Diy decorating ideas: making a rooster wall paper border

To make a rooster wallpaper border, you will need the following supplies:

-Tracing paper

-Pencil

-Thick, clear plastic (like the kind used to make plastic file folders)

-Permanent market

-Mounting adhesive or masking tape

-Ruler

-Level

-Paint (suggested colors: red, yellow, light brown, and black)

-Brushes and sponges

Making a Stencil

If you've ever seen a stencil, then you know that the major parts are cut out of the plastic, with the clear plastic creating the lines between these parts. When you use the stencil to paint, the cut out areas are filled with paint, and the clear plastic blocks the paint, leaving lines between the major parts.

For the rooster, the major parts are the tail, the body, the wing, the feet, the beak, and the crown. Find an image of a rooster (search on-line or in books), and print it out or make a photocopy. Enlarge or reduce this image to the desired size. Place tracing paper over the image, and draw the basic lines of the rooster, dividing it into the major parts. When you've come up with a design that works, trace it with permanent marker onto the clear plastic. Then use a craft knife to cut out the sections to be painted. Make two or three copies of the stencil in case you need to cut one to fit a corner.

If you want additional designs in your border, you can either add these to the stencil, or you can decide to paint these touches freehand when you are finished stenciling. For example, you could add small flowers to fill in the space around the rooster.

Marking Guidelines

Now measure and mark off guidelines. For example, if you want your stencil to start six inches down from the ceiling, then measure six inches and make a light mark with a pencil. Then move over about a foot and measure again, making another pencil mark. Continue measuring for the entire length of the space you wish to border. Then carefully connect the marks to make a straight line. When you've finished, you can use a level to make sure that the line is completely straight.

Because you're using a repeating pattern, you will also need to decide how much space you want between each rooster. If your rooster is six inches wide and you want two inches on either side of the rooster, mark off guidelines that measure the width of the rooster and the two inches on either side. Doing this before you being painting will help you to see how your pattern will fit on the wall. You probably don't want to end your border with half of a rooster---if this happens, experiment with different spacing widths until the pattern fits to your liking.

Painting With the Stencil

Fix the stencil to the wall with masking tape or mounting adhesive. Use only a little paint on your brush, and fill in each section of the stencil carefully, being careful not to let it bleed under the edges. If it does bleed under the edge of the stencil, when you carefully peel off the stencil, you can try to wipe the paint away before it dries, or you can touch up the outline with paint that matches the wall or background color.

Here are suggested paint colors for each area:

-Red---crown

-Yellow---beak and feet

-Light brown---body

-Black---wing and tail

When you're ready to move the stencil, carefully peel it from the wall and clean any paint off of it. Line it up with your guidelines, and repeat the pattern.

When you've finished painting the entire border, you can go back and add freehand touches, like details to the body or extra design flourishes. Finally, you might want to add borders to your border in a complimenting color, like a bright green or blue, or pick a color to integrate your rooster border into the rest of your room.