Painted Mirrors

So we've all seen these great Malma mirrors at Ikea, right? 

They are super cheap and give you lots or room for customizing...which us crafters love!  I bought a bunch of these a while back and hung on to them knowing they would come in handy for later decorating projects. 

 Well, when we decorated our second bathroom I had it in my mind for some sort of leaf theme.  I didn't want a very floral look...and I had a hard time finding the right accessories.  So I took matters into my own hands and came up with a quick relief painting technique to use on 3 of the Malma mirrors that was perfect for the space.

A Special Thank you to Summer over at Sumo's Sweet Stuff
for featuring me on her Showcase Saturday!!

First you'll need to pick your color theme, and paint the background color(s) on the frame of the mirrors.  

Then you'll need to cut out your shapes.  I used some basic printer paper and cut out a couple different leaf shapes.  You may need to make new ones as you go because the paint will begin to deteriorate the paper.  If it is important that the shapes be identical, I would recommend cutting out extra at the beginning and replace as needed.  Or you could go so far as buying the customizable stencils and making a real stencil.

Once your base coat is dry, hold one cutout down and dry brush in a contrasting color around the edge.  You might want to practice before you go to the mirror to get the hang of how much paint to use and what technique works the best. 

I overlapped the cutouts and filled in as much of the frame as possible.  I also liked the look of some of the leaves being partially off the frame...as if they were all falling.

Of course this technique can be used on all sorts of projects...from scrapbook pages and card making...to painting furniture and frames.  I hope you are inspired to paint something in your house!

Have fun with it!