Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

  • Home
  • Our Family
    • Our Home
  • Courses
  • Shop
  • Contact

How to Make Your Own Wallpaper

June 27, 2016 By Erica Deuel 8 Comments

Processed with VSCO with c1 preset

For the past 18 months, I have been working little by little to transform our house into our home. If you have been following along, you know that I tend to shy away from conventional styles, colors, and methods. I got to a place some years ago where I became pretty comfortable and confident in my style. Rather than caring much about what people thought, I started to design around things that inspired and spoke to me. I think this little nook is the perfect snapshot of my process. It shows all the crazy thoughts in my head and how it comes to life in my design.

I had images that were a constant source of inspiration in one hand and a nook connected to a high traffic area that needed some life in the other. In this post, I share how I combined the two and ended up creating my own wallpaper in the process. It was fun, easy, and something I know you could do in your own home!

It started with this little nook.

For a while, I had samples of wrapping paper taped to sections of the nook. I pondered how I could bring the design of the paper to life on the walls. Ultimately, this lead me to taking that inspiration to another bedroom where I painted a floral wall inspired by the wrapping paper. Since I put that look somewhere else in our house, it left me once again trying to decide what to do with this nook. I wanted to accent it in some way. I tried several paint samples, but none of them looked right.

laundry nook beforeOne day I was drinking a tea and started flipping through a book I flip through often for inspiration. It sits on a side table to be a quick read. As I was thumbing through it for the 100th time, I had the thought, “I wish I could see all the pages at once. They are so beautiful.” Almost as quick as the thought came, it was followed by thinking of my accent wall I had been trying to figure out. Could these book pages be collaged in a way to make wallpaper?

how_to_be_a_wildflower_bookI really didn’t give it any time or research before knowing I wanted to try my idea. I started ripping my beloved book up page by page. Once I had ripped out all the pages, I had a huge stack of beautiful paper. I used scissors and cut off all the frayed edges. I was then ready to figure out the wallpaper method.

how_to_be_a_wildflower

wildflower_book_pages

wallpapering_materialI taped a few pages up in different directions to figure out if I wanted a messy scattered look or if I wanted it to look more like organized rows. I decided I liked the messy look. I went to Lowes and asked where the wall paper paste was located. To my surprise, there was a roller of wallpaper paste made for doing wallpaper boarders. It was the perfect size for my project! It was a small bottle with a roller to easily apply the paste to my book pages.

I gathered a few other supplies. The most important was the wallpaper smoothing tool. It’s similar to a putty knife or a joint knife used in drywall work. It’s critical to flatten your paper and push out the air bubble. You will also need something to cut your pages as you work around light switches or to reach the borders of your wall. You might want to try an x-acto knife or box cutter to trim the pages. I found it easiest to hold my piece of paper in place, draw a line where it might need to be trimmed against the door trim/ceiling/wall corner/etc, to use scissors to cut the paper, and then start the applying method.

DIY_wallpaperMost of the pieces didn’t need to be trimmed. I simply picked a page and decided which side of it I liked best, and rolled my wallpaper paste onto the side that would be up against the wall. I rotated the piece of paper different little angles so it didn’t look perfect and pressed it onto the wall. I then used the smoothing tool and pressed all the wrinkles and air bubbles out.

wallpapering1

wallpapering2

wallpapering3

wallpapering5A few little things I thought through as I worked…

  • The book printed its images on both sides of the pages. Sometimes it was really hard to decide which side to display and which side to glue to the wall. Fortunately, one book was not enough to cover my wall. I ordered a second book and got to use some of the sides that I didn’t get to use before.
  • I tried to space colors out on the wall, I didn’t want a bunch of blueish pages, for instance, to all end up together. Spreading them all apart gave a more balanced look.
  • I placed some of my favorite quotes in more prominent eye level spaces. Smaller text and images I placed more towards the ceiling or floor.
  • I tried to place a full-page pictures in the midst of some quotes, so it didn’t end up that all the pictures were bunched up together and all the quote pages bunched up together.
  • I stood back often to take a look at the wall to see what needed to happen next. This helped place smaller print scaled pages throughout the wall to help other pages pop out more.
  • I was careful in my placement to make sure that the coverage was solid and none of the wall was left poking out through any small cracks or gaps.

wallpapering6It was really messy. I used a huge old sign and placed it on the floor as my mobile work space, and it had gluey wallpaper paste all over it. I probably could have sorted my pages out to have a stack of images vs. a stack of quotes, etc, but I didn’t. The creative in me decided to just go for it. Some of you organized folks will probably have a much more calculated way to go about it, which is great!

For me, I viewed it as a puzzle and kept filling it in until it was all filled up to the sides and from the ceiling to the floor. After I had a solid collage, I rolled my wallpaper paste over the whole wall as a layer of protection from dirty fingers and hairy dogs.

wallpapering_is_messyI love how it all came together! It’s so colorful and fun! The book, How to be a Wildflower by Katie Daisy, costs $11.46 on Amazon. I ended up buying two books from there. What an inexpensive way to buy wallpaper we love, to brighten up a small space!

small_wall_wallpapered2This door leads into our garage. It is the most used door in our house. We can see this little nook from our kitchen, which is part of why I wanted to brighten up the space! It is also our walk through laundry room into my craft room. This small nook is one high traffic space!

colorful_kitchenI love how these beautiful pages are perfect for inspiration and deep conversations. The other day I was sitting at the table with my kids, and I asked them what they thought one of the pages meant when it said, “gather unlikely friendships.” It has led into some of the most real, challenging, and beautiful conversations.

Now, as I stand here and fold clothes, I can turn around and see so much beauty. If you don’t follow Katie Daisy on Instagram, you should. She is so talented and lives with her husband and sweet boy near Bend, Oregon. She originally painted each one of these images and then scanned them to create the book. Her feed is full of gorgeousness from her work and nature.

laundryroom

floral_wallpaper

Processed with VSCO with c1 presetThis little nook is a well used space in our home, and now as we come and go and just live…we can be inspired. It’s a small wall with a huge punch.

a_boy_and_his_dog1

colorful_kitchen_decor

Matt and I joke that the more we do to this house, the more that we make it “ours”, the more we might have a hard time reselling it someday. This house is full of color and personality…just like us! We love it!

If you are interested in some of the other projects featured in these pictures, you can find more info in these posts…

Teal Kitchen Table

Sunburst Mirrors

Pink Lockers

Thank you so much for checking out my homemade wallpaper post. I hope you have a great week and get to create something beauitful!

signature

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

I’m Not Here To Be Average

March 15, 2015 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

I saw this quote somewhere on Pinterest recently, and I have not been able to shake it from my head.

I'm_not_here_to_be_average

Everyone wants to leave a mark and to feel like they made a difference in the world.

When I think of my kids, when I think of life on this earth, and even when I think of my day-to-day life…I hope and pray that I am not average. Who dreams of being average, right!?

For us, we are in the middle of tackling our foster care paper work to get recertified. We started in January, but in reality it hasn’t been until the last two weeks have we really started going after it. There are so many forms and appointments needed to get this done. It’s consuming and draining. As I have finally started it, its had me thinking “why has it taken 5 months to get this done?” It is our heart beat. It is a part of our calling. We want to help. Why have we waited so long to get back into it?

The short of the answer is we moved, we lived with a friends for a while, and since then we have been setting up house. The deeper issue is that I wasn’t ready. I think our whole family needed time to heal.

I know for me, I left our last experience thinking my voice didn’t matter. Doing this ministry didn’t matter. We didn’t make a difference. No one cared what we thought.

It’s important to know the state of your heart. That may be how I felt, but it wasn’t the truth. My voice did matter. It mattered when I spoke truth to the hurting heart and those who had power of his/her future. What others did with given information was not my responsibility. It was just my job to love well.

It may not be foster care for you. It may just be your relationship with your own kids. It may be your job, your ministry, your neighborhood, etc. But, can you relate?

The days can be so long. The moments can feel like they don’t matter.  It can seem like there are no roots growing. But what I know to be true is those are emotional responses. It takes the hard work of showing up every day, week, month doing the small things that may be considered average to produce change or become something powerful.

It is the commitment to the average everyday tasks and experiences done in truth and love that can be awesome. I made this little sign and printed it huge as an engineer print, and it now hangs in my kids bathroom to remind us all.

colorful_bathroom_decor

wood_deer

bohemian_bathroom_elements

colorful_floor_mats

bohemian_bathroomI first showed you this bathroom here, and I am excited to now have a print in it that I think can speak truth over my kids, our company, and any other hurting child that comes through our doors.

Mom life is hard. Foster care is hard, yet these two jobs may be the most important roles I ever play. May these average moments (like getting an afternoon snack handed out that all three agree on) matter.

printable_poster

kids_are_awesomeThere are moments when I see that they do matter. As we have tackled our paper work, gone to doctor visits and prepared for home visits. I have asked my kids…

“Do you want to do foster care again?”

“Why do you want to do this again?”

“Why do we do this?”

Their responses melt me, stop me in my tracks, and remind me: it’s not about me.


 So, we can love on kids

So, we can help make their lives different

I want the kids to feel special

I want them to feel love

Hope their family will treat them better and learn good stuff

Hope their mom and dad can be good parents

Give them good food

Take good care of them

I can share my toys

I can be nice to them

Love it patient. Love is kind.

I’m excited to meet new people.

I hope they like to catch bugs.

kids_posterThese sweet kids are a huge part of my world. The way I talk and walk in my everyday moments are affecting the little hearts in my home…no matter if they are my biological, extended family, or in the foster care system. Words and actions have power.

So, all you tired, emotionally exhausted, have nothing left to give at the end of the day mamas out there know this…you aren’t average. Those dreams of being something awesome…are already true. Pick up your feet, wipe off the dust, ask for forgiveness, forgive yourself, pray for strength and keep on going. Just keep swimming.

**Please note: This print is now available as an automatic download purchase here, so you too can print it out.**

signature

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

An Embroidery Journal

March 16, 2014 By Erica Deuel 5 Comments

ShineAs an inward processor, journaling has always been an important part of me working through my thoughts and emotions. I’m finding it’s much harder these days to capture the time I would like to journal well. Rather than just giving up, I’ve decided to try and capture key words and phrases on my art that can help me to process, refocus, and remind me of the things I want my life to be about. These past few weeks I’ve been using my embroidery hoops as a way to create an Embroidery Journal of sorts.

If you’re interested, let me catch you up on the latest of our life’s adventures.

You may remember that my word for the year this year is SHINE. I want to shine God’s love and peace in every area of my life. As we have ventured into foster care we are continually learning and discovering the many complex ways of how this ministry works. It’s the perfect opportunity to constantly be reminded to “Shine.” There is a lot of darkness and need for light. In my last foster update, I shared how I learned some hard lessons and I did not shine well. The experience left me broken and questioning my ability to continue down this path.

I felt like bringing foster children into my home may be above my abilities and what I am able to carry.  I was starting to envision taking a new position of  just encouraging the foster moms in my life, rather than being one myself. My trip out to Arkansas provided me with so much perspective. I felt led to open my hands and surrender all of my hopes, thoughts, and dreams and let God move and do the work He needed to do in my heart. This song became my prayer:

I lay me down
I’m not my own
I belong to you alone
Lay me down
Lay me down
Hand on my heart
This much is true
There’s no life apart from you
Lay me down…
Letting go of my pride
Giving up all my rights
Take this life and let it shine
Take this life and let it shine…

It will be my joy to say
Your will
Your way

Two days after letting this be my prayer, Matt answered a phone call that placed us back in the middle of an opportunity to shine. God placed a little boy in crisis into our home. We have had him for a couple of weeks and unless something changes (and as we are learning things change all the time) it looks like he will be with us at least for the next couple of months.

Be_Love

heart_embroidery_hoopI am still so far from “nailing it” and I know I will never be perfect. I need re-centering on what seems like an hourly basis. But, it was the moment that I was raw, admitted that I cannot do anything on my own, and gave God full control of my life, he said “now I am ready to use you”. I’d like to believe that I’ve “landed the plane” on this one, but I’m guessing this is a lesson I will continually need to relearn.

I am so humbled, honored, and amazed that God would choose to use us.

So for this moment in time, God choose to use us to speak his truth in the ears of a little boy. You are loved. He has a plan for your life. You are a masterpiece. As we speak truth, we pray that our actions will reflect God’s heart. That we can be his hands and feet.

You_are_loved

you're_loved_embroidery_hoopI have a peace. I am relying on a strength that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am praying for perspective and love that surpasses all the tired, draining moments. We are adjusting to being new foster parents and shepherding our three littles plus our new foster son’s heart as all of their worlds have been flipped upside down.

Love_is_patientThank you for caring about our journey through this life.

As our day-to-day life has changed, my eyes are open to how there are foster moms that have been living this way for a much longer time than me. I am in awe. I want to give back. I want to encourage and shower them with the love of Christ that they are so willingly pouring into their little ones’ hearts. In the few quiet moments I have, I am creating these embroidery hoops. I thought what better way for me to use these hoops than to encourage other foster moms!? I am giving some away to foster moms to encourage and nurture their soul with a little daily reminder to place in their home that they are loved. The work they are doing matters and God sees the ins and outs of every little thing.

I will also be selling other hoops soon on my Instagram account and in my shop here. All profits from these hoops will be used to encourage foster moms in my community. I will be sharing more of this journey as we progress. Thank you for being in it with me!

shine_brightI pray you are able to use your life to SHINE today! Happy weekend friends.

signature

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

2014 Goal: Shine

December 29, 2013 By Erica Deuel 11 Comments

2014Words impact us. Encouraging words lift us up. Hurtful words can sting for longer than we think. Words can mark us.

I came up with a word for 2013 that I felt would be fitting for the direction our family was headed and it was change. 2013 ended up being a big year of change and that word couldn’t have been more perfect. As someone who can resist change having that word in front of me all year, gave me a sense of focus and purposefulness to embrace the things as our changes rolled out.

We sold our house and moved a little further north from Atlanta.

We were trained as foster parents and opened up our lives to this ministry as a family.

We started homeschooling with a Co-op.

We joined a new church.

We started new ventures in Spoonful of Imagination with the Labs and Tribe.

Matt transitioned jobs and is working more out of the house.

2013 held a lot of change for us. When I sit back and process all that we have gone through and where we are at, one word comes to mind for 2014 – “Shine”. As we have settled into our changes I think this idea has slowly been building, I want to shine. We are in a new neighborhood, making new friends, new church, new co-op, new work, and new ministry…and I want to shine where God has us. I want to be about shining love into these areas of my life. I want to shine as a good mom to my kids and a good wife to Matt. This is my life and I want to not just survive, but I want to live with purpose and shine doing it the best I can.

Now that Christmas is over, the new year is upon us. Have you started thinking about new year resolutions or goals? I can get overwhelmed with lofty goals. A word is something I can grasp and hold onto. Shine is my word for 2014. Do you have a word?

I made a little sweatshirt to capture my word. I want to share the steps with you, so you too can make an inexpensive garment that holds a lot of meaning and inspire you as often as you wear it.

I started with a blank, inexpensive sweatshirt like these, and used a simple stencil, white paint, and paintbrush to complete an inspiring piece for me to wear.

shine_brightOnce I had my stencil laid where I wanted it in the center of the sweatshirt, I got a little white paint and started dab painting in my stencil.

dab_paintingI got a little paint on my brush, and then dabbed the bulk of it off onto my plate, so the paint did not ooze under my stencil. I dabbed the paint into my stencil rather quickly to fill in the stencil yet not create a “solid” look. I think this technique creates a more worn, yet intentional screen print look.

stencil_sweat_shirt

painting_a_sweatshirtOne tip to keep in mind is to hold your stencil down tightly as you dab the paint in. This will help prevent any ooze of paint outside your stencil.

shine_sweatshirtThat is it! The next step was to let it dry and wear it proudly! I personally just wore this for like four days straight. 🙂

frozen_lakeI love anytime you can make something with a personal meaning for less than $10! Can you see making a sweatshirt with your word?

2014 goalsI pray that I look back on 2014 and I see areas where I put my own desires aside and I loved well as I choose to shine for Christ and be about more than myself. May this be a marking year in all our lives. Please, please tell me your word so we can encourage one another. Leave me a comment here or tag me on instagram and twitter so I can keep up you as well!

signature

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
Next Page »
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
YouTube-Channel
Erica Deuel

Subscribe for Weekly Updates!




Most Popular Posts

Painting Flower Pot Party Tips
DIY {easy} Burlap Wreath
DIY Outdoor Checker Board
DIY Burlap Flowers
Chiffon Flower Tutorial
DIY Outdoor Table
DIY King Size Rag Quilt {Repost}
Cheap lamp to Industrial Beauty
DIY Paper Butterflies- Spring decor for cheap
Engraved Wood Sign Tutorial (and Dremel Micro)

Categories

  • All About the Kids
  • art journal
  • Blogging
  • Christmas
  • Craft Projects
  • Dancing Zebras
  • DIY
  • Eddy's postcards
  • Embroidery Journal
  • Family
  • Featured
  • Fireside Chat
  • Foster Care
  • Giveaways
  • Guest Posts
  • Home
  • Homeschooling
  • Kid Activities
  • Kid Craft
  • My Heart
  • Our Outings
  • Project Spotlight
  • Send Out Love
  • Shop
  • Sponsored Posts
  • Spoonful Lab
  • Spoonful Tribe
  • Tips + Tricks
  • Traveling
  • Uncategorized
  • Vlog

Favorite Categories

Subscribe for Weekly Updates!

Favorite Categories

© 2023 Spoonful of Imagination, Inc.