miniDIY: washi tape cross stitch wall mural

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[SNAPSHOT]

time : depends on complexity of design

difficulty :  ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

hazards : going cross-eyed from all the little x's

would i do it again? : yes!

this project was inspired by the washi tape cross stitch project by sarah at {becoming gezellig}. i loved the idea and immediately started thinking about how i could incorporate it into our house. hmmm...

...lil' archer has that large expanse of blank wall...

perfect!

i then thought about design: easy -- trucks! ANY kind of truck, but lil' archer seems to have formed a lasting and intense bond with monster trucks in particular. i really need to take him to one of those monster-jam-rally-whatever truck shows.

i searched for free monster truck cross stitch patterns, but couldn't find anything that was exactly to my liking -- astonishing, i know.
   ...so i designed my own pattern!

i simply created a new table in excel and set the cell widths and heights to be the same, which formed squares.

tada! graph paper.

then, i set about filling in the squares.

i was aiming for a very simple rendering of a monster truck.

this is what i printed as my guide:

lil' archer LOVED the guide -- he taped it on the wall! 

we could have just stopped there, i guess!

now for the taping...i would recommend starting in the center of your pattern -- that way your finished design will be centered on your wallspace.

i started out trying to be very meticulous about the length of each strip of washi tape...but i had a LOT of x's to make! in the end, i just tried to be semi-consistent about the strip length.

i got into a groove after a while:

snip! snip! 

form an x! 

stick on wall.

repeat!

this is a pretty mindless project. just follow your printed guide, let your mind wander...and take a step back every so often to make sure your lines are straight!

before you know it...a giant monster truck!

he's just being cool and pretending to ignore it...

i LOVE this project because if lil' archer's tastes change, i can easily remove the washi tape from the wall -- unlike, say, a painted mural -- and replace it with something different.

or he'll tell me his room is off limits to my crafting.

that will be a sad, sad day.

* mari