master bedroom remodel: DiY thrifty wall art

I am so excited to show you the "after" pictures of my master bedroom remodel.  I am still just waiting on one final little detail to be completed (it is out of my control--so frustrating!), and then I will do my big online reveal.  To tide you over, I thought I'd share my DiY tutorial for a thrifty wall art project.

In case you've forgotten, this was my inspiration board for my "5 star Caribbean beach resort" bedroom:

Photo credits:  potterybarn.com, housebeautiful.com, HGTV.com, kohls.com, AllPosters.com, evadesigns.com, realsimple.com, allthingslovely.typepad.com, florida-beach-photography.com.)

Our master bedroom is gigantic, with a super-high ceiling and LOTS of wall space.  And unfortunately for me (and my budget), original artwork is expensive.  I did find some cute frames and prints on clearance at Target & Marshall's a couple of months ago, but I still had one space left on the wall that I had to fill.

I don't really consider myself that creative or original.  I am good at finding inspiration from other people and places (or the Pottery Barn catalog), and then finding a way to copy or recreate a look.  I am in awe of people like Ashley Ann of Under the Sycamore or Meg of Whatever who come up with the most original, creative, and downright gorgeous ideas every single day, seemingly without even batting an eye.  That's just not me.  I bat frequently and tend to overthink everything.  So while I would like to say I'm crafty, the truth is that I'm just a wannabe crafter, a copycat.

But this little baby is mine, all mine!  

A few months ago, when we were remodeling our living room, we needed a large scale (36x48") piece of artwork to cover a hole in the wall above our library area.  I shopped around for options and quickly realized that anything I liked on that grand of a scale was going to be prohibitively expensive.  Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention, and I came up with a collage concept all on my own.  I wasn't sure it would work, but I figured $50 wasted on materials would still be better than the $1000+ we would be stuck spending otherwise.  This was the result:

Since originality doesn't strike me very often, I decided to do a similar concept for my last piece of bedroom art.

supplies:  blank canvas, cutting mat & blade, scrapbook paper, magazines, Mod-Podge, disposable brushes.

1. tear out magazine pages in the color you are looking for (in this case blue water)

2. use blade to cut magazine pages & scrapbook paper into wavy strips

3. use pencil to hand-write a quotation

4. paint over penciled words; let dry

5. use disposable paintbrush to collage paper strips onto canvas with Mod-Podge

6. coat entire canvas with Mod-Podge; let dry.

Of course, to see the finished piece hanging on the wall, you're just going to have to wait a little bit longer!

Total amount spent: $0

(Note:  I used all supplies I had laying around the house; I bought several canvases a few months ago when they were 50% off at one of the craft stores.  I think that size (11x14") was about $4 on sale.)

So what do you think, should I stick to being a copycat?