Thursday, April 23, 2009

A crafting question...

Hello fellow bloggers,

I just realized I've been so busy I haven't had time to update my blog recently. Everything is fine. I trust you all had a good Earth Day yesterday and did something to better our environment. You can read my Earth Day poem over on AC.

I have a question for you all. My granddaughter would like to change the color of her bedroom. Bobbie says she wants hot pink walls. We've agreed no to paint her walls hot pink but to compromise. The walls will be a pale pink with one contrasting wall in hot pink. Then she can use hot pink decorations on the pale pink walls. I found some wonderful big paper napkins in the perfect shade of hot pink and I had a brainstorm. What if we "wall paper" the wall with the hot pink napkins? Would it work? There would be some seams yes, but that would just add texture to the wall. Then I thought of a dilemma. What glue to use? So this is my question to all you artistic and crafty people out there. Woulds this work and what type of glue would I use? I had thought maybe modpodge, hmmmm.......
What do you think?

Tess

6 comments:

Martha Lever said...

Hi Tess,
I guess you would go ahead and use wallpaper paste but I would wonder if it would ever come off again when she (or you) got tired of it. If you are not concerned about that then it might be pretty cool.

lori vliegen said...

hi tess! i think that using napkins is a great idea, but i'm wondering about using the mod podge...that would be quite permanent, wouldn't it? i've moved so many times, i'm always thinking about how i'm going to undo what i'm about to do!! let us know how it turns out! :)

Aimeslee Winans said...

Nooooooo! Tess, I would not do a wall of it. And don't apply modpodge directly to the walls unless you want it to be permanent until the next drywall replacement. Seriously.

First, how old is your g-daughter? Preteen, right? Like 9-ish to 12-ish? (looking at the sweet photo of your daughter and g-daughter). WHAT DOES SHE LIKE? Hannah Montana? Whatever she likes needs to be the factor here. I have a daughter who turns 21 this summer, and we went thru this. We gave her lavendar walls and a purple ceiling, then SHE decided what went on them. She was so happy with the paint, that she was also happy to gradually fill the walls with what she wanted, which was posters of her favorite stars and music groups; then prints of favorite art; then framed scrapbook layouts I made for her along with framed collages with her favorite life quotes. She took the framed items to her apartment and uses them there now, and LOVES them. Reminds her of Home.

If you still wanna do the napkins, do a border on the hot pink wall, and put the napkins on a sturdy cardstock or chipboard substrate, then attach that to the walls, either like tiles or one continuous line. Then you can use the modpodge to put the napkins on the substrate. The child will change her likes many times as she gets older and this way the border can be taken down when it becomes boring to her.

And, a very valuable tip: keep a sizeable jar of each of the two paint colors for touch-ups for when what gets taped or tacked to the walls come down and leaves marks. I never remember to do this and always wish that I had! xoxoxo

Sorry to come off being bossy...I'm very enthusiatic, lolol. And love that lonely tulip photo!

Cecelia's Place said...

Hi Tess,
Really enjoy your blog and have been here many times.
My question is how old is your granddaughter? I can guarantee that if there is a raised corner anywhere its going to get picked off. It's like a magnet. If that isn't a problem then any water based glue would probably work and come off. You would also need to seal the top to keep them from getting very dirty just from dust in the air. I'd test one on something else first because the ink may bleed too. What about scanning the napkin and making stencils. You can glue the scan to thin cardboard or clear plastic then paint away. One thing I have found for removing wall paper and some of my "creative" endeavors is a sponge and and warm water mixed with fabric softener. Hope this helps. I have had a lot of luck on walls by stapling fabric over a thin layer of quilt batting. Good luck and keep writing the great poetry. Cecelia

Teresa aka Tess said...

Oh my gosh you have all given me so much to think about. Yes, she is 9 and no she is not into Hanna Montana. She still loves her barbie's and she loves horses and the color pink. I think I'm definitely going to nix the wall papering with napkins idea and use them to cover something to use as wall art. Maybe cover a picture frame and a wood or cardboard initial. Thanks so much for all of your comments and suggestions.
Aimslee, One of the reasons for doing this is because it's time to cover up the crayon drawings and such that just somehow happened over the years. (LOL) Thankfully she is out of that stage.

*jean* said...

i agree with aimeslee...you could modge podge the napkins to a canvas from michaels and then hang them...and that way you could also add a central image and create a grouping that hangs up...and when she is older, she can paint it with gesso and create her own art!!

just my .02!