Faux Dry-Mount Artwork

I know I haven't posted pictures of the master bedroom update yet, but here's a quick background.  The carpet went from covered in someone else's dog's pee and mildew to nice plush carpet we like. The walls went from banged-up white to bachelor pad gray to a nice soft yellow/khaki color.  We replaced hand-me-down (read: FREE, Thanks Melody!) wood furniture and no head board with a new black bedroom suite from Rooms-to-Go and added burgundy (we DON'T call it maroon) curtains/bed spread.  Its been quite a year for this room.  We have still yet to do any sort of 'decorating'- something I'm not particularly good at and/or fond of, and of course, we all know the arguments between Will and I involving home decor. I like colors and prints, he likes modern and abstract.  I figured I could give up some on the decor if 1) I could make it myself and 2) it was CHEAP.

Then I had an idea. We both like the dry-mount technique for pictures.  However, it can be rather expensive.  (Quick, imagine a light bulb going off over my head.) I could somehow make my own dry-mount using foam board! Ding, ding, ding- we have a winner!

I got on Colour Lovers and began creating our artwork! I came up with these two designs, using that website.  I didn't really come up with the designs, they did, but I picked the colors out!

I used the same colors for both pictures, and created two coordinating pieces of art work.  (If your computer shows the top picture darker than the bottom one, its not. I don't know why its doing that on mine...)  We wanted the first print to be smaller and go over our tall chest.  The second one would be larger and go on the blank wall to the left of the bed.  I saved them to a CD and brought them to Kinko's to get printed.  The nice impatient Kinko's employee printed out the first picture 11 X 14. It turned out great. As she went to print the second, I casually asked what it would cost. "Receipt's on the counter," she tells me.  "Receipt? I haven't paid for anything..." I think.  I found a receipt totalling $45. I knew this couldn't be mine, I was only getting 2 pictures printed. I tell her this. "The larger print is $43. The smaller is $2," she informs me. "Impatient-lady-behind-the-counter-about-to-print-a-$43-picture SAY WHAT?!" I kindly ask her NOT to hit the print button. "I'll only take the small one. Thanks." I paid my $2.16 (with tax) and leave with my one piece of potential new artwork. I'll have to figure out Plan B for that larger print.  Notice our still blank wall...

When I got home, I cut out foam board to fit the size of the picture. It was actually slightly smaller than 11X14.  I used our old Xact-o knife with a fresh blade. It worked out fine, I just flipped the foam over a couple times and did some trimming.  Using my trusty foam brush, I put a thin coat of mod podge on both the foam board and the back of my art work.  I smoothed out the picture and viola! Contemporary, one-of-a-kind art for less than $3 in materials.

Up Close:

Two things to note:

     1.  I have moved the jewelry box over to the other dresser, and I'm thinking of replacing it with a nice large vase. Thoughts?

     2.  Yes, you can see an imperfect edge in the up close picture, but who really gets that close anyway??

Hopefully I figure Plan B for the second print soon, because I need that blank wall to be filled with an Amber Original.