Twin's Art

When we had the twins we had decided that we would dictate a color for each boy to be able to tell who's was who's...binkies, sippy cups, blankets, etc. For the most part it has worked out really well, except for now, being 2 they definitely know which color is "theirs."

Mr. L is green and Mr. S is blue. If there is a choice of popsicle colors Mr. L will always choose green. If there is a blue sippy cup and a green sippy cup they will always (almost) pick up their respective colors. Mr. L's crib has a green bumper pad and Mr. S' crib has a blue bumper pad.

So we are looking at putting the boys in twin beds by Christmas. I've started looking for blue/green sheets and blankets that would work for their room. I've found a few, but still trying to decide for sure what we want.

Anyway, I've seen this monochromatic collage idea used before and thought it might be fun to try for the boys' room. It is so blah right now!

I love how it turned out!

I found two 16x20 picture frames (with glass) at the D.I. for $3 a piece (pictured here.) They needed some TLC to get the backs off (since they were both professionally framed) and to remove the inner pictures. There just happened to be usable cardboard inside for me to use as the background for my collage. And the frames needed a couple coats of antique white paint.

I took just about every pattern/color of blue and green scrapbook paper I had (which happened to be about 24 different papers each) and cut 2x2 squares from each piece. I pre-measured and figured I would need about 80 squares per picture. It sounds like a ton, but it actually didn't take that long.
Then I arranged the squares on the cardboard (so I could move around if needed) and then glued the squares down. It did take an 1 1/2 hours or so to do this for both.

Next, came the hard part. I wanted something more than just the collage itself. I thought about putting in a paper pieced airplane and helicopter or animal or something. But finally opted just to put their initials in the center. I initially thought I could find some large chipboard letters, but couldn't. So I came up with Plan B which was to print large letters off my computer and copy them on some cardboard. It worked...mostly.
I painted the letters white (the same as the frames) and stuck them in the center. But it so didn't look good! I couldn't figure out what to do. I decided to cut some colored paper just slightly larger than the letters and mat the letters to a solid color. But it still didn't look good. Then I set the colored letter on top of the white letter and it actually worked! I added a few buttons and put the frame back together.
Obviously, they aren't hung up yet. The boys are napping right now so I will do that later. But I'm really excited to put each one over the boys' cribs for now and eventually above their twin beds in a few months!

This project did take slightly longer than I initially thought it would. But it was fun and I think worth it!

I'm linking up to Beyond the Picket Fence
Funky Junk Interiors