Tonight, Tonight

I promise I am still here, and I am still crafting.  Still taking pictures and making jewelry.  Just not making much time for blogging.  I know, no fun, right?  I just can't seem to find the focus to write.  

Here is a piece I have been working on for our bedroom.  I love The Smashing Pumpkins, and "Tonight, Tonight" is one of my favorite songs they have done.  I thought it would work well above our bed.  

I started with the picture above, which is a piece of old decor from a Subway store.  My mom had it in her yard and I asked for it.  It is huge and I thought it would be fun to paint over.  I took the frame off and put a coat of gesso over the picture  (which is two sheets of plastic with foam in the middle) and added texture with Liquitex Basics modeling paste.   Since I am not selling the piece I just used Apple Barrel and Fold Art fabric paints.  I printed the words out and projected them up with my Art Tracer Jr Projector and penciled them in.  

Here's the finished painting.  I am quite happy with it, and can't wait to get it up on the wall.  First I need to paint some shutters that I will used as a headboard.  

Hubby picked the font out.  I really like it!

Chalkboard Desk

I've had this really great desk for a while now.  Hubby got it for me at a local thrift store, and I adore it.  It have lots of work area and storage.  We just redid our floors in my craft room and our kitchen, so I decided this ol' girl needed a paint job.  I knew I wanted to use black paint, and I thought a chalkboard top would be great for me and my little girl.  I made my own chalkboard paint using this tutorial from Emma and Elsie at A Beautiful Mess.  It's super easy, just add 2 tablespoons unsanded grout to 1 cup of paint.  I used latex paint, but you can also use craft paints.  

Here's a before picture of my desk...

And here it is after painting...

I made the curtain from an old bed skirt.  As you can see in the next picture, Lula approves of the updates.  She has drawn on it for the last two days.  And if Lula is happy, then Mommy is happy.  

I'm also working on a mural in my art room, and I plan on posting some pictures of it soon.  

Local Craft Show

I set my tent up a couple of weekends ago at a local craft show.  I am working on a more attractive tent one piece at a time.  I didn't have a lot of jewelry made because I don't have much free time on my hands with my two curtain climbers, so I didn't sell much.  But I had a blast hanging out with people and listening to hubby play his guitar.  We had some talented people stop by to play and sing with him, everything from rock to worship music.  Brandon is such a people person and loves to get everyone involved in the fun.  He is a joy to be around.  

Here are some of the pieces I had with me.

I hope to attend a couple more craft shows before the year is out.  I also sold some of my sister's yummy homemade jams.  She had apple butter, strawberry jam, blueberry jam, and spiced blueberry jam (my favorite).  

What an awesome way to spend a Saturday!!!!

Outside My Window

I have a little friend outside my kitchen window that keeps me company while I wash dishes.

   

New Displays WIP

I'm working on some new displays for my jewelry.  I have these great large industrial bobbins and thought of a way to put these together to display my jewelry on.

My awesome bobbins!  A score at $1.99 each.

8mm reels.  Had to get rid of the severely corroded film.  Not a very good smell!

A few supplies for the makeover.

The general idea.

Now I just have to get these guys painted, drill a couple more holes, and assemble.  I'll post them when they are complete.

Published in Cloth Paper Scissors PAGES 2012

Last year when the premiere issue of Cloth Paper Scissors PAGES I was thrilled to find out my mini books would be included in the publication.  I have come a bit further this year with a full length article featuring my paintbrush books featured in the 2012 edition of PAGES.  I can't tell you how excited I am!  This has been a goal of mine for a few years now, something I have been working hard toward.  I received my copies of the magazine from the Interweave staff a few weeks ago and seeing my work in print is a dream come true.  I hope you guys will check this out, PAGES is a wonderful magazine and I am so blessed to be part of it.

Go here for more details or to check out the table of contents.

Kinda Busy....

And I have two excuses for not posting lately.

#1 - The Princess

She is getting used to another precious one in the family, and she is potty training.  Yay big girl!!!!

#2 - My Little Man

He is constantly hungry and still has his days and night switched up.  Mommy isn't getting much sleep, but he is so worth it!

We'll get the hang of taking care of these two shortly.  Then I'll be back with some fun stuff.  Thanks for being patient!!!!!

My Art Room Light

I found a really cool birdcage in the thrift store a few months back.  I knew I wanted it somewhere in my art room, but had no idea what to do with it until I saw some really cool photos on Pinterest.  Here's what I found.....

So of course I fell in love with the idea of turning a birdcage into a light and had to have one myself.  I bought some lights at Hobby Lobby, painted my birdcage pink, and wired the lights inside.  I wanted bright white light and did not notice when I got these that they are color changing lights, but now I really like the green and blue of these lights.  The pink paint I used is Rust-oleum American Accents Gloss Berry Pink; I got it at K-Mart.

I also put a pegboard up in my room yesterday. 

When I get my desk cleaned off again I will post a picture of the whole room.  I think I have figured out what to do with my sewing desk now as well, so I hope to have it done before Grayson gets here.  My baby boy will be born in 8 days!!!!  So it may be a while before I post again. 

Display Case Upcycle

I have been working on my art room lately, trying to figure out a way to decorate it on a very small budget.  I've had an old wooden display case around the house for quite some time and it has served several different purposes.  The glass was broken out of it, and I thought for a while I might replace it, but had no idea how to go about taking it apart to measure and install the glass.



It has mainly been used as a tray or shallow box.  So I got it out a few days ago to store some works in progress and realized that it should be just wide enough to fit license plates into.  I figured out how to take it apart and tested my theory.  I was right, the plates slid right into the grooves that held the old glass - it took 3 1/3 plates to fill the space where the glass had been (I cut the 4th down with tin snips). 

When I got everything figured out I went straight to work.  First I spray painted the license plates white, let them dry, and secured them into the grooves with E6000.

You can see the inside of the case here.  It is not very deep, but will work perfectly for what I now have in mind (thanks to a suggestion from my hubby).

After the glue was dry and aired out, I brought it into the house and coated the plates with gesso.   When the gesso dried, I painted the plates with a bright green acrylic paint.  Hubby really liked it at this point, but it still needed something.



I tried painting one of my own patterns over the green in an aqua color, but the pattern was too small and messy for my taste.  So I stopped midway and painted over it again with green.  I searched online for a pattern to use, and ended up purchasing a stock image to use by Laurelie on Crestock.  You can find the original image here.  I really like this pattern.  I printed it out, projected it onto the plates with my Art Tracer Projector (by Artograph, Inc), and traced the image onto the plates.  When I had it traced I went over it with a darker pencil to make sure I did not get any of my lines mixed up.

I then mixed a little bit of bright blue paint into my aqua paint and started painting.

I finished the painting last night.  I just put a clear coat on top of it, and it is sitting on my counter drying.  When it is dry I plan on adding some hooks inside to store finished jewelry and supplies.  I will then mount it on one of the walls in my art room.  That will probably be a few days from now since I need to repaint my walls before installing this on the wall.  I will post some pictures of it when I am done.

Until then, let me know what you think about this project.  And if you are in the mood for more painted license plates, be sure to check out Shelly Massey's blog, A Wee Bit Warped.  She does the cooloest art on old license plates, and my project was very much inspired by her.  I know I would not have thought to use license plates, much less paint on them, if I had not been poking around her blog for the last couple of months.

Lula's Footstool - Reupholstery Project

My Inspiration

A felt pillow project I found on the Etsy blog from Anne Kyrro Quinn's book Felt Furnishings. You can find the project here.



My Project

A few weeks ago my big ol' pregnant self sat on my daughter's stool to paint her nails and it broke into several pieces. Lula was very concerned - about the stool, not Mommy falling in the floor. Since our king sized bed is so tall, she has to have a stool to get up onto it. So when hubby and I went to the thrift store and saw this footstool I knew it would be the perfect. It was just the right size and very sturdy, but not very pretty.  The total cost for this project was $25 - a bit more than I usually spend on an upcycle project, but well worth it.  The stool was $10 and I spent $15 on felt (I used acrylic felt).  I already had the thread and wire nails I needed to finish.

So I bought a bunch of felt and cut several circles (I think 350 of them) and sewed them onto a piece of felt large enough to cover the stool. I worked for weeks on this and finally finished a few days ago.

I took the top off and removed the old upholstery fabric. I was happy with the foam and did not want to buy and cut another piece, so kept it. 

I had to place a piece of thin white fabric under the felt to make the color look more solid. I just sandwiched the two pieces together and laid them over the foam, streched them, and nailed them to the wooden base with little wire nails (sorry, no photos of this step).


Here's the finished stool in my craft room. I like it enough to keep it in my craft room, but Lula loves it. She even told me it was pretty. So I guess it will have to move on into the bedroom.

Here's a close up of all the circles I sewed.

And I even made the bottom of it pretty with a piece of painted canvas.  I just screwed the top back on with wood screws, but since my felt was thicker than the original material I had to replace the original screw with longer ones. 

Lula liked it so much she became very territorial with it and sat on it every time I tried to take a picture. Worked for me because I actually got a picture of her sitting still long enough to snap a cute picture.

I am glad after all the work I put into it that she loves it so much.

My Art in Cloth Paper Scissors March/April 2012

I entered a lino cut into the Cloth Paper Scissors Carve It Up Reader Challenge, and it was published in the March/April 2012 issue along with several other lovely prints. 

I'm so excited to see it in there!  Thanks CPS!  



New Necklaces - Bright Flowers on Brass Tags

Here are some necklaces I have been working on. I hand dyed the flowers myself and added them to hammered brass tags.

Each is on a strand on colorful seed beads.

And I added some colorful beads to the extender chains.

I don't plan on listing any of these. Instead they will be sold locally at a jewelry party. But if you are interested just post a comment or send me an email.