Anthro-inspired Flatware Wall Art

I recently posted about my laundry list of house projects for 2010. Noting that I'm finishing my Master's, looking for jobs, pregnant and due in April, have a husband, 2-year-old daughter, dog, house and teach dance on the side {I'm really not complaining...my life is AMAZING}, the outlook on completing all these projects is not great. I told myself just to do things as I had time. Today was just such a day! I had some time and a lot of inspiration, a perfect combination for fluffing up our nest!

I posted about some great finds from Hobby Lobby {here}, including this beautiful silver matte frame I scored for $15.



This poor wall in our kitchen has been screaming for help ever since August, when I stumbled onto some amazing blogs and got the itch to make our house a home. Just for giggles, I put the Hob Lob frame up there, as it seemed so cold and bare after taking down my wrapped canvas "present" {here}.

This was number 24 on my {not in sequential or any other type of order} to do list for the great house-home transformation of 2010. Not something I really thought about doing anytime soon, for sure. But somehow today the inspiration struck and I got it done...and QUICK! It was such an easy project - probably less than two hours, which included a quick trip to WalMart to get some supplies, a cranky toddler, and an emergency visit from the plumber!

The Project: Anthropologie-inspired Flatware Wall Art
This great set of antique flatware wallpapers from Anthropologie has been catching my eye a lot these days, and something I thought I could remake for our kitchen {yeah...the $620 pricetag is just slightly out of my budget!}. I got some natural-looking material from WalMart, photoshopped some pics of antique cutlery I found online, printed onto iron transfer paper and ironed onto my material. Easy peasy!



Here's what I did:

Cut a piece of foam board to fit into the 14"x18" opening.




This is the material from WalMart I used. I'm not sure what it's called...it's pretty soft, but has lots of natural-looking fibers and "flaws." I liked the $2.47/yd. price!


Photoshop images:

I thought the flatware images needed a little something more, so I added this phrase at the bottom:
Here are the images printed out onto the transfer paper:



"Action shot" of the ironing process:


And the {almost} final product. I didn't have time this evening to finish adhering the material to the foam board, but couldn't wait to share. I think it turned out pretty well for a quickie project!




Sorry the pics aren't the greatest. My excitement is overtaking my photography skills! If you'd like the Photoshop images for your own personal use, just click on the cutlery and "cuisine d'art" images and right click to save to your computer. They're a pretty large size, so you can really have some fun! Hope you enjoy!

P.S. - I'm linking to the following