I’m excited to share today’s craft project because it combines a couple of my favorite things:  farmhouse style and flowers.

I believe that if you were to analyze my DNA under a microscope, you would find tiny little wildflowers wrapped around the strands.  There’s just something about their cheery colors, delicate petals, and infinite variety of blooms: Flowers are vitamins for my soul.

So when I stood in our guest bath recently and once again noticed a blank wall staring at me, it was only natural that I started brainstorming ideas involving flowers.  I’d been planning to find “a little something” for the space since we moved a year ago, but hadn’t gotten around to it . . . until now.

I envisioned something botanical, and I wanted to evoke the same farmhouse feeling I’ve sprinkled through the rest of my home.  And it had to be cheap.  Because amidst all the household expenses of feeding, clothing, and caring for growing kids, home decor doesn’t rank very high!

I looked online for some free images I could use, and quickly fell in love with vintage seed catalog covers.  I’d just added yet another thing I love to my little project: Vintage charm!

I grabbed a few supplies at the craft store (I already had most things on hand), and came home ready to craft. These wall plaques came together in about an hour, and they cost less than $5 apiece. Now that’s an easy, inexpensive way to add some beauty to your home! (And now my guests no longer have to stare at a boring beige wall when they are using my bathroom. Isn’t that lovely?)

One of the things I love the most about this project is that the pictures I used aren’t permanent.  I can switch out new florals pictures from time to time, if I like.  I’m already envisioning some vintage Christmas card images tucked into the frames during the holidays or a trio of bulb-blooming botanicals next spring. These frames also look fantastic with botanical prints in them. (Check out the image above.)

If you’d like to make one (or more) of these wall plaques for yourself, here’s what you’ll need:

Supplies:

• unfinished wood wall plaque (approx. 9″ x 11″)
• black paint and paintbrush
• twine
• glue stick , tacky glue, or strong tape
• sandpaper
• scissors
• picture hangers and screwdriver
• vintage seed packet images or botanical prints* (Download below)

(Downloads are only available to More Like Grace subscribers: So with downloading, you’ll be opting in to our email newsletter with more encouragement and freebie news. Unsubscribe any time.)

* I have included a download of the public domain images I used for my project, all equally sized and ready for crafting. But there are TONS of other options available online if you’d like to download different colors or designs.  Here are a few great resources:

• The Smithsonian has a huge collection of seed catalogs available here.
• There’s a treasure trove of botanical prints available from the Hunt Institute here.
• The BioDiversity Heritage Library has a Flickr account with thousands of images available to download here.
• I have a Pinterest board featuring both seed catalog and botanical images you can follow right here.

If you need help with downloading images, check out my “Download Tips” at the end of this post.

How To Make:

Step 1: Print and cut out your seed catalog pictures or botanical prints.

Step 2: Sand any rough edges on your unfinished plaque.

Step Three: Paint Your unfinished plaque using black paint.

Step 4: After the paint dries, use sandpaper along the edges to create a slightly weathered look. I just sanded lightly until I could see a bit of the wood showing up under the surface of the paint.(The picture below shows you what it should look like when you’re done.)

Step 5: Cut a length of twine that is long enough to wrap around your plaque 2 times.  Then glue one end of the twine to the back of your frame, about 1.5″ from the edge.  (I reinforced with some masking tape while waiting for the glue to dry.

Step 6: Wrap the twin around the frame two times, creating a criss-cross pattern on the front.  Then trim the twine if necessary and glue the end to the back of the frame.  (I reinforced with masking tape again.)

Step 7: Repeat Steps 5 and 6 on the other end of the frame

Step 8: Measure your plaque’s total width and then divide by 2.  Place a mark at this distance, where you will place your hanger. (I laid my hanger flat on the back to figure out how far I should place my mark from the edge of the frame.)

Step 9: Use a small screwdriver to attach your picture hanger to the back of your frame, using the mark you placed in Step 8.

Step 10: Flip over the frame and slide your floral print between the twine.  (Tip: You might want to reinforce your print with a bit of double-sticky tape on the back side so it won’t slip out while hanging on the wall.  If you don’t care about the option of switching out prints later, go ahead and glue your print to the plaque.)

That’s it. Now you can hang up your pretty little plaque and add a bit of vintage floral charm to a little corner of your home.  Enjoy!

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Downloading Tips: 

Want to use some different images, but wondering how exactly to do that?  If you see an image you like (and it’s public domain or free for personal use), try these steps:

• right click on the image and you should have a menu pop up that includes the option to “Save Image to Downloads.”
•  Save to your Downloads Folder
• Go to your Downloads Folder and open up the image. Then select the “print” option from the file menu.
• Optional: You may need to tweak the size of the image using the “Scale” field in the printing options.  If it needs to be bigger, scale over 100%.  To make smaller, scale under 100%.