May's C of Creation - Pretty as a picture

When it comes to decorating Brendan and I never agree, on colour, on textiles, on furniture placement, nothing.

So trying to decorate the house is a nightmare, which is why I have resorted to doing things while he is out of the way on a bike rally.

Having managed to paint walls and move furniture around already this year, I am now tackling some of the blank canvas walls I have created.

(Brendan rode off to Bordeaux this morning so I am free to decorate to my heart's content.)

I am lousy at choosing pictures, I have no eye for a painting or wall art at all, but at the start of the year both Brendan and I managed to find this calendar full of copies of old enamel advertising plates for soaps, and we both agreed that we liked the pictures.

Here is a 'how to' create a picture from a calendar.

Cut out the picture that you like, cut right to the edges leaving no borders around it.

The next bit depends on what you have got knocking around, but at a push you can use some thick box cardboard. One of the best things to use is bits of plaster board off cuts, which thanks to a builder friend I have large pile of in the barn! Also, old lever arch folder covers are good, as is plyboard.

Cut a piece of your backing material to the same size as your picture. If you are using plyboard or plaster, you can rub the edges with a bit of sandpaper to get a smooth finish. Liberally apply a coat of PVA glue, which has the advantage of being easy to clean up as well as cheap, over all of your backing medium, especially the edges to seal them together. Leave to dry for about 30 minutes.

Then apply a thick layer of PVA to the backing piece and stick down your picture. If you apply a thick enough coat of glue you will find that you can easily slide the picture around to line it up neatly, then press the edges down gently to get the PVA to squidge out of the sides, and with your finger tip, smooth this glue surplus up onto the picture itself to create a good seal all around the edge. Leave to dry for about an hour to ensure the glue is completely set.

Once the picture is glued down firmly and the PVA has gone off - it will be translucent rather than white, paint a layer of glue over the picture, running the brush over the sides of your backing medium, leave to dry and repeat a couple of times to create a varnish like finish over the picture.

Then hang on your wall of choice, I used a hot glue gun to stick some cotton kitchen string to the backs of my pictures and hung them one above the other in the bathroom. A nice surprise for Brendan when he gets back.