First Preschool Project

Here's the first project that I've completed now that Nolan is away at preschool 3 days a week. Actually, I'm realizing that Ezra takes way more attention than Nolan. Does anyone do preschool for 1-yr.-olds?

Our somewhat new entertainment center from IKEA allows for fabric to be inserted in the door, rather than a plain glass door. I chose this fabric and have long been wanting to make a stencil for the wall that matches the fabric. Here's what I came up with. I think I'm finally happy with my main family room wall.

The process involved laying the fabric on a laptop screen in order to get light shining through so that I could trace the image. From there I traced it with a thin black marker and then had it blown up at a copy store. I then traced the large drawing onto a plastic file folder. I purchased the handiest stencil cutter tool at the craft store. It melts away the edges of the plastic so that I didn't have to use an Xacto knife. That would have been very gruelling work. It involved mixing 3 stencil colors and some patience. But it wasn't too difficult, really. The finished product isn't without it flaws of tiny paint bleeds, but I think it gives it a whimsical look. I'm not going to pretend I came up with this idea on my own. Here's where I got the idea if you're interested in making your own stencil (I love this decorating blog). They give great detailed instructions.