Crafting Secrets

Fantastic kid’s room murals are fun and inexpensive. They add tons of personality and color to a room. Best of all, murals help create wonderful childhood memories that will last a lifetime. All you need to get started is a few craft supplies, a kid and some imagination!

Pick your wall. The great part about painting a mural is that you can totally customize it to the space in your child’s room. You can paint murals wall to wall, paint a single wall, paint the ceiling or just a wall section. It’s completely up to you and your hearts desire!

Choose your characters. Grab your kids and their favorite story books. Look through and find your child’s most loved characters. Your kids will love this. Decide which ones you are going to place in your mural. Don’t worry. No art skills are needed. You are not going to be free handing these drawings. Just pick the favorites. It’s O.K. to mix and match characters form different books.

Create your background. Take a hint from Disney and Winnie the Pooh. Keep your background colors light and soft. This will allow your characters to really stand out. Unless you are artistically inclined, don’t make this complicated. Take your sea sponge and dab on a very light soft blue color for the sky. Sponge all the way down to your designated horizon line. Use white to add fluffy clouds. Use a light soft color for the grass or ground. Use slightly different shades of green to sponge on some hills.

Add your foreground. This part is optional and can be as simple or detailed as you wish. Use stencils to add anything from flowers, butterflies & picket fences to sea shells, fish & seagulls. Use your sea sponge to dab on tree tops and foreground bushes. Use lighter green for bushes and trees far away and slightly darker shades for the ones close up.

Place your characters. Use a projector to project your characters directly onto the wall. Remember that characters made smaller will appear farther away. Lightly trace the characters. Try using chalk or a charcoal pencil when tracing. Mistakes wipe off easily! No projector? No sweat! Enlarge your characters on a photo copy machine. Trace them with a charcoal pencil. Place them on the wall charcoal side down. Firmly rub the tracing with a #2 pencil. The charcoal outline will transfer to the wall. Keep in mind that your character will be facing the opposite direction, so plan accordingly.

Paint your characters. This is no more difficult than using crayons in a coloring book. Grab your water cleanup craft paint and start painting. Stay in the lines. Use inexpensive sponge brushes for large and medium areas. Use detail brushes for the small stuff. Want to really make it pop? After it dries, outline it with a darker color. Refer to your story books for inspiration.

Your kids will be so excited; they’ll hardly be able to wait to show their new mural off to their friends. You might find yourself doing a little bragging too! Create a room that you and your child will never forget. Have fun. Be playful. Do it together.