Castle Backdrop

I wanted to create a photo backdrop for my niece's Knights and Princesses Birthday Party - so I went to Pinterest and the Internet at large and found about 3 tutorials and 10 images - way less than I expected - on how to make a piece of cardboard look like a castle.  

So I'm going to add my experience, so there will be 4 tutorials out there!  

$ -                     Very inexpensive, I'd say under $10

Materials -        Easy to find - posterboard, paint, foam brushes all from Dollar Tree

Skill -                Very easy, once you know the process

Time  -              This is the biggest hindrance - it took a bit to do a multi step process to a bunch of                                 posterboard

Result -             Great visual impact, looks a lot like a castle!

This was a large, heavy piece of cardboard that came with a piece of furniture - saved in my garage for just such an occasion!  I painted on a door, using mostly brown paint, and then some streaks of black, blended in.  That gives it dimension and makes it look more realistic.

My laboratory, where I mixed up paint

Step 1 - paint gray all over .  If I had more planning, inclination, I would've done this step with spray paint.  Kind of a medium gray, this will serve as the "mortar" between the stones.

Step 2:  Make a template for your stones out of cardboard.  I think mine was approximately 4-6.5 and I rounded the corners.

Step 3:  After the gray dries on the paint, trace your stone template in staggered rows, leaving 1/2 - 3/4 gap between bricks and rows.

Step 4:  Using black paint, paint an L shape down the left side and bottom of each rectangle you traced.

Using white paint, paint an L shape down the right side and top of each rectangle shape.

Then in the middle use a wet sponge to try to blend the two colors in the middle of each rectangle shape.

When you're right in the midst of it - you don't see how it's going to look like a castle.  It looks black, white and gray, messy.  Don't worry!

Then you let it dry and take a step back and realize - hey, that looks like a castle wall, it looks full of dimension, it's kind of amazing - I did that with paint!  I need to do a bunch more...

For around the door, I cut from cardboard (aka Amazon boxes) rectangles that were about 6x2 inches and did the same painting technique.  For the curved parts of the door, I just cut those in half and then glued them all around the door.

My nieces and nephews in front of the castle!  ♥♥♥♥♥  I added a wrapping paper tube with a flag for the birthday girl!

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