My sweet grandpa would play the I-spy game with me on long car trips (even though he cheated!), I grew up spending hours perusing I-Spy books, and even though I'm considered an adult, I still like the hidden picture puzzles. Dorky, I know. I suppose that's why I got so excited about this idea. Making I-spy wall art is a great way to stimulate a little (or big) person's brain while using up all of the ugly knick-knacks that accrue in the average craft supply.
As promised, here are step-by-step instructions for making your own fantastic I-spy wall art:
1) Choose or make a template of a basic shape or image (I recommend a skull, but if your baby's a wuss, you could try a butterfly, I guess)
2) Trace your template with pencil onto the paper you want as your background
3) Fill in your traced image with found objects, knick-knacks, and useless kitsch (make sure you take a picture of how everything fits together or you will be hating life later on)
4) Remove objects and spray paint (I recommend an awesome color like red) in several coats, if necessary
5) Punch holes along traced template lines, erase the pencil lines, and stitch (I stitched in the same color as the found objects so that the image was better-defined)
6) Using the photo you took earlier of object placement (you took one, right?), permanently attach all the little pieces to your base. This part blows, I'm not going to lie. Putting the thing back together is like playing ultimate I-Spy and isn't fun at all, but completion is possible! Don't give up!
7) Frame, hang, and enjoy!
I have this fantasy of spending hours in my daughter's room, picking out things we find in these wall hangings together. I can just hear her tiny voice say, "I spy with my little eye...a balloon," with me searching for the right one. That's years down the road, but I sincerely hope such a moment comes to fruition.
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