Get creative with picture frames

A series of painted animal silhouettes that are so simple to create and will brighten up any nursery or children’s room. This is a great beginner’s project and is a quick and affordable way of getting beautiful artwork on the walls in no time! The French handwritten background adds a unique charm to this fun project.

 

YOU WILL NEED:

Craft knife in assorted colours
Acrylic paint
Card - 280gsm, black and white
Paper - cream
Frame
Paintbrushes - fine and flat tip

 

 

HERE'S HOW:

1. Cut five pieces of cream paper and one piece of black card, all measuring 13 x 18cm. Use a white pen on the black paper and a black pen on the white to write your wording. You can use Latin or French - use the Internet to source.

2. Trace each silhouette onto cream paper using a pencil.

3. Using a flat tip paintbrush, carefully fill in the silhouette. Use green for the giraffe, red for the bird and blue for the elephant. Ensure the brush is well covered, and then wipe away excess paint before application to allow for a smooth finish. Use the small fine brush for detailed areas such as the bird’s feet and the elephants tail. After the first application has dried, carefully re-coat with several more layers of paint.

4. Once you have a good coverage of paint and it is completely dry, use the craft knife to carefully cut around the edges of each silhouette- trimming away any untidy brush strokes.

5. Paste the giraffe onto the black card and the bird and elephant onto the white card.

6. When they are dry, frame the pictures in identical frames to further emphasize they are part of a series. For each frame you will need: 2 mats cut from the same board to fit each frame. Sit one behind your artwork and get a window measuring 14.5 x 19.5cm cut in the second, to sit over the artwork. The internal edges of the window should sit about 8mm out from the edge of the artwork and the top of the window should sit 7.4cm from the top of the mat allowing for a slightly bottom heavy weighting.