Okay, this may be the easiest, possibly cheapest, and coolest Thrifty Gifty yet! Go to vintageprintable and choose from a bazillion, you guessed it, vintage prints. Print one out in black and white; put the print setting on Standard or maybe even Fast, rather than High. You just need a light printout.
Now, get out some water colors. Your kids’ Crayolas would work fine. However, I also had a box of 30 yr old watercolors (seriously, they were my sister’s and she scratched 1979 on the case), and I don’t know what brand they were, but Crayola really is kid stuff in comparison. Prang also makes nice quality pan water colors that are reasonable.
Using the color picture on the website as a guide, paint the image. I chose the ever-popular eggs. The black and white print will provide most of the shading and whatnot for you.
Pay close attention to the subtleties of color in the original. At first glance, all the eggs looked gray, blue, or green. A closer look revealed some reds, yellow, purples, etc.
Here’s the original...
…and here’s my rendition.
Put it in a thrift store frame, and shazam! Impressive! (We’re reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and I had to get a shazam! in there.)
I paid about .75 for the frame and mat several months ago. I originally printed it out 8x10 and was just going to put it in the frame as is, because I forgot I had the mat. I like it much better this way.
If you can’t find a suitable frame at the thrift store (remember, you can always spray paint it and the mat), you could try Dollar Tree. I’m pretty sure they even have mats. Even if you went that route, you could still do a set of 2 or 3 for $4-$6.
I just used printer paper, and it’s okay, but a heavier paper made for water colors would be best.
Sure, you could just print it out in color, but I think hand-tinting takes it up a notch.
Joining the linky at Living with Lindsay.
6 comments:
Girlfriend, that just rocks! Did you take painting lessons? You make it look too easy. I'd prolly end up with a pool of dark black/purple in the middle of the wilting paper :)
This is an awesome idea that I'm going to bookmark. I'm thinking it would also be a great way to add more cheap but impressive artwork to my home.
I made your hot pack last night. My son was having a back issue and I couldn't find my heating pad, so I whipped one up. I also had some loose lavendar that I added with the rice and it smells wonderful. I actually thought it worked better than our electric heat pad. It never got so hot that it was uncomfortable, but it's the kind of heat that really penetrates. It was totally simple to make and didn't take very long. I do want to pick up some pretty flannel and make a washable cover for it, though.
This series is one of my most favorite things I've ever found in blog land. Thanks and Kudos!
Well, shut up!! It looks AWESOME!! I want someone to give one to ME!! Wait....my friends are NOT crafty! That's what they have me for....right?
I better get busy!
LOVE THIS!!
Lou Cinda
Love it! That is a really neat print, and you did a great job of explaining everything!!!
How pretty and what a great idea. Thanks for sharing. MERRY CHRISTMAS
Holly, I love this! And that frame & mat look perfect with it. I'm like you I rarely have color ink and never thought about doing this. I will be trying something along this line now. I see all these girls printing tons of stuff and have to wonder, is there so super copier that prints great and doesn't use a fortune in ink. If so please let me know.
Hugs...Tracy :)
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