Some of you may be wondering what ever happened to my daughter Bekah (of skirty fame). The truth is she is living right here under my roof with Ben and the five children, and she comes up once in a while for a cup of coffee. She has busied herself with figuring out how to market a line of dresses for her little business Amoretti, as well as keeping the kids occupied. This has all been quite tame, and I don’t know why you haven’t heard a peep out of her since she got back to the US of A.
This past week they made a trip to Boise to visit family, and while there Bekah learned that her mother-in-law needed a little decorating help with her kindergarten room. Anita has taught kindergarten since Ben (who is now 36) started at age five. So, needless to say, she knows her stuff. Anyhow, this year she has a new temporary room that has walls covered with Pooh Bear. And though we all love Pooh, it just doesn’t fit in with Anita’s bird theme. She is not allowed to paint over the beloved Pooh, because this building is a rental, so she shoved as many bookshelves as possible over some of the drawings. Still, honey bees and things kept peering out.
But, in the nick of time, Bekah got an inspirational flash which has resulted in a power-crafting event. She bought two large drop cloths, designed charts and what not on her computer to cover them, painted edges, and ironed on birds of all flavors, and presto! (well, not exactly presto!) her mother-in-law has wall coverings that can be hung over walls, putting Winnie the Pooh under wraps.
The first one is finished and the second one needs to be done early in the a.m. as Anita leaves for Boise and has to be at school Monday a.m. So the pressure is on, much as it is in the Olympics. Bekah is sure the second one will go much faster. I’m thinking by one a.m. But I wanted you to get a glimpse of this enormous wall display. It is just cool as can be. She’s got the number chart, the poet’s corner, birds, birds, birds, and it is a very fun wall hanging. We did our best to get a decent picture.
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WOW.
It looks fantastic! Way to go, Bekah!
Amazing but not surprising. We still talk about the Kinkos days when Bekah would come in to create beautiful things on fabric and whatnot, in ways that the Kinkos experts had never imagined. So much talent.
Wonderful! Can she make me one for my homeschool room? Right after she finishes the second one . . . .
I am inspired. How did you make this? Please! Please! Share how you do such things.
I’m with Jenny! Are those all iron-on transfers on top of the painted background / border colors? Please inform us!
I don’t mean to be a pest. Actually, I do! Just checked back to see if you bestowed words of instruction to an eager mom. Do you have any suggestions for chore charts?
Howdy!
So . . . I finally checked in and realized that people had been asking me questions which I was rudely not even noticing!
Here goes. We bought two huge canvas drop cloths at Home Depot – super cheap compared to buying yardage, and a much wider width than you would ever be able to find at a fabric store. Then I hemmed the cloths to fit the space, and masking taped off the border. I painted that with regular latex paint and a big fat brush – hardly took any time at all. Then just because I felt like it, I outlined the borders with a big fat Sharpie marker. (One of my very best nuggets of wisdom and rules to live by is that you should never underestimate the value of a black outline!) Anyway, the rest was all done with iron-on transfers. My mother in law gave me the list of all the birds they study over the year in Kindergarten, and I found pictures that I liked online, adjusted the size and printed them out. With some of the birds I could fit several on one sheet, but the penguin for instance took about 3 sheets. (And you should see the turkey on the other one! Incredibly and fantastically ugly and took about 5 sheets I think.) One other hot tip: The birds that were in the middle of the canvas I just printed on regular transfer paper. But any of the birds that were lapping over the painted area I did on that transfer paper that is specially made for dark backgrounds. Oh and one other thing! You have to be super careful with the ironing – because after a transfer is on there, if you touch it at all with the iron (as you’re working on the bird next door) it totally ruins the first one. And the number charts were all done the same way . . . I just designed them on the computer and printed them out and ironed them on. It’s incredibly simple in concept, but takes a heck of a time to actually do it. If anyone was inclined to do something like this (and didn’t necessarily need something that was 8 feet by 10 feet but could make do with something a bit smaller!) would be to design it on the computer the way you want it, and then find a website that will print it on canvas for you – I’ve done that before and it was actually not that expensive at all considering. And it isn’t like tons of transfer paper and printer ink is all that cheap! So if you’re not inclined to spend 20 hours with an iron, just do it that way. You just upload your image, say what size you want, and they mail it to you in less than a week. They’ll even send it to you stretched on a frame if you want, and you can have something that is much more professional. If I was doing something for my homeschooling room (hypothetically speaking since I don’t have a homeschooling room and I’m definitely not that organized of a homeschooling mom!) would be to do something smaller and more manageable – maybe 3 feet by 4 feet or something – and have it printed and stretched on a frame. That would definitely be the bee’s knees!
Thank you so much!!! The specific directions are super helpful. I love the idea of having them stretched on a frame – our homeschooling is happening all in the main area of our house, so we need things that look nice if they are going to stay out. I’ve made gazillions of iron-on t-shirts for our student ministries events so I totally know what you mean about hours and hours of ironing! Thanks for sharing your awesome creative stuff once again. 🙂
Thanks! Great directions. Your creations are inspiring. Sounds like a ton of work – I’ll take your suggestion and try something small first.
Jenny, I had a vague recollection of seeing a chore chart by Bekah, and dug this up.
Valerie – Thanks. I love it! Rebekah – in regards to the circus chore chart that you made (the one Valerie directed me to) you mentioned that you found the art on the computer. How? Where? We have an Apple. I wouldn’t call myself a pro – but I’m certainly not scared of the computer and I can find my way around easily. Is there a specific operating program that you use? Do you use the internet mostly? Is there a certain place where you find your fonts? Then when you find your art, font, etc., what application do you use to put it all together? Thanks again for all your input. I relish this creative fellowship.
Hi Jenny!
You know – I kind of tend to make it up as I go along . . . I mean, I’m sure a real graphic designer would laugh their heads off if they saw the way I go about things on the computer! I generally use Photoshop . . . but the version I have is some kind of free sample version that came off the ark with Noah. And even at that it has many a feature that I have no idea how to operate. But anyway, if I have a specific font need (like the circus one) I usually google for something creative like, “free circus font”. I’m afraid I don’t remember where I found that one . . . then same general approach with the animals at the top. I have no idea where I dug them up – somewhere online. I guess it comes down to google and photoshop! Then just fiddle about with it until you have something you like . . .
Sorry I feel like I’m no help at all! This is sounding suspiciously like, “Google about, and be warmed and filled!” But that’s actually pretty much what I do . . .
Here’s a great source for free fonts: dafont.com
And by the powers vested in me as a Real Graphic Designerâ„¢, I hereby declare Bekah to be a fair hand at her antedeluvian ‘Shopping.