DIY Decorating - Branches

Branch Antlers

DIY Decorating

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I have a confession to make, I've been kind of a yard waste hoarder lately...after each storm we've had, I save all the branches that fall from the tress because I think they can be turned into great items for the home! (I just heart branch decor) My first easy DIY Decorating project using branches was in my daughters room which you can see here (still need to add the birds).  About a week after setting up her tree branches, I saw these "Branchlers" by custom furniture maker Luke Bartels and I couldn't help myself.  Even Todd Oldham has put a pair of these branchlers up in his home.  I have been slowly working on my little guys room and I've been wanting it to be northern outdoorsy, kind of a woodland theme, but rustic and modern with soft colors for a baby at the same time.  Anyways, it's a WORK IN PROGRESS....to say the least...but I made these branch antlers out of one of the branches from my stash and now he has 2 things on his nursery walls! (hey it's progress :) The other item is the When I Grow Up I want to be like My Daddy sign I made last week)   This branch decor was really simple, I will show you in pictures how I did it.

I should also mention, this is a super fast and easy project...one of the easiest, effortless diy projects I have done.  (This cost $2.27 to make as I bought the wood plaque and hanging hardware..however there are at least 3 or 4 more pieces of hanging hardware left over)

Supplies

Wood Plaque (got mine at hobby lobby for $0.99 it was 50% off)

instant coffee and water....make a really strong dark coffee

foam brush

hanging hardware kit (found in the same area as the wood plaque for $1.27 for a little baggy of them)

tree branch or branches

garden clippers

glue gun and glue

rope

 I stained the wood with very dark brewed coffee and did 2-3 coats. See picture below for before and after color comparison.

Position your hanging hardware so it is straight and use a small hammer to attach it to plaque.

Find a good branch or 2 branches that will make good antlers and clip them to shape your branch antlers...

Clip the bottom tip of your antlers at an angle so you can line them up flush against the plaque...

Heat up your glue gun.  Make a big pile of hot glue centered on the lower part of your plaque.  Affix your branch antlers, adjust the the branches to how you like and then hold in place till the glue dries.

 This one branch took extra long to secure so I just propped it up...

Loop a rope around the base of your branch antlers and secure with hot glue.

Baby Boy Room Decor Tutorial

When I Grow Up...

Baby Boy Room Decor Tutorial

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don't like to diy or paint?
Buy It Here

Alright, earlier this week I shared the canvas sign I made for my baby boys nursery with the quote "When I Grow Up I Want to be Like My Daddy" and here is the tutorial with a free printable template to help! Ready to start some nursery diy? Here we go!

Supplies

Foam Brush or 1 inch paint brush

Flat tip 1/4 inch paint brush (or white paint pen)

Acrylic Paint (your choice of color)

6 x 12 inch canvas, board or box

printer

pencil

chalk

scissors 

tape

Template (click here to download from google docs)

let me know if you have any problems, this is my first time using google docs

Paint your entire canvas, sides and all, (paint color you use depends on your nursery colors) and allow to dry. You can purchase a tube of acrylic paint in the perfect color or you can mix colors to get what you want.  I mixed cerulean blue, cadmium yellow and titanium white to get the shade of blue on my nursery sign. 

While the paint dries, download the template for the sign from Google Docs Here.

Print out the template (2 pages) and then trim the edges and tape together (I used double sided tape but regular tape works too)

Flip it over and cover the entire backside with chalk, I used sidewalk chalk because it was right there!

Now just place the template right on top of your canvas and do the ol' pencil tracing transfer method!  Firmly trace over the edges of each letter.  After doing the first letter, I like to carefully peel up the corner to peek to see if it is transferring before doing the whole thing...if it looks too faint, add more chalk.  (usually I use pencil or charcoal when doing this transfer technique, but I didn't want the dark shadings to muddle up with the white paint and make the wording dirty...

Once you have traced all your letters, you can either use a white paint pen to fill them in or use a small flat tip paint brush.  I outlined the edges carefully before filling in to try to keep the edges as crisp as possible.

This is a bad picture, but just so you can see what my paint brush looks like....

(top view)

 After applying paint on the brush I slide it along the plate (pallet) on both sides to create the fine tip...then hold it with the flat edge along the chalk line and carefully drag it up or down to create clean crisp lines...(hope that explanation makes sense!) (if you are not comfortable with paint brushes, this is where you might want to use a paint pen instead :)   

(side view)

Just keep going...outline with paint then fill it in...it doesn't have to be perfect :)

As you can see I didn't make all my letters perfectly uniform in thickness of paint...but I wanted it that way it made it more like the font in the template that is a little weathered looking)  If tiy wanted every letter to be brighter and more filled in evenly, you could go over and do a second coat of white once the first had dried...

I hope you enjoy this project!  This diy nursery canvas sign would make a great addition to your little boy's nursery or make a great gift for a father to be, new father, hand made baby shower gift, or a gift to welcome a new baby boy to the family, or just because it would look so cute in your boys' room and pay tribute to the important father son relationship.

Also, the nice thing about making this on thick canvas rather than a piece of wood like many word and quote signs, is that you can easily place it on a dresser or shelf, or hang it up on the wall, plus the canvas looks more like art than a piece of wood.

Let me know if you try this I'd love to see how it turns out!


If you would like to purchase this 6x12 inch gallery wrapped baby boy art, it is available in my etsy shop and is custom made to order in any color to match your nursery or little boys room.