$3 Wall Art

Greetings and Salutations.

So I was in Hobby Lobby last month (looking for pin backs or some such nonsense) and cut through the wall art section to get to the jewelry section when I saw this:

Wow.

Big.

Cool.

And one other word popped into my head when I saw the price tag. I bet it’s the same word that will pop into your head, so let’s just experiment and see if I’m right:

What word came to mind?

Any of the following words are acceptable: Ridiculous! Expensive! Outrageous!

Any of the following words are unacceptable: Bargain! Score! What-a-steal! (technically, 3 words, but since I put those dashes in there, it counts as 1)

Now, I am not necessarily the most timely person in the world. And this post is no exception. The mirror above is a sunburst mirror. You can kinda guess why it’s called that just by looking at it. There have been a lot of DIY sunburst mirrors poppin’ up around blogland for a while now. Centsational Girl made one that looks pretty cool. The one I was more drawn to was by Amanda at Our Humble Abowed. So after I had read her post over and over and over, I decided to start collecting my supplies and attempt to make one.

I didn’t get a picture with all my supplies together, so here’s a list:

• 50 paintsticks
• paintbrush
• paint
• hot glue gun
• glue sticks
• mirror
• wall bracket
• Liquid Fusion, Liquid Nails, or some other STRONG glue to glue your bracket to the back of the mirror
• Saw-thingy*

Here’s where it all began:

Thank you, WalMart, for your marvelous paint sticks and brushes.

*Thank you, honey, for letting me use your amazing power tools that I got you for Christmas.

Wait – did I just say that? Isn’t that like a husband buying his wife a tie so that he can wear it? No, it’s really not. Just trust me on this one.

(Actually – this was the first time I had ever used this baby. And the reason I’m calling it “baby” is because I don’t know what it’s called. ha. Anyway, my little girl was taking a nap and there was a man in our house working on our kitchen countertops while I was on the porch. {sidenote: don’t worry – that sounds shady, but it’s not. he’s a friend from church, so it wasn’t like I was abandoning my baby in the house with a stranger. end of sidenote.} I was desperately hoping he wouldn’t ask me what I was doing with a bunch of paintsticks and offer assistance. Thankfully, he didn’t. And I was spared the embarrassment of trying to explain what I was doing…especially since I don’t even know what this tool is called.)

I marked the paint sticks at 8 inches

and made sure to cut them past the 8″ mark.

I wanted to put this mirror in the half bathroom off the guest room, so I painted the sticks with the same Azalea Leaf paint I used in the guest room. That way it brings the two rooms together and makes them feel a little more cohesive.

Here they are…all painted and waiting to dry:

There’s no need to paint the entire paint stick – only as much as will show. So I didn’t paint the backs. And with the first layer, I didn’t paint all the way to the end of the stick either – only partial painting was required.

Grab a mirror. I got this one from Hobby Lobby for $3. That was my big purchase for this project. It’s a 10″ mirror – originally $6, but 50% off. This is the same one Amanda got:

Now…a word to the wise:

Lay your paint sticks out on the back of your mirror before gluing them down. As in, lay them ALL out to see what kind of spacing you want. Otherwise, you’ll just start gluing away, then get to the end and realize you have this tiny little space left – not big enough to fit a paint stick in – and then you’ll be sorry you didn’t follow my advice. See the anguish this has caused me?

That’s where I had to scrape off 2 paint sticks after already gluing them down. I never knew hot glue was so strong and stubborn!

If you get a mirror like I did, there will be these black rubber-y things on the back. I just peeled them off and glued the sticks on top. Voila.

Here’s the mirror after the first layer is in place:

Not too shabby.

And here it is from the back with the 2nd layer almost completed:

Of course, because of my lack of planning, I had cut too many sticks short, so I was left with some holes (3 holes, to be exact) where I needed long sticks and only had short ones:

Ridiculous. So I ran out to WalMart again, flagged a lady down, and she found some paint sticks for me. Thank you, nice lady in the blue vest.

I had a wall bracket left over from my Gallery Wall with $.50 frames, so I used tons of Liquid Fusion and glued that sucker on the back of the mirror. Then I added some hot glue on top – just to make sure it would be secure. Nobody will see the back, so I didn’t mind if it looked kinda trashy – just as long as it’s going to stay hanging on my wall!!

And here it is, folks, in all its glory and bigness:

I like how my mouth is hanging open in the reflection. Cute.

What should have been a simple, not super time-consuming project became a lot more complex because I didn’t lay the sticks out before I started. But it’s okay, because it’s done now and we like it. You notice I said “we?” Yes, I am super blessed with a nice hubby like that. Love him.

And speaking of, I am goin’ on a hot date with him tonight. Which means I need to finish this un-hot laundry so I have plenty of time to make myself look decent. He’s really cute and I want to make a good impression.

Happy weekend to you!!!