Make a Medieval Tapestry

So, I've been racking my brain to think of ideas for our Middle Ages unit that are NOT run of the mill and I think I may have hit on one!

Yesterday we made our own tapestries!! Well,  sort of.... We did break out a loom or anything like that. We did it OUR way. ;)

I dug out a couple of scraps of fabric that were sitting on top of one of my fabric boxes and decided they would work just fine.

Then I hunted down the dowel rods that I knew were here SOMEWHERE!

After that I hunted high and low for yarn or twine... ANYTHING to hang them with!! I got lucky and found some string.

When we got to our Middle Ages study I showed Cailey and Colin different pictures of medieval tapestries and explained how they were used.

Then I sat them in front of the fabric scraps with their paints and brushes and let them go.



This is what they came up with.









Colin went with a shield and knights.

The lighting for this pic was terrible and using the flash only made it worse! LOL







Cailey went with a unicorn and rose vines.



After the paint dried, I put a ton of glue at the tops and wrapped them around the dowels. Then I added the strings to end.

Viola! Medieval tapestries!!!

You could always have your child try their hand at a bit of embroidery.



HAVE FUN LEARNING!!!!!

DIY Door to Headboard Upcycle

We recently gave the girls our old bed set and changed out our bed clothes. Now we needed something to match!

I have been seeing a lot of DIY headboards on Pinterest and knew that I wanted to give it a try.

The simplest way seemed to be the door to headboard upcycle. I knew we had an old door in the garage so that was PERFECT! All I needed was the paint! ;)





We had some plain white paint sitting around in the cupboard under the stairs, so I grabbed that! Then I got some Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch in Colonial Red. It has Primer built in! Then I grabbed a sample of Glidden Rich Navy for the stencils.

The stencil I picked up at Home Depot. It had 3 different designs but I was partial to the fleur de lis.







First I sprayed 2 coats of the Colonial Red. No sanding, no priming. Just painting! ;)









After the red was good and dry,  I taped around the middle sections and added 2 coats of the white.

I had a bit of an issue with the tape. I used Scotch brand and expected good results. Instead, the white bled through the edges and the tape left a sticky residue on the red paint. GRRR!!!!!!!







I did a little bit of touch ups.









Next I added the stencil.

That was a bit harder than I imagined it would be. SIGH... I still have some touching up to do but I am pleased with the way it turned out over all.

Advice - Tape the stencil very securely and start with just a small amount of paint. ;)



I wish I could show you how the headboard looks actually on the bed, but we can't  seem to find our screws!! ARGH!!! I will be getting it up in a day or two and will be sure to take some pictures then! :)



I hope this all made sense! I am up at 2 am writing it all out! LOL