One of the coolest, most defining features of our house - the Douglas Fir paneling in the 100+ year old part of our house - is also the bane of my decorating existence.

The aesthetically hip, cabin-like walls are a great conversation point and make our home unique, but it means that I can’t put up anything on the walls except picture frames. For someone with an inexplicably strong yearning for putting up wall decals in her children’s bedrooms, this has always irked me to no end!

So, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I was chosen to participate in an Elmer’s Looks For Less Challenge! I knew right away that I would try to recreate this discontinued Pottery Barn Woodland Tree Decal, which was still around when I purchased Jane’s new bedding, but just way too expensive for a bunch of stick on trees that I wouldn’t be able to stick on anyway:

The closest thing that retails now is the $174 Cherry Blossom Decal:

I also drew inspiration from Petit Collage’s $80 growth chart wall decals, like this one:

Since - as you know - I am a serious procrastinator with a penchant for giving myself repetitive stress injury - I did all of this, including the shop, yesterday, so there’s no bright, beautiful day shot of the magical Woodland Tree Mirror Wall Decal. I’ll update with a better photo soon! *UPDATE: Well, I guess her room doesn’t get much natural light because the updated photo (at top and below) are not much better.

Materials + Cost

Elmer’s sent this ridiculously awesome pack of goodies!

Here’s everything I used for this project, including materials from the Elmer’s Pack, what I bought at Michael’s, and what I already owned.

Elmer’s Pack

• 1 Elmer’s Black 20×30 Foam Board
• 2 Elmer’s Bright White Acid-Free 20×30 Foam Boards
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Extra-Strength Glue Stick
• X-ACTO Designer Series Gripster Knife
• Elmer’s Painters Markers Calligraphy Set (gold metallic pen)

Bought

• 2 Creatology Foam Sheets $0.89
• 2 Creatology Glitter Self-Adhesive Foam Sheets $1.49

Already Owned

• Elmer’s Craft Bond Spray Adhesive $3.58 (the same can from the Walmart shop for this project and also used here and here - the best stuff on earth!)
• Elmer’s Craft Bond Permanent Dot Runner $5.93 (from Amazon)
• 11 sheets of cardstock from my mom for my birthday $5.99 for 140 sheets (from Marshalls)
• Stick-It Felt Flower Shapes $2.69 (from Michaels)
• Owl Felt Wall Art $1.00 (from Target)
• Bird Felt Wall Art $1.00 (from Target)
• Kolja 30″ mirror $19.99 (from Ikea)

I spent a grand total of $3.27 on materials actually used in the project and if you add in everything else I already owned, it came in around $30! Take that Pottery Barn!

Tutorial

Jane’s mirror was decorated like this, but that was just temporary. Eventually the kids ripped the butterflies down and I knew we needed something that would go with, but wouldn’t be too matchy-matchy with, Jane’s bedding sets:

Step 1

First, freehand cut the trunk of the tree out of the Elmer’s Black Foam Board with an X-ACTO knife. Then, freehand cut strips of brown felt “bark” and glue them on to the trunk using the Elmer’s Craft Bond Extra-Strength Glue Stick. Save your felt scraps to make branches. You can add more dimension to the branches or bark using the Elmer’s Painters Markers in the golden metallic color. I drew a hole in the tree with the Marker.

Step 2

Trace and cut out a leaf shape with the X-ACTO knife on a few sheets of cardstock, felt, or other paper. Use those shapes as stencils to cut out leaf shapes out of the Elmer’s Bright White Acid-Free Foam Board.

Step 3

Attach the paper leaves to the foam board leaves with Elmer’s Craft Bond Spray Adhesive.

Step 4

Use a combination of Elmer’s Craft Bond Spray Adhesive, Permanent Glue Dots, and Craft Bond Extra-Strength Glue Stick to glue the trunk and leaves to the mirror.

Step 5

Make a felt or paper owl and glue him onto a branch.

Or cheat and use one you bought from the $1 bin at Target! I started out with good intentions and then ran out of time and patience at the sketching stage when I heard a Hoo! from my crafting bins that I couldn’t pass up.

The coolest things about this wall “decal”:

1. In the event of an earthquake, it’s not going to hurt the children.
2. It’s sturdier and longer lasting than flimsy paper or vinyl.
3. It attaches to uneven, porous walls.
4. You can keep adding to it. (I am thinking of adding circles for apples and maybe an initial for Jane, or drawing on our family’s names on the leaves with the Painters Markers).
5. It’s totally customizable. (If I add more leaves, I’m going to make individual leaves that are half one pattern and half another).
6. It’s cheap! (If you don’t have a mirror, just cut out a circle from the white foam board and use it as your base).

The Elmer’s Giveaway is open from Thursday, December 1, through Thursday, December 15.

Mandatory Entry

Want to win your own prize pack of awesome Elmer’s crafty-goodness? Tell me what you would make with your prize pack of

• Black 20×30 Foam Board
• White 20×30 Foam Board
• CraftBond All-Purpose Glue Stick
• CraftBond Repositionable Glue Stick
• CraftBond Extra-Strength Glue Stick
• X-ACTO Designer Series Gripster Knife
• Painters Assorted Colors Set

in a comment below.

Bonus Entry

Subscribe to The Outlaw Mom (TM) Blog via e-mail, connect with Google Friend Connect, or follow The Outlaw Mom (TM) Blog on Twitter. If you do all three, that’s three bonus entries! (Remember to come back and leave me a comment so I know you did each one).

How To Win

You must be a U.S. resident. Odds of winning depend on the number of participants and the number of entries. One lucky winner will be randomly selected and notified on Friday, December 16th.

Disclaimer: This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer’s #gluenglitter #collectivebias #CBias. Even though this is a sponsored post, which means that I received compensation for writing this post, it does not mean that I was told what to write by the sponsor(s) nor does it mean that the sponsor(s) wrote this post and I merely copied it onto my blog. The content of this post was created entirely by me and consists solely of my own unbiased opinions and/or thoughts, but I’m sure you could tell!

Happy Crafting!

Parents and friends: for more ideas, activities, and inspiration for #RaisingThinkingKids, click on an icon below to join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter.

Fellow bloggers: join me at Bloggy Law, where you’ll find Simple Tips for Bulletproofing Your Brand and Blog and I’ll help you navigate the social media legal landscape a little more smoothly.

Chrissy – who has written 419 posts on The Outlaw Mom® Blog - Creative Living in a Conventional World.

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