms. Thanks for sharing this.
You won’t believe how easy it is, Sara. I’m so glad you’re inspired, and I hope you share a photo ofyour wall art on our Facebook page @StyroCrafts. Thank you! Sharon
I am not sure if all of the fabrics are but some of them are Amy
Butler. Her fabrics are amazing!
Thank you, Nicole. I love her fabrics, too, and I might do a feature in the future that’s all Amy Butler wall art — stay tuned! Sharon
I am wondering what fabric line you used for this project – I LOVE IT!!!!!
Thanks!
Thank you, Denise. Tam over at Sew Dang Cute Crafts made this fabulous wall art and she could probably tell you the manufacturer. I’m sorry that I don’t know. Sharon