Make Your Own Art: 5 Unfussy Approaches

The household sequence below is the one that kept the room usable while it was unfinished. Want to make your own art but don't know where to start? I'm sharing five simple DIY art approaches!

Today I'm sharing approaches (that don't cost much money!) for bringing art into your home. These are my five kept ways to make your own art on the cheap! (psst…they're all super simple) Let's get to it… (post includes affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here})

One. Frame Agate Slices

After stenciling the walls as part of our budget bathroom makeover, I had a hard time finding art for over the toilet that was simple and didn't compete with the patterned walls. I ended up stumbling upon some polished agate slice coasters at a local home store (you can also find agate slices online {here}) and decided that they would be the perfect simple but elegant art for my space:

Be sure to get agate slices that are on the thinner side like mine because they're much easier to frame. Simply add either glue dots like {these medium-sized ZOTS} or hot glue from a glue gun around the back rim of each slice and then mount them to card stock cut to fit your frame. For a step-by-step tutorial with pics of how to knock out this simple DIY, look at the details of my framed agate art {here}.

Two. Use Feathers, Fronds, and Other Outdoor Finds

There are a lot of natural elements that can make simple, polished art, including many that you might be able to find in your own backyard. One of my favorites is feathers – I created a piece of art for over our fireplace that's made up of five feathers in an alternating pattern that I simply hot glued onto card stock and framed:

I found three of my feathers on walks and bought the other two at the Country Living Fair but if you're looking for a good online source you can find lots of feather options {here}.

Another idea is to press and frame leaves or fronds like I did in the house office gallery wall:

You can get more of my gallery wall approaches {here}.

Three. Design a Plate Wall

Whether they're cherished heirlooms or simply plates that you really love, think about hanging them as art like I did in our dining room:

For some reason creating this large plate wall totally intimidated me and I put it off for months but it actually ended up being straightforward to do! You can read more about how to hang plates on the wall {here}, including the best hangers to use.

Four. Let Your Little Ones Do the Work for You

There is no better art than something made by a little one that you love, right?! A fun, casual way to display art that your children or grandchildren or other little ones bring home is to use clothespins (mine are covered in striped washi tape) to clip artwork onto strung ribbon or twine. Super simple and it's easy to swap out art as new pieces are created!

My girls are both teens so we don't get much artwork coming home from school anymore but they still love to be creative. My youngest daughter and I made some new spring art for our fireplace by cutting bunny shapes out of corkboard sheets and hot gluing faux flowers on them:

And every now and then I still get a little something home from school – last year she spent weeks of art club taping and painting to create this cute art piece for me. She knows her mom well (I heart plaid!):

It's found a new home on the house office bookshelves (you can see more of the house office {here}):

Five. Print it Yourself

OK, this isn't really an idea for DIY art, it's more like PIY art – print it yourself. If you're lacking on time or creativity, there are TONS of fun art prints that you can download and print instantly for just a couple of dollars like this deer art printable and Let's Stay Home art that The household has used for art on our fireplace mantel:

You can find TONS of great inexpensive art printables {here}.

It would help if you found a few new approaches to try from today's post! I'll see you back on the blog soon..

XO,