DIY: Marbled Wall Tiles

Our little house is sadly lacking in decor. It's kind of pathetic really. But having little ones means not much time for decorating, so I have an excuse (right?). We moved in shortly before Duder was born. But! This week I did a little experimenting with some canvas tiles, paint and paper and came up with this:

 

Whatcha think? I love them! We don't have a headboard yet (or... a bed frame at all actually. It's coming.). But this seemed to add enough over the bed to make the room feel a little less empty. I'm very happy with the way they turned out. I tried about three different things to get them how I wanted in my head and I'm really surprised it worked.

 

Here's how I did it, just in case you want your own personalized wall tiles.

 

Start out with canvas art squares. The size I used was 8x8. You'll need as many as the number of letters in your word/saying. 

 

Now, I have to tell you that I have no artistic talent what-so-ever. I'm just not artsy. So instead of attempting some kind of watercolor technique, I got a little ... "creative". Wet a paper towel and wring it out so that it isn't drenched, but it's still pretty damp. A few drips coming off is good. Then place it over the canvas. It doesn't need to me pretty. In fact, the more wrinkles the better.

Paint over the wet paper towel with the craft acrylic color of your choice. Mine was black. It helps if you wet the brush with water first, to help with the water color effect. Put as much or as little paint as you want. Less = lighter color, more = darker.

 

Once you're done painting let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then lift off the paper towel. It won't look that great at first. Using either the painted towel (if you want more color) or a clean and slightly damp towel (if you want to remove some color), blot around on the surface. Just go until you think it looks pretty good. As it dries it will soak into the canvas and the colors will bleed, giving more of a water colored/marbled look rather than blotchy chunks of color. Just be patient.

 

 

While the squares dry, open up some kind of text editor that lets you change fonts. Change the print margins to the smallest they can go. Type a letter, pick a font and color you want, then blow it up to as large as it can go. Print out a test page to make sure your letter will fit on the canvas. If you like it, then type out all your letters and print them. Cut them out (forgot to take a picture of that part).

 

Glue one letter on each square (after it's dried of course). I used white glue, worked just fine. Paint the edges if you'd like for a finished look. If you want a shiny look, or you want to seal it you can cover the whole thing with Mod Podge. I just left ours as is. With a level and some nails, hang on the wall, step back, and admire your creation!

I think these would be adorable with some fun colors in a kid's room displaying their name or a fun saying. I think I might make some for the kitchen saying "Eat" or "Feast".