Chatty Chics Guest post

Hi ladies! I'm Melody from Chatty Chics and am thrilled to be visiting with you today!

  Katie, thanks so much for inviting me to guest post! I love to chat about just about everything- Home Decor, Food, Money Matters, Shopping, etc.

Before I ever dreamed about having a child, I dreamed about decorating a nursery. I know, that's pretty odd but I've always loved the feel of nurseries and couldn't wait to decorate my own. One thing I always wanted was a large tree painted on one wall. I wanted a tree that would be friendly, yet cute enough that would work in a toddler's or even child's room as well. Something that would "grow" with the child. click for full image.

When it came time to draw the tree, I ran into problems. I can barely draw a stick figure, much less a tree. So I searched the web and found this image. 

I love the shaggy branches and how large it is and knew I'd want something that would cover a large portion of my wall. So my very talented friend, Holly stepped in to help me. (Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the process since I wasn't blogging then. My apologies!) Here are the supplies you'll need: 1. Acylic paints 2. Projector and pencil 3. Bowls/Plates for paint.

We originally went "old school" by tracing an image onto a transparency. Then we projected it on the wall so we could trace the trunk with a pencil. We didn't want to trace the leaves as we knew we wanted to be a little creative with that part. 

 Unfortunately we couldn't get it as large as I wanted so we took some liberty to extend the original lines for the trunk and branches.

 After the frame was drawn on the trunk, we filled it in using sponge brushes and acrylic paints from Michael's. Holly blended a few of the colors together to create the lighter browns and the "glow" around the black hole to create dimension. (Adding white to any color lightens it.) She took a small paintbrush and created the "grass" around the bottom of the trunk.

  To create the leaves, we used a darker color first and a sponge brush and used two quick strokes to create a leaf. You really can't mess this up as we both did it and they all look pretty much the same. Start with the dark color, then mix in a medium and lighter color as you work your way out to add the dimension.

  

I actually wanted to go wider (as I always like to do things with a bam!) but Holly said the scale would be off for the room. Who knows. I may still make the leaves extend across the whole wall, much to her dismay I'm sure. But I love it. And that's what matters. Stay tuned for tours room by room. Stay tuned as I'll share the entire nursery in the upcoming months. Happy Painting!

  Blessings!