The past few weeks have changed my life. Even now I'm sitting here typing with one hand, the other arm holding Liam. Motherhood is everything and nothing like I imagined! It's an amazing rollar coaster for sure.

In the past few weeks since Liam was born we've gotten cards and flowers and gifts galore! They are all so thoughtful and so appreciated. In the next few posts I thought I would share some of the handmade ones with all of you. So here is the first!

This is the beautiful quilt my Nana made for Liam. So beautiful and simple at the same time. She tucked little accents of teal flat piping between the main pieced section and the border and then between the border and the binding.

Each little block has not only beautiful quilting but these adorable little owls embroidered in the center of the squares! I love it and it will be a treasure for Liam for years to come.

I’ve always loved fabric wall art. Big or small, embellished or bare fabric, they are beautiful to me. Maybe it’s because I love being around fabric. Maybe it is because I can’t draw or paint or sketch like I would like to be able to, so the blank canvas, fabrics cut and shaped, sometimes embellished are my replacement of this skill. 
This made wall décor for the nursery incredibly easy for me. Owls + blank canvas + fabulous fabrics = wall art I can do and afford! So to continue the spirit of giving, I thought I would post the directions for the owl wall art.

Buy your canvas.
Art & craft stores such as Pat Catans, Michaels and JoAnns all carry artist canvas. Don’t bother with the expensive kind since you’ll be covering the actual canvas. The ones I used were 10 x 10 in size.

Cut.
From your background fabric cut a piece that will cover your canvas size with at least 3” extra on each side. This extra fabric will allow you to wrap around the edge of the canvas and to the back for securing.

Design.
I used our nursery fabric, Alexander Henry Spotted Owl, for inspiration on the owl shapes and sketched and erased paper until I was happy with the results.  In the past I have done image searches and found clip art to trace. Just make sure to respect copyright laws and use clip art or photos that are royalty free or that you own.
1.) Once you have the images sketched on paper, trace the sections (each part that will be in a different fabric) onto Steam-A-Seam II Lite.
2.) Roughly cut them out and peel one side of the waxy paper (the side without the sketching on it) away from the sticky glue. Put the shape glue side down to the wrong side of the fabric.
3.) Press with a warm iron, no steam. Cut on the lines to cut out the shapes. Peel away the remaining (second) side of the waxy paper and arrange the shapes back into the original design you sketched in the center of the background fabric. Press with an iron and use steam to make the bond permanent.

Decorate.
Embellish to your heart’s content. Ribbons, couching, decorative stitches, free motion or just let the fabric speak for itself.

Cover the canvas.
You will need a small staple gun for most fabrics. I found a cheap “girl toolkit” and have found it handy in many crafting and home repair situations. There is no right or wrong way to cover the canvas. I have found that starting on one side and moving to the opposite side, rather than working in a circle around the canvas edges, provides much more professional results with less buckling and bubbling of the fabric. If your wall art is going to have the sides exposed, make sure to wrap the fabric all the way to the backside of the canvas and staple there so the staples can’t be seen. Staple away!

Finishing.
If your wall art is going to have the sides exposed another nice way to finish the canvas is to use a coordinating grosgrain ribbon or fabric along the sides to cover the staples. Hang and enjoy!
 

Here are the other ones I did for a series of 3. The striped one was inspired from my shower invitations!

I would love to see some of your wall art pieces! Share them on the Nina flickr page or the Nina Fan Page!