How to paint birch trees on a blank canvas using a credit card

Finding art that you want to use to decorate your walls can be really challenging. Finding art that you like and can afford is even more difficult. Rather than spending a fortune on something that is just "there," why not create your own masterpiece?

If you love the woods, you can paint a beautiful wooded scene with acrylic paint, canvas and a plastic card. The results are both stunning and affordable, the best kind of art around.

Materials
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Stretched white canvas
• Black and brown acrylic paint
• Square container
• Credit card or gift card
• Small artist's paintbrush

Instructions
1. Take the ruler and pencil and lightly draw straight lines for the trees and branches on the canvas.

2. Put brown acrylic paint into the square container. Make sure you can fit the credit card or gift card into the container lengthwise.

3. Dip the long edge of the card into the paint and swipe the paint onto the canvas, starting on the line for the tree and working toward the center of the tree. Leave the center of the tree unpainted. Do one side of a tree and then the other. If you're right-handed, start on the left side of the painting and work right. If you're left-handed, start on the right side and work left.

4. If you want to put a message on the canvas, write it in pencil and paint over it with the black acrylic paint and small artist's paintbrush.

Having great art to add a little panache to a room doesn't have to be impossible. Try your hand at making trees and see what happens.