100% Paper Mantel Challenge {How to Stencil a Wall with Paper}

When my dear friend Emily announced her Paper Mantel Challenge a few months back, I voluteered myself right away. Partly out of my blog crush on her, but mostly because I love re-doing my mantel and I can't pass up a challenge!

So, the guidelines were to create a new mantelscape with only paper and adhesive. Since I have a bold, turquoise wall as the backdrop for my mantel I like to change it up from time to time.

I adore the look of stencils, but I'm not so in love with the mess involved to get the final product. Some of you may have seen the Snowflake Mantel I created for Christmas, using felt snowflakes and double-stick tape. For Emily's mantel challenge I decided to try this same concept, but with paper!Using my 3" circle punch and a stack of white cardstock, I took my plain mantel wall and turned it into a beautiful graphic statement...

It was very simple to do. Just a little tedious punching out all 280 of those circles :) Here's what I used:

1. My Fiskars XXXL Cirlce Punch {yes, that is truly on the label}, which is about 2 3/4 inches in actual size
2. Zots medium adhesive dots
3. About 40 sheets of white cardstock

After I had them all punched out, I started at the base of the wall and put up my first row of circles! I tried to make the edges of the circles just barely touch as I created my pattern.

I kept at it, adding a row here and there when my kids gave me a little break, and pretty soon the wall was complete!

I love the simplicity of this, but I needed to add something else to complete the look. I thought it would be fun to try to re-create one of those funky, wooden frames that are so popular right now, but make it out of foam board.

1. I trimmed a piece of foam board (from the dollar store) to 23" x 20"
2. Then I measured the center point of each side of the frame, and marked it.
3. I freehanded the pattern for the outside of the frame, using my center marks as guides.
4. Then I cut it out, using an exacto knife. Easy peasy!

I painted the board in one of my new favorite spray paint colors, Lemongrass by Rustoleum. Then added an 11x14 photo mat to the center of the board, creating a "frame" for my printable.

I created this print a few months ago for my son to hang up by his bed, and I love it! I wanted a pop of orange, and this was the perfect choice.

I attached the printable and mat to the board with double-stick tape, and used the same method to attach it to my new paper "stenciled" wall!  The foam board is so light, it went up easily and stayed in place!

Unfortunately, the paper cirles weren't so lucky.... the morning after I completed the mantel, I woke up to find several circles on the floor! About halfway through the project, I ran out of Zots and used double-stick tape to attach the circles instead. It seems like those are the ones that kept fluttering off the wall :(

So, if you want to try this project just keep in mind that it isn't very durable. It was great for my photo shoot and held up for about 24 hours before they started falling off! So far, all of the circles I adhered with the Zots adhesive have stayed in place. So if you try it, just don't use double-stick tape :) It would be fun for a rainbow party, with lots of different colors of paper. I can see it now.... a wall of Skittles!!

Here's one more look at my paper "stenciled" mantel:

Thanks for letting us join in such a fun challenge Emily! I can't wait to see what everyone else has created! Check out all the other blogs below:

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