Calendar Art

Oh, man! There's just too much white. I've been surrounded by it for far too long. All the white walls inside and now all the snow outside, it's just too much. I needed to do something. Fast.

These calendar pages have been nailed to my walls for months. They are months February and July for the Birds 20111 Cavallini and Co. calendar.

I bought this calendar almost a year ago with the intention of using the pages in some capacity as art in our townhouse rental. The walls in the unit are pure white and one wall soars 20 feet high. The blinding expanse of white makes me feel like I'm in an asylum. I had been waiting for some inspiration but I needed to get something on the walls now, before I go insane.

We don't plan on being in this rental for more than a couple of years, so I don't want to invest much time or money into making this feel like home. Of course, I want to be comfortable here and enjoy living here, but I need to be resourceful and just use what I already have or at least keep new purchases to a minimum. On the rare occasion that I do purchase something for this place, I've decided that it will also have to be something that I will eventually be able to incorporate into the Florida home decor. So, you know what that means... I need to get creative!

On the biggest wall I kept the look pretty traditional. Simple black frames with mats were on clearance at Sears for only $15 each. Not too bad. That was an easy and budget friendly solution.

Framing book and calendar pages is a quick and affordable way to add images to your walls. It's so easy to personalize your spaces and it's pretty unlikely that your friends and neighbors will have the same pictures hanging in their homes.

On the other side of the room and over the white pie hutch I wanted to do something different, a little more contemporary. I'm not an artist, by any means, but sometimes I like to play around and "see what happens". A friend had given me a couple of canvases and I had some left over paints and, of course, Mod Podge. I used two more pages from the calendar and then cut out the nests and eggs from another couple of pages and added them. I extended the branches and added a couple of leaves. To give it a bit of an aged look, I did a little light sanding over the whole piece and then sealed each with a couple coats of Mod Podge. So, this is "what happened".

While I was snowed in I was inspired to to something with these white walls. Finally. I made six new pieces and had fun doing it. The calendar cost $21.95, the canvases were free and the paints I already had. My kind of budget decorating...

The sun is out! Hope you're enjoying your day!