DIY Deck of Cards Wall Art

What I Made Today - Bathroom Reveal Part 2

You may have seen my earlier post on how to wallpaper using book pages here. I love the little feature wall in our downstairs bathroom now but wanted to make some artwork to accompany it. I had picked up this little pack of herb playing cards in the local charity shop because the botanical theme matched the book of wild flowers I used to paper so perfectly, but I wasn't sure how I was going to use the cards for a while. This is what I came up with!

If you'd like to make your own artwork using an illustrated deck of cards, here is a super easy tutorial...

What you will need

A pack of cards

A box frame

Small sticky foam pads

Paint or wood stain, paintbrush (optional)

Backing paper and double-sided tape (optional)

Method

I began by selecting the suite I wanted from the pack of cards - I considered mixing them up but felt it might look a little messy, so went for the hearts. I then laid them out on the box frame and decided how to arrange them.

My box frame (12x12") was £6.50 from Wilkos and is square, but I did have to leave the Ace card out because of this - if you buy a portrait frame you could include the Ace on a row of its own.

I next took the box frame apart and painted it. I wanted a darker colour to frame the white playing cards and so I used a tester pot of Cuprinol exterior wood stain in 'Wild Thyme' that I had lurking in the shed - and was quite pleased with how it turned out. I'm a big believer in making use of whatever is available in the shed!

If you are unsure what colour to paint your frame, I would suggest picking a colour out of the card illustrations. Or you can't go far wrong with buying a black frame!

Remember to paint all the parts of the box frame that you will see when it is reassembled, like this spacer section that fits between the glass and the back of the frame.

While the frame dries, you can start to stick the cards to the back of the box frame. I decided to leave the back of my frame unfinished, as the brown colour worked well with the dark green in my botanical theme. If you want to cover your board, however, now is the time to fix your backing paper to it - I suggest using double-sided tape around the outside edges for a clean finish.

Tip: check you have the frame's hanger in the right place before you start sticking cards down!

Spot the not-so-deliberate mistake!

To fix the cards, I used small sticky foam pads, as seen in the pic. I got these from Hobbycraft but most stationers' or large supermarkets stock them. The foam pads give each card a drop shadow, and means they stand in relief from the back of the frame. I love the extra interest this creates. 

If you are just wanting to place your cards flush(!) against the backing then you could use a normal frame instead, as the extra space a box frame gives you would not be necessary.

When your cards are fixed on and your box frame paint is dry, reassemble the frame and voila! Your playing card artwork is complete.

I felt a bit sorry for the Ace card being left out and so made him a frame of his own! I painted the backboard to this small frame the same colour as the box frame to tie in the colours.

must. buy. a. good. camera.

Now I just need to hang it along with a few other pieces!

DIY Wallpapering with Book Pages

What I Made Today - Bathroom Reveal Part 1

We have a downstairs loo off our utility room - very handy but not very pretty. It's a small window-less white box, which needed a bit of an update. I've had a bit of a thing for vintage botanical prints and repro wallpapers for a while, and was looking out for one I loved enough to buy to use in there, then realised I could do it myself!

There are some fantastic wallpapers out there, but if you are on a budget or fancy doing it yourself, here is my 'how to' wallpaper using book pages. 

What you will need

• A book of your choice - be it colour, illustrated, sepia or simply text.
• A paper guillotine, or craft knife and ruler, or pair of scissors!
• Wallpaper paste
• A wallpaper brush, or a large paintbrush
• A firm clean paintbrush
• Plumb-line (optional)
• A damp cloth

Method

Start by ripping the spine and cover off your book, or by pulling out the signatures. I picked up my book from an antiques centre for a couple of quid - try charity shops, car boots or eBay for similar.

Once you've done this you may have bits of glue or binding thread attached to the edge of your pages, so it's a good idea to trim the edges so that you have a neat finish and so that all the pages are a uniform size for when you are papering.

This is where a paper guilottine comes in handy. If you don't have one, a craft knife and ruler will work well, or failing that a pair of scissors and a steady hand! Try to cut through as many pages as possible at one time.

Now you are ready to start papering! The handy thing about small book pages is that you don't need a large wallpapering table, a small work surface will do. Using your wallpaper or large paint brush, apply a layer of wallpaper paste to the back of several book pages. It's a good idea to leave the paper for a few minutes to let the paste soak in, so do a couple at a time - but don't leave them so long that the paste starts to dry out.

Now start applying the pages to your wall. I began in the top-left corner of my wall and didn't use a plumbline - I placed them by eye - but you could use one for increased accuracy. If you don't have a plumbline, tying a key or something with a bit of weight to a length of string will work just as well. Place the first page against the wall, pressing it lightly with your hands. Now take your dry, clean firm brush and, starting from the middle of the page, sweep it towards the edges of the book page. Your aim is to fix the page to the wall without any big lumps of paste or air bubbles.

I overlapped my book pages ever so slightly - just by a few millimeters - to give me some room for movement and error, but a mismatched higgldy piggldy look could also look fab if you want to lay your pages over each other in a more exaggerated way.

You may get little bits of wallpaper paste seeping out the edge of your book pages - use your slightly damp cloth to wipe it off while it's still damp - when it dries it will leave a shiny mark and will be much harder to remove.

Carry on pasting and papering your wall until you have covered your desired area - if you come to the other end or the bottom of your wall and the pages overlap, use your craft knife and ruler to trim the excess.

The bathroom is small so this is the furthest away I can get to take a photo of the whole wall!

Next I am planning to make some artwork for the other walls to carry on the botanical print theme - watch out for the tutorial for this pack of cards artwork in the next part of the bathroom reveal!