DIY Inspirational Wall Art: Start Each Day With A Grateful Heart

Have you ever had an empty wall somewhere in your home that needed a custom fix? I certainly have! One spot in particular was driving me nuts until I came up with my own DIY inspirational wall art. I tried one of my thrift store tricks and used a frame I purchased at Goodwill. It had its own piece of "art" in it -- that I promptly yanked out! Read on for all the details as to how I accomplished creating my own DIY inspirational wall art that I think rivals the one I originally found in the store.

So here's the inspiration for my project. I stumbled upon it at Target and it got my wheels turning. I knew I could make it myself. This was a canvas, but I was thinking more of a framed print look.

So off to Goodwill I went.  It took more than a few visits to find the right frame. Here it is "before." Knights of the Roundtable posters are not exactly my cup of tea. But size-wise the frame was perfect and I knew it. So I broke down and paid $3.99 for it, which is more than I would have liked. But I knew it would be a great fit for the space and I was too impatient to wait until I found another one that might be cheaper.

Here it is facing down on the kitchen table after I ripped the artwork out of it. I couldn't believe that someone had actually had the poster professionally framed. Made my job a bit more difficult than I expected.

Here it is before I started cutting off the backing.

I used a carpenter's knife to slit the paper backing all the way around, then ripped it off. The poster was actually glued to a piece of cardboard so I had to basically yank the thing out. Seriously. Once that was done it was time to paint.

Knowing that I didn't want a brown frame, I began by painting it white.

Then I added a bit of dimension to it by using my Plaid Layering Block. You can read how I used the layering block to create a faux distressed look without actually distressing!

I played around on the computer (in Word) until I had just the right sized letters. I knew I had a big roll of white paper somewhere, left over from when the kids were really young and created art just about every day. Those days are long gone, but at least I still have that paper! 

I printed out all the words, then cut them out and placed them in order right where I wanted them.

Once I had them all in place I laid my my clean white paper over the printed words and traced the outline of all the words in pencil, as indicated by the arrows. (I moved the tracing paper down so you could see the printed words underneath.) Prior to tracing I taped the clean paper down with painter's tape to keep it in place while I traced.

Once I got all the words traced I sat back and enjoyed my handiwork. The font I chose is called Buttercup Sample. I thought it most resembled the font on the original artwork that was my inspiration for this project. And truth be told I liked it better.

My next step involved paint pens. I painted all the words but "grateful" with a black paint pen, then filled in "grateful" with a gold paint pen. The original was in all gold with a black pop of color but I waned just the opposite. I liked the black on white with a gold pop of color.

What do you think?

I used a roll of Dollar Tree kraft paper to cover the back of the frame and hold my image in place.  And that, as they say, was that.

Right now it's in the living room, but it's going to end up in the kitchen eating area, a place where we'll see it every day. And I do believe that it's a sentiment I want my family to carry with them each day as they walk out the door. Some might even say that starting out the day with a grateful heart is half the battle. Wouldn't you agree? What inspirational quote would YOU choose? 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my 

DIY Inspirational Wall Art:

Start Each Day With A Grateful Heart and that I've inspired you in some way!

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