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By Kathleen Neafsey

Summer’s here!  Yes, I know it’s that time of year when we’re supposed to be spending more time outside, catching rays, doing … stuff.  Unfortunately, the oppressive heat and the pale skin that I inherited from my Irish ancestors keep me indoors more often than not. And so: I decorate.

Being indoors, I get bored looking at the same old walls.  I used to spend my summers painting my girls’ bedrooms — their rooms probably appear a good six inches smaller all-around than they used to thanks to all the layers of paint.  In the rest of the house, I like to change things around too.  I’m constantly switching-up accessories: throw pillows, candles, flower arrangements, etc.

A couple of summers ago, I thought it would be a good idea to paint my living and dining rooms a café au lait-ish color.  Word to the wise: unless you have lots of windows and light in the room, the color is kind of blah. Hence, colorful accessories — for fall & winter I like to use reds and oranges, while in spring & summer I prefer blues and greens.  You’d be hard-pressed to find any yellow in my house, the result of a bad experience in Kindergarten. But other than that I’m open to most colors.

Okay, enough about that.  I wanted something new this summer, but didn’t feel like spending an arm and a leg to get it.  So I made yet another trip to the craft store, in search of inspiration. This time I picked up some blank canvases. A coincidence?  I think not. Instead of painting a whole wall, why not just whip up some new wall art.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Blank canvases. Depending on what you have in mind, and how many you’ll need, it may be more economical to buy the package of ten for just under $20, rather than individually.
• Acrylic paints. Pick your favorite colors.
• Wooden letter. I happened to have a bucket left over from an assignment that one of my girls probably had in grammar school.  But you can also buy them individually.

Initially, I had planned to place white letters on a white canvas, but it didn’t look the way I’d envisioned it.  So I decided to paint my canvases blue.  Do your letter placement first and get a general idea of the layout.  If you don’t know how to draw/paint a dandelion there are plenty of on-line tutorials.  In the midst of painting mine though, I realized how truly tedious they are – and another idea was born.

If you have a stencil paintbrush handy, which I did not, that will probably work for your dandelion.  Necessity being the mother of invention, I took a small strip of a crepe paper streamer and bunched it up; blotted it into a small pool of white paint and pounced it onto the canvas.  You’re almost done; add some random brown dots within the flower and then give it a stem.  Glue the letters in place and you’re all set.

While I was on a roll, I painted another canvas, this time adding a little white paint to the blue, just to make it a slightly different shade.  Then decided on another phrase (taken from one of my favorite songs in “Singin’ in the Rain”) and painted my letters. I used a coordinating Sharpie to outline the letters to make them stand out more

I also used a leftover piece of scrapbook paper to make one big star and some smaller, random ones, and started gluing.

Tada! Now I have two original pieces of artwork to brighten up my summer walls.

Now, have a safe and fun Fourth of July …. and don’t forget your sunblock!!!

Fabri-Kate is a column running on Kate-book.com every other Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. It is written by the crafty Kathleen Neafsey, who wields a mean pair of scissors. Follow her on Twitter @dbmomkat and look for a brand new craft next time.