Make This: Pop Art DIY for Father’s Day

I am all for celebrating holidays in unique ways, and although Father’s Day is usually one of the most difficult holidays to be creative (for me anyway), I managed to come up with one idea that will add a little color to your home (and hopefully a smile to any dad’s face).

For this project, I partnered with The Paper Mill Store again to use some of their awesome papers to make something that I think any hip (and handy) Dad will enjoy: colorful pop art featuring the hand tools that pretty much any dad will have in his tool box: a wrench, a mallet, a hand saw, a screw driver, etc. It’s pop art for your pops!

You won’t need any drawing skills for these art pieces either, because you can trace the tools directly onto paper to get the silhouettes, then fill in a few small details to make each piece feel a little more dimensional. Here’s how to make your own art pieces for Father’s Day…

Supplies:

• hand tools (for tracing purposes)
• acrylic paint
• paint brushes
• pencil
• heavyweight paper that will hold paint – this is the one that I recommend from The Paper Mill Store OR if you want to try this technique on larger paper, go with this one

How-To:

1. Lightly center a hand tool onto paper and trace it with a pencil.

2. Then, using two contrasting colors, paint the object and background.

3. Let the paint dry completely, then outline the tool to give it more definition and add any details that you feel comfortable drawing.

4. Add handwritten notes to the background of a couple of the art pieces, to add a more personal touch. This can be a simple letter letting your Dad know how much you care, or something like a favorite childhood memory that you want to remind him of. Almost like a non-traditional greeting card.

5. Frame and hang or keep it simple and hang them frameless, using  washi tape or Command strips.

If you want to be extra clever and sneaky, you could hide these art pieces around the house where you know he’ll eventually see them (like a junk drawer that he is always tossing stuff into or the kitchen cabinet where his favorite coffee mug always is) to surprise him.

OR send him on a scavenger hunt, like I did a while back for me and Jeff’s anniversary, searching for clues to a special prize or present.

P.S. If your dad doesn’t live nearby, you could always mail these to him, similar to the mailable Mother’s Day DIY I did last month.

And if you’re not sure that artwork is the way you want to go with this DIY, try it on a smaller scale, and make a colorful Father’s Day card for Dad instead.

Concept, photography, and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff

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This post is in partnership with The Paper Mill Store. All opinions and ideas are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this blog possible.