Day #3 of Bird-Day Week: Angry Birds Bean Bag Toss Game

My Angry Bird Bean Bag Toss Game started with this purchase:


It didn't start here on purpose. I purchased this art for $7...not for the art, but for the frame. When I thought about making an Angry Birds Bean Bag toss I went to Party City. I thought I could alter their game to fit my party needs. However, their game was $20 and it was not well made. Not to mention, I still needed to alter it. So I left the store empty handed thinking I would buy plywood and make the game myself.

When I got home I saw the painting I had taken out of my new frame and thought it just might make a great background for my game! Why couldn't I make a bean bag toss game from this canvas? I am sure there are art fans out there who will be mortified by my next steps, but remember...this canvas was likely on its way to the dumpster.


I took a bucket and used it to mark four circles on my canvas. I drew them right on top of the existing painting.


I used my scissors to stab a hole in the center of each circle.


I inserted my scissors into the hole and pulled the scissors to rip through the entire circle. I felt like a villain in a movie who is stealing a masterpiece. It was kind of empowering tearing through the canvas...weird, yes, I know.


I took my scissors and carefully cut out the circles. This was much easier than jigsawing a piece of plywood would have been!


Next I used my Rust-Oleum Dual Cover Primer to paint the entire surface of the canvas. I wanted a clean slate to start my project...well, as clean as you can get using an OLD canvas.

Here is where I used some "fancy" equipment. You don't need this to complete the project, but it makes the work much easier. I have an overhead projector that I purchased from a Yard Sale for $10. It was probably one of my greatest Yard Sale finds ever! I probably wouldn't have known what a great art tool this is, if I hadn't taught school.

My first year teaching I had a friend who was a genius with the opaque projector. (Like an overhead projector, but you use it with regular sheets of paper instead of transparencies.) She used it to make some of the most beautiful classroom decorations. She taught me how easy it is to trace out your design and basically color it in like a giant coloring book.

You can purchase a small opaque projector at Michaels...especially a good deal if you use a 40% off coupon. I used to have one, but the problem with opaque projectors are that they work best in the dark. The darker the better...not always easy to come by around here. The overhead projector is not so sensitive with lighting. I had been looking for one, so you should have seen the excitement when I found one for $10!

I took some Angry Bird game cards and made a photocopy of them onto a transparency. I placed the transparency on my overhead projector and moved the wording around to where it best suited my canvas. I used a pencil and quickly sketched out where my words would go.


It is very light, but if you look closely you will see the pencil lines of my "mapped out" artwork.


Next I took my acrylic Martha Stewart paints and began coloring in my giant coloring book.


Since my canvas had been painted on previously, I had a lot of texture on my painting. I liked the texture. You couldn't see the image from the previous painting because of the circle cutouts. I wanted the texture to look more purposeful, so I wiped on some gray paint and then buffed it off. It gave the painting a gray, smoky look..kind of what I imagine it would look like if you were actually in an Angry Birds game with dynamite going off.


Now all I have to do is make my Angry Bird bean bags. Well, it is all I have to do with this game. I have lot of work to do this week!



I am linking up here: