Thursday, August 14

Baby Pop Art

Can we moms get enough of staring at our precious new bundles? No - they are so stinkin' cute we have to fill our walls with pictures of them, too!!! :-) I made these pop art images using the birth announcement photos I took of my daughter back in April '05. It was, for me, an inexpensive and quick way to decorate her room ... after her birth, since we didn't find out we were having a girl until she was born. Since then I've seen a couple companies in the back of mom's magazines that offer this type of service, but I'll give you the scoop so you can do it yourself!
Instructions: I use Adobe Photoshop, but I believe most photo-editing programs have the capabilities for this project. Convert your color photo first to Grayscale, then to a Duotone. In Photoshop this is under "Image " then "Mode." Choose two colors for your piece. I used fuschia for my dominant color and bright yellow for highlights. In order to prevent the colors from blending into a third color - like orange in my case - you must now play around with the curves. My fuschia curve is at zero for 0, 5, 10, then 40 at 40 on up to 100 at 100. My yellow curve is at 50 for 0, 5, 10, then zero from 20 to 100. The curve adjustments will dramatically effect your image, so play with these until you like how the photo appears.

I printed out my two pieces of pop art and decoupaged them onto canvases that I had already painted fuschia. [In other words, glued the paper prints onto the canvas with decoupage medium, then brushed it over the top, as well, to seal and protect it.] They hung over her crib for her first year ...
... which was a modified guest room until we shuffled all the bedrooms around ...
... and then moved across the country. Now she's in this "big girl" bed and they grace her headboard. I'd love to see pictures from any of you who "do try this at home!"

17 comments:

Dei said...

How are adorable is that! Love the PINK and yellow color scheme.

Rae said...

I will most certainly be trying this project out!! I LOVE it!!! Thank you so much for the step-by-step instructions. I'll let you know when I have finished mine!

Unknown said...

I love the yellow and white wallpaper! It's so pretty! Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. You have a great one, BTW - I am going to add you to my blogroll. Have a nice day! Daisy~

Blissfully Enamored said...

i LOVE those wall art pictures that you made! and the colors are SO grea together....i am not much of a yellow fan...but with the pinks..it looks so cute!!

Unknown said...

How do you decoupage the pictures onto Canvas????

brookmatayoshi@comcast.net

Totally loved your technique!

Eve said...

What a GREAT idea!

jeanne @ Inspiring Ideas said...

I updated the post with a little description of the decoupage, but I'll describe it here, too: Decoupage is a type of glue medium, so you brush it all over the canvas, then position your art prints and let dry. Then brush a finishing coat of decoupage right over the top to seal it in and give it a finished look.

Anonymous said...

I love this!!!! What a great idea!
I'm definitely trying it out! Thanks for sharing the how to!

Theresa Cloyd said...

This is such a great idea! When you printed the pictures did it come in sections that you pieced together? I'm not sure how I would get that big of a picture from my printer! I'm definitely going to try this out. theresacloyd.blogspot.com

Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom said...

I love this idea - I have done some other fun editing of my daughter's photos, but I will have to try this!

Christin said...

Love. This.

It's crazy because I had seen this when you first posted it. saved you on my blogs...and then forgot who's blog I had seen this on. :)

but I found it again! WOO HOO

So I have to ask what Theresa did...how did you print out that whooping picture size off of your printer? My hub does have a HUGE printer at his office...did you use something like that? or standard printer? or some store? or? ;)

Thanks for sharing this. I do plan on doing one for all 4 of my girls and lining the upstairs (currently bare) hallway with them. (I think)

Christin said...

and oh...my email address is

GvnJCmyALL@aol.com

Thanks!

jeanne @ Inspiring Ideas said...

To answer the questions on the printing:

Neither of my printers could do 16 x 20, the size of my canvases. I chose the economy route :-) and printed 4 "tiles" from my small printer - which had the best quality. I seemed them together on the canvas, then covered with decoupage, so unless you look close, most people cannot tell. Also these have always been over her bed, so it's kind of hard to get super close. :-)

If you're doing these for your living room or foyer or hallway where people might come eye to eye with them, it might be worth running down to Kinko's or your quick print copy shop to print one large image.

Don't forget to send me pics of yours! I love seeing them!

Pdyrholm said...

now she is in the big girl bed... don't they just grow up way way too fast.
I love the idea with the baby photos over the bed. Great idea :-)
(we are just buying a house and looking for ideas)

Melanie said...

Those are fantastic! I bookmarked this entry for when we have another baby's or kid's room to decorate!

Anny said...

Those are just precious! I love them, she's a beautiful baby :)

Anonymous said...

Wow!! The way you explain it seems so simple! Thanks, I'll have to try this sometime... but maybe with a wedding picture using our wedding colors. Hmmm, maybe. Ade is a cuter subject for pictures :)

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