ModPodge + Paint = Art

We’re getting ready at my mom’s house to start decorating for Spring. A little late, I know, but that’s us. She just bought a beautiful new ivory bedding set from HSN. While it looks stunning with her black furniture, the room was just a little ‘blah’.

We’ve talked about painting the walls – finally! I’ve wanted to paint out the white since she moved 2-1/2 years ago, but she thought she’d love the white walls. Now, she’s ready for a little color. But we just weren’t up for the effort this week.

We add turquoise in the living room for spring & summer. Just some pillows, vases, etc. Easy-peasy stuff. So we thought we’d carry the turquoise into her bedroom, as well.

I started with a couple of blank 18” x 24” canvases.

I had some asian scrapbook paper I bought at Big Lots a few years back. So it was just picking some pieces that had turquoise in them.

Then I just slapped (literally!) some paint on the canvases to pick up the colors of the paper. No method – just different colors – kind of like finger painting with a brush.

Next, “what-not-to-do-with-ModPodge”. I just dumped the Modpodge on the back of the paper and spread it out.

If you’ve done any decoupage, you’re cringing right now, I know. If you haven’t, take a tip from me – don’t do it this way! Why? Too much glue = too many wrinkles/bubbles in the paper.

And it’s a royal pain trying to get those wrinkles out, believe me. Next time I’ll just brush a little glue on the backside of my paper, just enough to get it to adhere, and then topcoat it a couple of times.

I took a little pin and popped some of the bubbles and worked and worked to get the air out. I got it pretty flat. Flat enough to where they only show if you’re looking at the canvases from the side. Good enough, as they say.

After the ModPodge dried I added some fuji mums on one canvas.

And some loose leaves & vines on the other.

I love how the paint on top of paper on top of paint ties everything together. I actually spent too much time trying to get the paint on the canvas to match the paper. Now I see it doesn’t matter that much because once you paint over the paper, everything starts to blend really well.

Then we choose some chinese characters to paint on each canvas. Since Mom’s bedroom is partly in her Wealth area & partially in the Health area, we chose Prosperity & Peace. To Mom, good health means Peace.

The black characters seem a bit harsh, but it’s what she wanted. They do work well in her bedroom, I guess.

I still have to hang them on the wall, but I wanted you to see the canvases with the black furniture. Not bad for just slapping some paint & glue on canvas, huh?

Now we just need a couple more turquoise items and the bedroom is done – except for painting the walls.

Colleen