Textured Heart Wall Art

This textured heart wall art is another project that was Pottery Barn inspired. Let me show you how I took unfinished wood frames and transformed them into custom wall art.

Welcome to the Thrifty Style Team monthly challenge! Every month the Thrifty Style Team brings you great thrifty decorating and styling ideas. This month the team is all about pretty!! Wait until you see all the pretty ideas this month; I have all the links at the end of my wall art tutorial.

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How to make Pottery Barn inspired wall art

If you have been around here for a while then you know that I love to try and recreate Pottery Barn looks on a budget. I’ve done rooms, vases, and Christmas decorations.

I thought I would try making the wall art on a smaller scale and found a set of wood frames over at Hobby Lobby that I thought would be perfect to make a set of the textured heart artwork.

Now I just had to figure out how to make them…

Step 1. Paint the frames

Using the two largest frames in the set, I gave them a quick coat of chalk paint and let them dry completely.

If you plan on hanging your frames this is when you would want to add either a sawtooth picture hanger or 2 D-ring picture hangers to the back of the frames. Make sure to screw them in at the thick parts of the wood frames so they don’t come through the other side.

Step 2. Make the clay hearts

To make the hearts I am using Sculpey air-dry modeling clay. You can find it at your craft store (it’s twice as much on Amazon). It’s super easy to work with don’t be intimidated because it says “clay”.

All I did was grab a big clump and start rolling it out…you will be transported back to kindergarten art class making those little clay dishes for your parents for Christmas presents.

The inspiration textured heart art has a more abstract modern look to it but after playing around with shaping the hearts I decided to do a more traditional shape…but you do you!! There’s no right or wrong here!!

The air-dry clay needs to dry overnight to become hard. I didn’t want to move the hearts and break them so Ieft them right in place on the frames.

Once they were dried I moved them off the frames to the side for the next step.

Step 3. Plaster the frames

Now to make the textured heart art I decided to use Plaster of Paris. It has a similar look to the stucco in the Pottery barn inspiration piece.

Plaster of Paris is a powder that you mix with water. (2 parts Plaster of Paris to 1 part water). Easy to find at craft stores, Walmart (over with home repair/paint), or hardware stores.

This stuff dries sooooo quickly so you have to move super fast!!

I mixed up a small batch in a disposable cup with a plastic spoon. Then I poured a little of the plaster mix onto one of the frames and spread it around with the back of the plastic spoon.

Once I had covered the frame with the plaster I placed the heart on top and positioned it to where I wanted it to be.

Now, I mixed up another batch of the Plaster of Paris and covered the heart with the plaster. Just covered the entire thing and added more plaster everywhere on the frame.

Once the clay heart was completely covered in the plaster I did go back in and removed some of the excess plaster with a damp paper towel

Concentrating on the shape of the heart…I scooped out the curves and points of the heart so the shape was more pronounced. After that, I wet my finger with water and smoothed out the top of the heart a little bit.

I repeated the entire process for the second frame.

Step 4. Coat of paint

Once the plaster was dried on both frames I went over the entire thing with Waverly chalk paint in the Plaster shade.

Finished Textured Heart Wall Art

Next, the fun part of any project…decorating with it!! Right now they are displayed with a few pretty pink flowers for Valentine’s Day but these hearts can be displayed at any time in your home. They would be a pretty accent for a bedroom too or mixed in with art prints on a gallery wall.

…And here’s a close-up of the heart so you can see the textured detail.

Now please check out all the other sweet decorating ideas my Thrifty Style Team friends have for you this month!

Redhead Can Decorate – Rose Petal Heart + 3 More Simple Romantic Ideas
Our Crafty Mom – Pinecone Fire Starters & Printable Gift Tag
I Should Be Mopping The Floor – 5 Last Minute Free Valentine’s Printables
DIY Beautify – Neutral Winter/Valentines Mantel Decorating Ideas
2 Bees In A Pod – Decorating with Milk Glass Vases
The How To Home – Dresser Makeover with Peel and Stick Wallpaper
Postcards From The Ridge – DIY Glass Cloche Plus Styling Tips
Vinyet Etc. – DIY Baby’s Breath Wreath
Sweet Pea – DIY Pompom Valentine’s Day Pillow
Lora B. Create & Ponder – Elegant Valentine’s Dessert Charcuterie
The Tattered Pew – Quick and Easy No Sew Curtain
Cottage On Bunker Hill – Textured Heart Wall Art
Amy Sadler Designs – How to make Leather Napkin Rings