Homemade Art: Collage for the Bedroom

Remember that cluster of "frames and things" I hung up in my bedroom a few months ago? Some of the frames remained empty until now because I was being a super slacker about filling them with some artwork. Last weekend I decided it was a great time to make a collage for one of the empty frames.

Here's what I came up with:

Here's where it needed to go:

I spent probably about four or five distracted, multi-tasking hours making this collage and decided to take some progress pictures while it was coming together, from gathering the collage pieces to getting them glued down. Here's how it all went down:

.  just getting started  .

.  getting some of the pieces laid down  .

.  a little further along  .

.  pretty much all laid out where i want it  .
.  time to glue down!  .

Once all of the pieces are laid out in an arrangement that I like, I take several close-up pictures of the layout so that I'll be able recreate it as closely as possible:

Then I have to take all of the pieces off, wipe my paper canvas completely clean, and begin the slow process of glueing each piece down, one-by-one, in the correct order. This is harder than it sounds, since all of the pieces are overlapping each other in some way. They need to be put back in exactly the right order to maintain all the desired overlapping, with the correct layers on top. I always take a moment at the very beginning of the glueing phase to identify the very first pieces that need to be glued - the bottom-most pieces.

Here, I've got all of the pieces glued down, but haven't trimmed the edges yet:

Looking at it, I felt like it could use a little more depth, so a few more pieces were added... Can you spot the differences? ;)  Here is the finished and trimmed version:

Finally, the collage just needed to be put into its new frame home:

If you're curious, whenever I make a collage these are my go-to tools:

• tons of magazine scraps in different colors and textures and designs
• an X-acto knife
• a rubber craft cutting board
• a ruler
• rubber cement

I used to churn these kinds of collages out like crazy - giving them to all my friends for their birthdays and spending hours going through magazines, looking for pictures with interesting colors and textures. My collage production has definitely slowed in the last couple of years but it's something I still really enjoy doing when I have the time or the free workspace to spread out on. It would be amazing to someday live in a home with a spare room that could be used as a craft room! #CraftDreams.

Check out a couple other collages here:

• DIY: Hanging A Group of Frames (two small collages in this post)
• Step-by-Step Collage
• One Picture Inspiring All Sorts of Creative Projects