Handmade Christmas Gift #2: Nursery Paintings |

Last December, my sister bought a house…while 4 months pregnant. They redid a lot of the interior work to make it their home and 5 months later, my little nephew Blake was born. They set up a cute little nursery for him with a jungle animal theme. You know, the matching crib blankets, wall tapestry, hanging diaper bag, etc.

But when babysitting in September, I still felt the walls were a little vacant for this fun little guy. Though I realize this gift is more for my sister than for him, for Christmas I painted 3 square panels of some of the characters for her to hang as extra wall decor in his jungle themed nursery. I went to Michaels with my coupon (and finance D, who was also manned with a coupon) and bought the canvas bases for my paintings. Here’s what I did!

First, I drew out the designs slightly with a pencil. Tip: if you’re using something as inspiration, as I was, take a photo of this piece and print it out. Use a ruler to draw a grid over the picture. Use that grid to help you keep your drawing porportionate as you transpose it onto the canvas.

Next, I bought paints in the colors needed. I bought a few of the basics then also grabbed a white and black to mix. I recommend getting a small plastic paint palette that you can mix on. This one has seen a lot of loving over the years, but easily washes off for more painting adventures!

Because his walls were yellow and the base behind each animal was also a light yellow, I decided to define my borders with a little bit of dashed line effect (which is also used in the original tapestry).

Voila! Three new jungle themed painting that match her existing decor to hang in his room.