How I Decorate a Room: Part 3.

Like I mentioned before, one of my favorite things to do is make my own art. I have a hard time going somewhere like TJ Maxx or Gordman's and buying art that I feel like I could easily recreate myself. I like doing it myself because:

1. It's cheaper.
2. You can tell people, "Thanks! I made it myself!" when they compliment it.
3. You can cater it to you.

Let me show you how an idea progresses into a reality, at least in the brain of Abby.

I saw an idea on Pinterest that I liked, but didn't love. It was too busy of a design, and didn't completely apply to me because I'm not married. But I liked the idea of having your heart in two places... because that's me. I'm a Kansas girl and a Missouri girl. So I thought it'd be fun to depict that.

At first I thought I'd do a shape of Kansas + a shape of Missouri. Then I thought, they are right next to each other in real life, so why not connect them? You know what perfectly connects Kansas and Missouri? Kansas City!

I don't have a cartographer's brain, so I googled it, so I could get some kind of image as ground work. I came up with this ugly, but simple picture to base it on (and random flags where Kansas City is...)

Then I remembered in an art class I took in high school that to keep your dimensions straight it's good to make a grid. So I did that in Word. Nothing fancy, but it helped. (As you can see by the multiple outlines that I did of the west side of Missouri, it was a trial and error process.)

Then I painted it! In some colors that were used in my room. Put a star on my beloved Kansas City. And you've got custom artwork for about $6 (that includes the canvas and the acrylic paint.) You can do it, too!