Even if you don't have the confidence to attempt a painted wall mural, you can still produce a wonderful effect by jazzing up some ready made wall stickers.The effect is achieved by creating fake shadows behind simple shapes. The shapes then appear to be floating above the wall surface.

Follow my directions and apply the technique to any stickers you like.

OK lets look at how to do this.
You will need

• Wall Stickers of your choice
• Acrylic paint (Grey or black and white to create grey).
• Artists paint brushes (fine and larger).
  
• Coloured crayons or chalk

Choose your image- I will use football stickers to illustrate the idea.

You are now ready
Follow the instructions on the right for the floating football, and if you would like to create a wavy line background, click here to see how to achieve this simple but effective paint effect. Click here to see how to paint the wavy line

To create the flying footballs

1. Stick your stickers down lightly and draw around the outline

2. Remove the sticker to see the outline of the shape

3. Paint in a shadow using a pale grey

 4. Wait for the paint to be completely dry, then stick on the stickers above the shadow creating the illusion of flying balls.

You're done!
Stand back and admire.
Impressive isn't it?

Note: It is very important that you allow the paint to dry thoroughly before applying your stickers. It may seem that the paint is dry on the surface, but underneath it may still be wet. Leave the shadow paint a day or two, and if you are painting the whole wall, wait 3-5 days to be absolutely sure. If the paint is not dry, your stickers will fall off.

Shadow Paint tip
To create a realistic shadow colour, take some of your original background wall colour. Add some black acrylic paint drop by drop todarken the paint producing a realistic shadow colour.
Look at the real shadows in the room for a rough guide on how dark to make it. Test it on an unseen area of wall.

With this colour you can now paint in your shadows that you have drawn.

TIPS
If you use a graphite pencil to draw the design on the wall, do it very lightly as it can show through the paint and be impossible to remove. It is better to use a water soluble crayon or a coloured pencil in a colour similar to the final paint colour.

Use tester pots of acrylic wall paint available form DIY and paint stores. They come in small quantities and are inexpensive. Mix them with white to create a subtle pastel version of the colour for softer effects.

Choose simple designs. They always work the best. 
            
                  Click here to buy these stickers

Article Written by: Fiona Paterson From