Friday, January 9

how to make a wall decal

luke and my dad are on their way to go surf churches. my mom and the girls are on their way to the lake to go feed the ducks. i am sitting at a computer icing my big swoolen ankle, which i did a number on last night while playing on the stairs with ivy- rolled it on the last step which is not good when you have a crappy ankle from years of soccer injuries. i am just a little (read: completely) bummed.
so, seeing as i will be out of commission for a while i thought i would type up some directions for those who wanted to know how to make contact paper wall decals. here ya are:

1. go to target, home depot, wall mart, ebay- wherever and get some contact paper. any color, mine is black with a faux leather texture- which at first sounded funny but it turned out cool having a little texture.
2. decide on a design- do a google image search of something you like, copy one you have seen, draw your own, look at flickr, check the wall decals on etsy and attempt to copy one
3. make a template, out of paper or card stock, of the design you want if you are going to do something like bamboo or anything that you will want multiple of the same design- my mom drew two different bamboo segments that we used.
4. trace the template onto the back of contact paper- remember the final product will be the inverse of what you draw, so plan accordingly. or you can just draw on the contact paper, that is what i did for the ferns.
5. cut out design, we used scissors. you could use an exacto (is that how you spell it?) knife, and will need that if you do anything that has small details or cut outs.
6. tape to wall, toilet, laptop, window, lamp, whatever you can think to spice up and see if you like how it looks.
7. peal backing from contact paper and apply contact paper to wall, toilet, window....
8. step back and admire your handy work, and if it's not as cool as you envisioned take it off and make adjustments or buy one on etsy.com

happy decorating!

11 comments:

Stephanie said...

i might actually be able to do this!! (ah, who are we kidding, thomas will have to be very involved if we ever do it) but i want to!!!

liko said...

i really like the bamboo...and that octopus on the toilet -- freakin' awesome! i like how it isn't permanent, so you can switch it up if you want.
elevate your ankle!!! and do some vascular flushes on it (alternate between warm and cold). and try to STAY off of it (as possible as that may be, being a wife and mama!). my sister is in the same predicament...

mahina said...

very cool! sounds way easier than i was imagining! this, i could probably manage to do!

Lucky Mommy said...

Hey, Ash. We're here in CA and settling in. Someone in our ward here knows Luke from BYU Hawaii. Her name is Shar. Anyway, just thinking of you and hoping your move went well.

Aubrey Jane said...

Thanks for the instructions - I love the decals. They all look awesome, but the octopus is my favorite! Contact paper is amazing stuff.
We'd love to see you guys at Conference time. Let us know when you'll be here and we'll drive down!

Kaity said...

Thanks Ashley. I love the octopus too. I think I might copy you. Gio would love it.

Missy said...

I wondered how you did this! Thanks for the instructions (although, I'll be honest that I think mine would turn out better if I just bought them off etsy).

Jen said...

That is so great! The Octo on the pot is a good one. I wonder if that will help with potty training?.....

Brie said...

you are so creative...can you come over and do my living room please? love the bamboo..

Unknown said...

thanks for the instructions! I think I will actually try to attempt this! Maybe during spring break seeing as now I have to go back to work...You're awesome!

Lacey said...

well of course i'm way behind, but welcome to cali! hopefully we'll see you sometime in the next months. don't know much about redlands, but sounds like you'll be at disneyland a lot! have fun!