Apartment Spruce: DIY Lilly Pulitzer Pattern

As any unemployed post-grad would, I've been a tad nostalgic about college lately. One thing I miss more than usual is crafting (sorority girls you have my back on this right?). One winter break I genuinely spent 3 full days crafting for the little that I didn't even have yet. Needless to say there's been a void in my life without the need to whip out a fresh bottle of Mod Podge and throw some glitter at someone.

I was sitting in the bathroom scrolling through Instagram (like every other normal human, don't deny it) when I realized the walls are so bare. It was horrifying; how did my roommate and I not decorate this yet? Sure, we have a lovely shade of seafoam green on the walls, but it still needed something. Kind of the way your nails need a manicure when they're looking...meh, ratchet, etc.

I decided to paint a Lilly Pulitzer pattern on a canvas to brighten the space and I'm here to share the steps with you! Lilly patterns look so complicated, but when you can break them down anyone can paint them.

(Fun fact: did you know all of the Lilly Pulitzer patterns are hand-painted? Yeah. So when you think every part of the painting needs to be perfect, take comfort in the wiggle room you have)

Step 1 : Pour a glass of wine.

Step 2 : Turn on Pitch Perfect

Step 3: (okay but really)

Start with a darker shade of pink and begin making a few half moon brushstrokes, just to get an outline of the flower shape. I like to keep the paint a little thicker to make it easier for blending in the lighter colors.

Taking a lighter shade of pink paint, begin making the same half moon strokes to fill in areas in the flower outline. Slightly overlap with the darker pink to blend the two, that way you're not just painting lines next to each other.

TIP : Don't wash your painbrush in between colors, it gave my flowers more depth when I was able to blend and create different shades of pink.

Finally, take the slightest amount of white paint on your brush and make small rounded strokes where you think you need to break up the pink. If I thought there was too much of the same shade in one spot, I ran my brush ober that area with white and it completely changed the look of the flower.

TIP : You don't need to create full flowers each time. As you can see on my canvas, some of my flowers are only partial and stick over the edge. This gives the illusion that the painting continues off the canvas.

Step 4 :

Fill in the background with a teal colored paint. When you get close to the edge of the flower, switch to a smaller brush to get the color as close as possible without overlapping the pink paint.

Step 5 :

Take white paint and make a thin layer of the shape you want your leaves to be; this will make the green a bit more vibrant.

Take a bright (almost lime) green paint and go over the layer of white paint. Then taking a darker (slight hunter) green you can outline the leaves or make thin lines to mimick the veins of a leaf. Get creative! I actually liked that mine aren't perfect or entirely uniform.

Step 6 :

Hang it up, step back, and enjoy!

xoxo

Kiera