Make your own art

Want art that’s a bit more exciting and personal? It’s easy! Do it yourself or wrangle the kids into helping for a fun project.
 
Painted dots. Even the most amateur artist can do this one! Find a few canvases at the craft store, or a grab a large canvas on sale. Then find some paint in complimentary colors—3-5 different tubes of blue and gray, or shades of teal and lavender, or whatever goes with your home. Using painter’s tape, divide the canvas into a grid with squares of equal sizes, then with a pencil, mark a tiny dot in the center of each square. Remove the tape, then over each dot, swirl a circle of paint with a large brush. Let it be uneven, and let those brush marks show! Use your different colors randomly throughout the piece. Instead of dots you could do any shape—squares or even stars. Before long you’ll have a mod art piece!
 
Wooden letters. You’ve probably seen these at the craft store, so put them to use! A metallic or white spray-painted letter (like the first initial of your last name) would look chic and modern as a paperweight for magazines on a coffee table or papers on a desk. The letters “e” “a” and “t” might look great painted black and propped against the kitchen backsplash. Your family’s initials could sit on the mantelpiece. If you have kids, they may love painting or decorating the letters in their name to hang in their rooms. 
 
Use scraps. Have any leftover sheets of scrapbook paper? What about some gorgeous, square fabric scraps from a quilt? Frame those scraps! If you have some in similar patterns or colors, they’ll look great lined up together on the wall. If you don’t have any scraps, check your craft store; scrapbook paper is usually less than a dollar per sheet.
 
Spatter art. Get the kids in on this project! On a sunny day, take them out to the yard with canvases or some sturdy paper, popsicle sticks, and a few different old toothbrushes (or other old brushes with stiff bristles). Paint the canvas or paper all one color (or a few different colors), then dip the bristles of the toothbrushes in another color. Standing over the canvas, and holding the brush just above the paper, point the brush bristle-side then run the side of the popsicle stick over the bristles, far to near. The paint on the bristles will spray onto the canvas! Feel free to get messy; use too much paint on the bristles; use several different colors or even combine colors; use metallic paint and flat paint. Take a foam brush and very lightly swirl some of the spatters. Let dry completely before hanging.
 
Paint a silhouette. Found a cool silhouette or design online lately? Print it out, then tape the printed sheet of paper over contact paper. Carefully use an X-Acto knife to cut the pattern out. When the pattern is free, peel off the backing and adhere the new shape over your surface—be it canvas (in the spatter art project), side-table top, or wooden block. Paint over it in a different color, then peel it up. You’re left with a cool pattern in the unpainted space!
 
Display your collections. Do you have a cool collection of buttons? Hot-glue them to a canvas in the shape of a giant button. A key. Your initials. A heart. Have some lengths of ribbon lying around that you can’t throw away? Loop them in crisscross patterns over canvas, hot-gluing the ends securely to the back. Do you collect stamps? Mount them to some foam core, frame, and hang.
 
Shoebox canvases. Rather not buy a canvas? Have a bunch of shoeboxes sitting around? Grab those lids! Paint a few coats of white paint over the lids to hide the logos and to make them all the same color. When that paint is dry, it’s time to decorate! Try the dot idea above, then group the lids together to hang on the wall. Or cover the boxes with a striped, zigzag pattern of painter’s tape and paint over the blank spaces in a different color. Peel up the tape, and you have a chic chevron stripe pattern!
 
If you need picture frames, it’s easy to find inexpensive ones. You can often find discounted pricing on frames at craft stores (you can subscribe to their e-mail lists for regular updates), and you can usually find affordable frames at local retailers . Check out your local thrift stores and yard sales, too — any frames you find there will be  inexpensive, and just a bit of spray paint can get them in the color and condition you want!