Confession #32: Wall decals are worth making

Since most of our family is so far away, I wanted to make Liana a family tree with photos of everyone on it, so that she can see her family everyday. I have seen many lovely wall decals that would work but they are pretty pricey. So I looked into making my own. I already had double strong Heat n Bond so all I needed to do it cut out the pieces. I started with a tree truck with branches.

Once it was all ironed onto the wall, I added the leaves. I cut everything out free hand but I did use some blogs as inspirations: Brittany's Budget Crafts and Curbly.

 

At this point I wanted to add some animals so I cut out a few owls and ironed them onto the tree. If you don't want a family tree, and just a cute tree, you could stop at this point and leave it.

 I actually like the look of it allot without the photos. But that would defeat the whole purpose of this project. So I cut out everyones photo and glued them onto each leaf. 

Here is the finished result. What do you think? Liana loves it. She likes me to name everyone over and over again. I hope that by the next time we go up with Washington or over to Hawaii she will know everyones name.

 

Close up on the owl and leaves

 

Close up on the photos. Notice one empty leaf....that's for Liana's new sibling due in Feb.

 

This project was rather easy. The only problem I faced was during the ironing process. Since you need to iron each item on with a towel over it, I felt like I could have benefited from a having a third hand. But I did successfully do this shoe free, as usual. I got everything cut out and ready for the wall while my daughter napped and was able to iron everything on while she played with blocks on the floor. Not bad.

 

Easy to follow steps:

1. Pick your fabric and trace or free hand your pattern onto the back of the Heat n Bond.

2. Iron the fabric onto the Heat n Bond. Fabric right side up. Follow instructions of the Heat n Bond.

3. Cut out pattern.

4. Peel off paper from back of Heat n Bond.

5. Place finished fabric on wall (one piece at a time), place a towel over the fabric, and iron it onto the wall. 5 second count.

6. Make sure it stuck but don't peel it or it will come right off.

7. Repeat until all your pieces are on the wall

8. Glue on photos as desired. But make sure to only glue onto the fabric and not your walls.

9. Use a fabric pen if you would like to write the names of your family members by their photos.

10. Step back and enjoy your handy work.