Faux Window Fun!

So, after a very disappointing 7th game, ending the Penguins post-season, I woke up this morning not in the best of moods. This motivated me to get working on more VBS decorations (that I had been procrastinating a bit on), including the Faux Window for the Bible Study Bunkhouse. What better way to get over Stanley Cup Playoff blues than decorating and show tunes! ;) So let's begin!

How-To

• To begin, I spray-painted two sheets of thick drawing paper a light brown. I used thick paper, because I have to attach it to concrete walls that things do not like to stick to, so the lighter the better. Cardboard and posterboard would also work great!
• While that was drying, I used the free Open Office Publisher knockoff (I'm a poor college student; I use what I can get) to print out a poster of an image from a horse ranch and assembled it (mine was about 3x2 pages).

• I then took clear saran wrap and covered the poster to make it look like glass.

• Once the the spray-painted paper was dry, I cut it into 6 strips (long enough to match the length and width of the poster)
• I split the other sheet of spray-painted paper in half to make shutters for the window. You can also use fabric and put curtains around the window.
• Next, I dry brushed the strips of paper for the window frame and the window shutters with a darker brown to get a woodgrain effect. I used a brown paint pen to draw the lines on the shutters.

Dry Brushing

1. Take a stiff paintbrush (natural hair or one that paint has stiffened due to dry paint).
2. Dip the brush into your paint. Only cover the bottom 1/3 of the brush.
3. Dab your brush in a paper towel or a piece of paper to knock off excess paint.
4. Take a few practice strokes on a scrap piece of paper, before you paint on your window.
5. Take long strokes across your paper until you get the effect that you want.

• Once everything is dry, glue your strips of paper together in a pattern of a window.

• Finally, I attached the window frame to the poster covered in saran wrap, and then attached the shutters to the sides of the window. I used masking tape (mainly because I was out of hot glue).

Now you have a faux window!