MPDtribe

My Prayer Wall & Canvas was a project from the heart. I was sitting at my dining room table looking at my stairway and I was inspired to add prayers to my walls before starting my painting project! And then it morphed into an accent wall with the plans of stenciling Psalm 91:11 when I was done. Supplies I Used Sherwin Williams Poppy Seed: I used this as my base coat on my Prayer Wall. Really you can use any black or dark grey paint. Dixie Belle’s Caviar, Hurricane Gray, Driftwood, Cotton, Bronze Patina Paint, Clear Coat in Flat Brayer Roller Paper plate, cheap chip brushes (optional) 24″ x 24″ Grandeur Collection Canvas Joint Compound Spatula or Putty Knife 220 Grit Sandblock Paint brushes Optional Wall Decor: natural rustic flower wood wall decor, white rustic flower wood wall decor, distressed white flower wood wall decor, white rustic flower wood wall decor, natural rustic flower wood wall decor 3M Command Strips Pencil (preferably). I used a permanent marker on my wall to write my prayers requests on, I DO NOT recommend as this will normally bleed through your paint. Prayer Canvas Technically, this is two projects in one, BUT, they are done very similarly. The Prayer Canvas has one extra step, and it starts at the beginning with joint compound. For the prayer wall, no joint compound was used, so wait until the next step. I apply a thin layer of joint compound over the entire canvas surface, pushing it into the weave of the fabric. Once the entire surface is covered, I then make a “stair step” pattern. When I have the pattern I like, I let this dry for a full 24 hours. TAKE YOUR CANVAS OUTSIDE I take the canvas outside and sand over the joint compound with my 220 grit sand block. This essentially just knocks the peaks off of the dried joint compound and this step is VERY dusty, which is why we do this outside. LET’S PAINT! Clean off the dust with a dry rag and then grab your darkest paint color, I used Dixie Belle’s Caviar. I paint the entire surface of the canvas including the sides. Typically I do one coat, later I will do a second coat once I have the top side done. HOW TO PAINT WITHOUT A PAINT BRUSH! For my Prayer Wall & Canvas, I wanted to use my Distressed Technique. I do not use a paint brush, but instead a brayer roller and a paper plate. This technique is pretty much what I did on my Prayer Wall also. For my Distressed canvases I have done so far, I tend to stick with similar colors and use a light, medium and dark color. I love the looks of black, grays, and white. For an added wow factor, I added touches of Dixie Belle’s Bronze Patina and I loved how this turned out! Other combinations I’ve used and love is white, gray and blues. LET’S GET STARTED ON OUR PRAYER CANVAS Since we already have our Canvas painted in Caviar, I grabbed Hurricane Gray and poured about a tablespoon onto a paper plate. Grab our brayer roller and roll it across the paint, I pretty much covered the entire roller. Then, I roll this across my canvas. I picked a pattern and criss crossed this going down and moved across the Canvas repeating this same pattern. Then I flip the canvas so the sides, is now the bottom and top. Once this layer of paint is dry, I pour a tablespoon of Driftwood on the same paper plate and repeat the same process, then flip the canvas again. THE REASON WHY I FLIP MY CANVAS? I do not want any noticeable patterns showing. Next I go back to Caviar, flip my canvas again and repeat! These steps on my Prayer Canvas can be repeated again until I get the look I like. During this whole time, I do not wash my brayer brush. The previous dried on paint, just adds more texture as we go through our steps. ADDING PATINA TO MY PRAYER CANVAS AND PRAYER WALL For the final touch, I then grabbed my cheap chip brush and Dixie Belle’s Bronze Patina. This doesn’t take much paint at all either. I use my paper plate to off load any patina paint that is on my chip brush and lightly dab in random place across my canvas. Then I grab the brayer brush and roll over the Bronze Patina. If I have an area that has too much patina, I can always go back once this is dry and lightly dab a little caviar over it and roll with the brayer brush to break up any areas. Once this is all dry, I paint on a medium coat of Dixie Belle’s sealer in Flat. Since there is a lot of texture, I tend to cross-hatch the sealer to get the sealer onto the entire surface and crevices. When this is dry, we can move on to stenciling our canvas! STENCILING OUR PRAYER CANVAS I have a full blog post on how I make my stencils from contact paper and how I apply them to my signs. For the full instructions click here. But! I have many other projects where I show you how to stencil, so if you want to get a better idea on how this is done, click here! Once your stencil is applied, this is where I veer off a little from my normal stenciling routine. I do not burnish my stencils on canvases, normally. Especially when they have texture. The purpose of burnishing is to help the stencil adhere to the surface but with this added texture, I think it will be too much of a headache. Grab a couple of paint brushes, I prefer a small round and small flat square or angle brush. PAINTING OUR PRAYER CANVAS Since my canvas is a combination of black and grays, I picked Dixie Belle’s Cotton or white for the lettering. Next I grabbed my paint, a damp paper towel, and two brushes. Instead of pouncing our paint on over the stencil like we normally do, I go across each letter and outline inside the stencil with the round brush. I save the round brush for the thinner letters and the flat brush for the bigger letters where I can paint more space without risking bleeds. This step is a little time consuming but so worth it! Once you have painted all the letters and remove the stencils, it’s time to do the clean up! You will have some bleeds but we can fix them later after the paint is dry. To fix my “boo-boo’s” or bleeds, I grab my caviar. Or grab the same color as your base paint, and a clean small round brush and we will lightly brush the Caviar paint over the bleed areas only. OUTLINING THE LETTERS Now on mine, I had some areas, that didn’t have bleeds but because of the light background I went ahead and outlined part of the letter anyways to make it stand out better. I really love how this turned out! Once this is done, it’s time to clean up the sides of our canvas. Remember, we only painted one coat on the sides in the beginning. I didn’t do a second coat yet because of the all the layers of paint we were adding, in case any got along the sides and messed them up. Once the second coat of caviar is painted around the sides and dry, we can add a final coat of Dixie Belle’s sealer in Flat on the canvas. Just so you know, I did not seal the paint on my Prayer Wall. Dixie Belle’s Chalk Mineral Paint has sealer in it and will cure in 30 days! I now have my prayer canvas hanging on my prayer wall with two nails surrounded by my favorite wood flowers I found at Hobby Lobby! Using 3M Command Strips, I hung my wood flowers around the Prayer Canvas. There will be more flowers added in the future as I collect them! Let me know what you think, and I hope I inspired you to get creative and plan an accent wall or even a prayer wall for your own home! Speaking of accent walls, did you see my faux shiplap accent wall I did this Spring?

Check out my cute Spring door hanger! I completed this craft last year and I was so happy to pull her out of my storage box to decorate for Easter this year! Join MPD Tribe: https://melissapetersondesigns.com/mpd-tribe/ MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/melissapeterson1 Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-309345 Pinterest: https://pin.it/3Ka1fOI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissapetersondesigns/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boutiquebymelissamarie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissapetersondesigns/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boutique_by_melissa_marie/ Making the world a little more beautiful with a paintbrush, a laptop, and a creative spirit..

I purchased this sign from Hobby Lobby on clearance years ago and I really liked it at the time! However, after the last time it fell and came apart is was time to turn this into a salvaged DIY Home Decor. Supplies I Used Hobby Lobby Sign: purchased on clearance years ago Hot glue gun and glue sticks Cooking oil or spray Paper clay Powder: I use what I have on hand and right now I use baking soda. Plastic Putty Knifes: this is not the set I use but it’s very similar Elmers wood glue Dixie Belle’s Slick Stick, Caviar, and Clear coat. ReDesign with Prima mould: the one I used may not be available anymore. I will keep looking! ReDesign with Prima transfer: Love and Dreams. I purchased this transfer from my friend Anna at The Furniture Boutique Dixie Belle’s white wax paint brushes 220 grit sandblock let’s get started Before I started my project, I prepped by cleaning the sign. While I was cleaning, I noticed for the first time a pretty large chipped area on the plastic frame. And the large chipped area that was missing included some pretty details which is one of the reason why I wanted to salvage this sign. I either ignore it or fix it. REPAIRS I saw a year a two ago someone making moulds from hot glue for repairs so I thought I would give it a try. Why not? I had all the supplies on hand! The area that needed repair was approximately 6″ long. I should have measured but I didn’t. HOW TO MAKE A MOULD Once my glue gun was heated up, I picked a section of the frame that was longer than the area I needed to fix. I rubbed this area generously with cooking oil. Then I started applying the hot glue from the glue gun to this area. Let this section cool and applied more where needed until I enough of the area was covered to make a mould. Once it was cool, I started peeling the glue off of the frame. Sure enough, I had made my very own mould! REPAIRING THE FRAME I really enjoyed this part. It brings back memories of using Play-doh! I used Paper-Clay and tried to grab enough of this material so I can roll it into one ball and then spread into the mould. When making moulds, if we piece in the Paper-clay into the mould, it may make the embellishment weak and easy to break. For this reason, it’s best to use a little too much and then remove the excess. PREPPING THE MOULD To prep the mould, first dust it with powder. I use what I have on hand and right now that’s baking soda. This will make removing the Paper Clay from the moulds easier. I grab my chunk of Paper-Clay, roll it into a ball and then start pressing it into the mould. Once I have the Paper-Clay formed into the mould, I use a putty knife and sometimes just my fingers to remove the excess. Then to remove the material from the mould I “break the seal”. HOW TO BREAK THE SEAL To break the seal for my DIY home decor project, I just work my way around the mould and pull the mould away from the Paper-Clay. It will bounce back to the Paper-Clay but the seal is mostly broken. Then flip the mould upside down onto the table and slowly pull the mould up away from the formed Paper-Clay. APPLYING THE PAPER CLAY TO MY DIY HOME DECOR Here I just manually worked the moulded paper-clay into the areas of the frame I needed to repair. It took me a couple of tries, I removed some of the excess and I used Elmer’s Wood glue to secure the paper clay until it dried. Next, prepping the sign with Dixie Belle’s Slick Stick. PRIMING MY DIY HOME DECOR SIGN I decided to go back to the basics and cover my entire sign with Dixie Belle’s Slick Stick. I realized after this sign fell apart was made from MDF-like material and plastic for the detailed frame. Both surfaces are pretty slick so I decided to prep my sign with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Slick Stick. Chalk paint is pretty adhesive but I wanted to have a little more security that my finished product would pass the scratch test. Click here to see how I finished my salvaged DIY Home Decor sign!

St. Patricks Day will soon be here and I have an adorable craft to share with you! Super easy with a little whimsy touch! Supplies I Used for my St. Patrick Door hanger 12″ Wood round: You can also find these at Hobby Lobby and the craft section at Menards 8″ Wood Shamrock: Your local craft store may have these also! Piece of Scrapbook paper of your choice: I picked this one. Ribbon and scrap fabric of your choice to make a Messy Bow Leprechaun coins: I found mine at Hobby Lobby and the Dollar tree Fiskar Self Healing Mat, Cricut craft knife, sandpaper or sand block. 1″ foam brush, paint brush Mod Podge White and Black paint of your choice Scissors Hot glue and glue gun Gold Paint Pen (optional) 3M Command strips for hanging (optional) PREPPING MY ST PATRICKS PROJECT Ready to start crafting for St Patricks Day? After gathering my supplies, I started with painting my 12″ round board first in white. To get a good coverage you’ll probably need to do two coats of paint. While the paint was drying, I decoupaged my shamrock with my scrapbook paper using Mod Podge. Now when I did this project, I did not have my Cricut knife or mat so I used a piece of sandpaper to clean up the edges around the Shamrock when the Mod Podge was dry. I’ve learned I love my Cricut knife but I can craft without it if I absolutely have too! PAINTING MY ST PATRICKS STRIPES How did I get those cute black whimsy stripes on my 12″ round board? With my 2″ foam brush and painted it by hand without any painters tape! I dipped the edge in black paint and I just brushed across the round board, with my first stripe in the middle. What is the neat thing about this? The stripes being less than perfect actually add to the whimsy character and I just added more stripes going up and then again going down the round board. MAKING MY ST PATRICKS BOW While my stripes were drying, I then worked on making my St Patricks bow. Click here for easy instructions on how to make my Messy Bow. What’s so nice about this, you can use ribbons, leftover fabric from other crafts or both! ASSEMBLING MY ST PATRICKS DOOR HANGER Oops! One more thing and this is optional. I added some gold highlights on my black stripes of my door hanger with a paint pen I found at Hobby Lobby! These were just random stripes of gold, here and there! When that was dry, I then grabbed my glue gun and started assembling! I glued my shamrock in place, a little crooked and on purpose. Then I glued my Messy Bow in place and added a Leprechaun coin in the middle of the bow. Then I glued some more coins around the shamrock! HANGING MY ST PATRICKS DOOR HANGER I love using 3M command strips to hang my wall decor. But you can always use left over strips of fabric for a makeshift hanger by stapling them on the backside if you wish. Another idea, you can staple two pipe cleaners to the backside and use these to decorate a wreath or even a St. Patricks tree… Hmm… That is it! Make sure to check out my video below!

Check out how easy it is to use the PVPP method to make these adorable Easter Bunny crafts! Supplies I Used Unfinished wooden Egg cutout Fabric strips or ribbons of your choice to make your Messy Bow: click here for more information. Bunny stencil made from contact paper: click here to see how I use contact paper with my Silhouette personal cutter. Dixie Belle’s Colonel Mustard and Fluff Dixie Belle’s Crackle Mod Podge Glue gun and glue stick let’s get started For my easter bunny I decided to use an egg shaped wood cutout. I painted the background and around the edges with Dixie Belle’s Colonel Mustard. Once the paint was thoroughly dried, I applied my bunny stencil without transfer tape. Normally I use clear contact paper to apply my stencils, however, this is one piece stencil and it was just as easy to apply it myself. Then I burnished around the stencil with mod podge to prevent any paint from bleeding underneath the stencil. Adding crackle to my easter bunny I love this product! Such an easy way to add a little character and so far I’ve only used this on small projects and not furniture. Before starting, stir your crackle good. Using a paint brush or foam brush apply a liberal amount of this product where you would like to see your paint to crack. I applied this around the bunny and just up to the edge of my easter egg. I used my heat gun to help this dry, or you can just wait. Once this was thoroughly dried, I then painted in a cross-hatch pattern, Dixie Belle’s Fluff over the same area where I had applied the crackle. As the Fluff dries, you will notice areas developing cracks. This process can take awhile, so be patient. Due to technically difficulties, I was only able to catch a short clip in a time lapse video. What I was able to video tape, you can check it out below! TOUCHING UP MY EASTER BUNNY To touch up the paint around the edges of the Easter Egg, I used a fan brush and went around the edges with Colonel Mustard again. This technique created a rustic-frame around my Easter Bunny. You could also use a chip brush and do the same thing. I also painted the backside of my Easter Egg with Colonel Mustard to give my project a finished look when it’s sitting in a tray in case the backside shows. EMBELLISHING MY EASTER BUNNY For my Easter Bunny butt, I decided to make a small Messy Bow with my favorite colors, naval blue and mustard. Click here to check out my blog post on Messy Bows. That is is!

Dressing up my dining room table with this wood table runner was a fun project to do! Adding a Valentine touch to this DIY decor makes it extra special! Let’s see if I can inspire you to make one of your own! ***FREE XOXO cut file when you join MPD Tribe! Info available in blog post, link below! https://melissapetersondesigns.com/wood-table-runner/

I am all about personalized decor, so when I was asked by a good friend to make a Disney inspired DIY shadow box, I was thrilled! Check out my blog post on how to personalize your own shadow box for a special little one in your life using a Disney inspired theme! https://melissapetersondesigns.com/how-to-make-your-own-disney-inspired-diy-shadow-box/

I struggle with decorating those tiered trays and my goal this Christmas Season is to make some cute Christmas-y knicknacks! Check out where I made some goofs but still managed to make it work! Full blog post at https://melissapetersondesigns.com/mini-stacked-books/ Don't forget to Subscribe and follow me on my social media! Join MPD Tribe: https://melissapetersondesigns.com/mpd-tribe/ TikTok: https://bit.ly/3fpY7ZO MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/melissapeterson1 Parler: https://bit.ly/3ftTluu Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-309345 Pinterest: https://pin.it/3Ka1fOI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissapetersondesigns/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boutiquebymelissamarie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissapetersondesigns/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boutique_by_melissa_marie/ Making the world a little more beautiful with a paintbrush, a laptop, and a creative spirit.

This has been a labor or love working on my prayer wall! For the full blog post with supply list go to www.melissapetersondesigns.com

What do you do when you change your mind after you bring your Chrsitmas haul home after shopping? You craft and fix it! New blog post with supply list! https://melissapetersondesigns.com/tree-skirt/