faux wood foam state art

This month for the Make It Fun®’s creative holiday team, we were given several sheets of foam, lots of ideas came to mind. I loved the deer head pallet that looked like wood from last year’s challenge. It’s so fun what a little paint can do to foam, right? The same week I received my foam, we attended our church Christmas breakfast and we assigned names families to serve. Ideas to serve them could be as easy as a treat or to mow their lawn for them, etc. Luckily my twin did a little spy work and found out the young couple I chose likes to decorate, score! And she likes trendy home decor projects so I thought this would be a great time to try my free hand at state art. Really hoping she loves the final outcome, I personally love handmade gifts versus store bought (:

Supplies:

1 FloraCraft Make It: Fun® Foam® sheet
Make It: Fun® StyroCutter® Plus
FloraCraft® Smooth Finish
FloraCraft® Shaper
3 acrylic paint colors: brown, gray, tan
sanding block
marker

Directions:

Trace your state onto foam with marker. I free handed mine but you can print out a silhouette that you google and print it bigger, cut it out then trace it onto your foam. (Pretty sure the great state of AZ is missing a little land on the west end, oopsie!)

I’ve seen a lot of hearts in place of the city you live in other versions of state art but how about a cactus for The Valley of the Sun!

Apply 2 layers of Smooth Finish, it’s like putty but not as thick.

Let it dry overnight.

Sand it down to your desired finish. I left mine thick to add dimension with paint later on.

I copied the same painting tutorial I shared on the faux deer head art:

And there you have it, an easy handmade gift idea, quick home decor, a fast wall art idea…wherever you put it, you’re sure to smile at the personalize touch it’ll bring to your space.