DIY wall art

I did this project a while back, but I get so many comments on it when people visit, that I thought I'd share how cheap and easy it was. Under $10 for a 3' x 3' piece for your wall.

First off, the squares are 12" square scrapbook paper. I just picked papers from two different sets that had designs I liked with colors that go in my living room.

I bought a couple of 1-by-2s at the hardware store. They sell for a couple dollars for an 8 or 12 foot piece. Cut them into 10" pieces with 45 degree angles. Put them together into a square and use a staple gun to connect them together. Wrap the paper around the squares and use tape or glue to stick the paper to the wood. Done.

One good trick to hanging a set of frames like these is to use a long level. I used a sharpie to make small marks on the edge of my level, transferred those lines into dots on the wall, hammered in small tack nails and hung them up. So easy and cheap, but they look really nice. Most people think I painted them because of the texture of the paper I used. Very few people realize they are paper.

Another idea for something like this, although it would not be as cheap, would be to use vinyl record frames to frame the paper. You kind of lose the three dimensional look of having the squares be 1" deep, but it's mostly the same effect.