Creativity 521 #67 - Fun with spray painting + Kura bed makeover

I remember I used to like doing spray painting when I was a kid. I guess it was probably because it meant you could get messy with your fingers and create splatters of paint which could be perceived as artistic.

Anyway, I had an idea of how to turn a spray painting artwork into a bedroom decoration but first, I had to introduce the kids to the concept of spray painting. So we hunted around for spare toothbrushes, gathered some materials from our craft supplies and did something fun!

In this week's Creativity 521, I am sharing with you about our Spray Painting session and how we did a simple Makeover for the girls' new bunk bed.

Materials we used for the spray painting:

1) Toothbrushes
2) Paint
3) Cup for holding water
4) Alphabet stickers
5) Construction paper
6) Scissors
7) Blu Tack
8) Old newspaper

Firstly, Angel used the stickers to spell her name onto a piece of coloured paper while Ariel decided she wanted Mama to cut out hearts for her. By the way, yes, Angel's favourite colour is pink while the little sister loves purple! I stuck the hearts onto the paper using Blu Tack and ensured that both the alphabets and shapes could be easily removed.

Next, mix the paint with some water and once the mixture was ready, it was time to spray! By holding the toothbrush with the bristles facing up, use your thumb to move in a backward direction (that is, towards yourself) and take aim at the paper.

If you can control your strength and make sure you don't put so much paint such that it drips, you will be able to create beautiful textures on the piece of paper. Of course, the girls could do neither and it ended up that their papers had blots of paint on them.

Well, for a first try, I still think they did pretty well! Remove your stickers or shapes to reveal the final artwork. In fact, these stickers or shapes can be used as decorations in other art projects too if you don't bear to throw them away!

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Moving on to our big project, remember we bought a Kura bunk bed from IKEA (for just $269!) last month? So far, the girls have been loving it and they like to pretend to be camping and we also have our bedtime storytelling under the tent every night. The good news is Ariel also loves sleeping in the kids' room now and although she still needs me to accompany her before she can fall asleep, at least we have successfully shifted both kids to this room. Woohoo!

Anyway, we bought a blue, instead of green, tent for a reason and that was because I really wanted to personalise their bed to make it the one and only in the world. To what theme? Well, to the theme the girls love the most - Frozen, of course!!!!

Materials used for the makeover:

1) Big pieces of blue paper
2) White paint
3) Toothbrush
4) Comb
5) Scissors
6) 3M tape
7) Blu Tack
8) Glue
9) Glossy photo paper
10) Shiny white paper
11) Colour printer
12) Snowflake punch
13) Paintbrushes
14) Craft knife
15) Old newspapers
16) Container for holding water and paint mixture

Firstly, we did the spray painting using white paint on the piece of blue paper. Unlike the previous time, we decided to use a comb to help us this time round. So all you have to do is use the bristles of the toothbrush to brush against the comb to create patterns as shown in the above picture.

The more strength you use and the nearer to the paper you go, the bigger the dots in the splatter. It doesn't have to be too even or consistent, but do make sure the entire piece of paper is covered.

You might also want to do this out of the house since it can get a little messy and do remember to spread some old newspapers!

There! Done for the first piece! I asked Angel what it resembled and was delighted when she actually answered "Snow!" Repeat this for as many pieces of paper as you may need.

Next, we used the snowflake punch to make dozens of snowflakes from the shiny white paper. This could get quite tough and challenging and I realised it was much easier to step on the punch with your foot than to press it down with your palm!

After that, we used paintbrushes to apply glue onto the snowflakes and stuck them onto the background.

The little sister was in charge of applying the glue.

While the big sister took care of pasting them onto the paper one by one.

See? We completed our first piece and thought it looked pretty awesome! It does give that wintry, snowy and beautiful feel, doesn't it?

Following that, it was my turn to finish off the project! Firstly, I measured and cut out the artwork so that it could fit nicely onto the bed panels and secured it using 3M tape.

Then, I printed out pictures from Frozen onto glossy photo paper and also the names of the kids to personalise their beds. I cut out the letters neatly and glued them in place. For the pictures, the tiny parts had to be cut with a craft knife and once they were done, I stuck them onto the paper using Blu Tack because I wanted them to achieve a slight 3-dimensional effect.

Here's how the decorative artwork looks in the end. Do you like it?

I must say we really love the final look! Not too simple, not too complicated, yet striking, customised and truly unique. I definitely hope it helps the kids to sleep better and sleep happier! Yayyy!

For our DIY tutorials and craft inspiration, visit my gallery here.

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To fellow bloggers who have a fun craft session, DIY tip or creative idea to share, come join in the party! Highlight and press Ctrl + C to copy my button above, include it in your post/sidebar and add your link below. I will be hosting Creativity 521 on the 5th and 21st of every month, do hop over for more inspiration. Remember: The sky's the limit when it comes to creativity!