Fall Decor: Paint Poured Paper Mache Pumpkins

 

In addition to the Tissue Paper Pumpkins I shared yesterday, I had fun this weekend paint pouring some paper mache pumpkins. I'm thrilled with how they turned out! 

Supplies:

• Paper Mache Pumpkins (70% off at JoAnn)
• Liquitex Acrylic Paint Pouring Medium (Michaels)
• Acrylic Craft Paints

I found these tall skinnier pumpkins for 70% off at JoAnn. Who could pass those up? Not me! You could do the paint pour on these as is but I knew I was using white in this project and really wanted it to pop so I coated with white acrylic paint. 

I was sure I took pics of my paints before I poured them but apparently not. So, I mixed white, green, and gold paints in their own cups along with Liquitex Pouring Medium. It's available wherever fine art supplies are sold. I got mine at Michaels. 

I am not an exact person. I guestimate how much I'll need for a project then do about 1/3 medium to 2/3 paint. Different paints have different viscosity. Metallic paints are sometimes thicker so I use a little more medium with them. I go for a consistency that's about the same as white school glue. And since pouring and taking pictures require more hands than I have, I didn't take pictures of the actual pouring. 

Some prefer layering the paints into one separate cup but I worked with the three colors/cups individually. Kind of like I cook. Some of this, some of that, more of this until the colors were dripping down the pumpkins to my liking. 

 This is the paint still wet and doing its thing of swirling, streaking, blending. I just let gravity do the work. 

Once dry, they almost look like they were carved from wood. SO happy with them! They were around $4 each and I already had everything else on hand.

Sharing At:

Sundays on Silverado

St. Patrick's Day: Acrylic Paint Poured Shamrock Sign

 

This week's BFF Open House Link Party continues here

I've been having fun with some St. Patrick's Day decor. In addition to my Layered Shamrock I had fun with this $1 wood sign from Dollar Tree. 

Supplies:

• Wood Shamrock Sign ( Dollar Tree)
• Acrylic Paints 
• Zinsser Paint Booster ( Lowes)
• Silicone ( Hardware Store )

Ignore the red hearts. I thought I was going to layer them onto the sign and changed my mind. I found this line of Top Notch paints at JoAnn. I'm not sure if it's an in house brand or not but they are another line of reasonably priced acrylic paints. They make a whole host of other products as well. The Zinsser paint booster is an alternative to Floetrol which is used in a lot of paint pour projects. The silicone you can get at any hardware store. 

I chose to go with a more muted green palette along with some white and a couple drops of gold. So first step was to mix the paints. My formula for small projects is about a capful of the paint booster to 1/3 cup of paint. It's not scientific, I just found it gives the right flow. If you're starting out with paint pouring play around to find the consistency YOU like for your projects. There's no absolute. I squeezed 2-3 drops of the Silicone in and mix well until your paint just looks like paint again. 

Re-using cups is great in practice but I didn't think about pictures. Note to self. Use new cups. But I didn't, so don't be confused by the other colors you see. 

For this project I did what's called a "dirty pour". What this means is layering  the paints in one cup vs pouring each color individually. You can see them start to interact in the cup which they'll do more as they flow once they're on the surface you're painting. 

For a "clean pour" you pour your paints from their respective containers onto the surface one by one. For a "dirty pour" there's the flip step. Place your surface atop your cup, then holding the cup, flip until your surface is on the bottom and the cup with your paints sits atop it. Some paint may leak out but that's OK! 

When you lift your cup you'll see your paints begin to spread and how they've blended and their magic is revealed. I love this part the most! From here, just tilt your surface to spread your paint until your surface is covered. I ended up having to add a little more paint to my pour cup which was fine. I was trying not to have too much and ended up with too little. It's a Goldilocks process!

I love paint pouring so much because no two pieces are alike and each takes on its own personality. If you want exact replication, this art is not for you! 

Once dry, I finished with some black and white check ribbon and kept it simple, just hanging it on a mirror in our entryway. 

I'm happy with it and it was $1! 

Paint Pouring: Dollar Tree LOVE Sign

 

Oops! I forgot to post this before Valentine's Day but actually, I think I'm going to just leave this up all year anyway because why should we limit love to just one day?  I'd picked up an unfinished LOVE sign at Dollar Tree and decided to use it as my surface for a paint pouring project. 

Supplies: 

• Unfinished Sign
• Acrylic Paints, Choice of Colors
• Paint Pouring Medium ( I used Artist's Loft, Michaels)

This is the sign I found at Dollar Tree. It came with twine on the back so it could be hung up but I removed it both to avoid getting paint on it and because I knew I was going to stand it up. 

Choose the colors of paint you want to use. I went with white, silver and gold. The Artist's Loft Pouring Medium is easy to use with the paint to medium ratios stated on the bottle. I've done paint pouring using this as well as other additives and I like both ways but would recommend this for your first projects. 

Mix your colors. I just eyeballed the amount I needed for a smaller project. Since the medium makes the paint more fluid, you don't need much and I hate wasting leftovers.  As you can see, I re-use my stir sticks! 

I started with white and someday maybe I'll try making a video but for now it's pics! Then randomly added the silver and gold and tilted the sign to let the paints "move" around. They'll drip down the sides so you want to ensure you elevate your piece. 

I love paint pouring because no two pieces will ever look alike and as the paints dry, they just kind of "do their thing". 

It went perfectly on my entryway table with a canvas and some rhinestone covered letters I did a few yeas ago. 

And since the colors I went with aren't overtly Valentine's themed, I think I can leave it up year round! 

Sharing At: 

OurHopeful Home 

Gothic Halloween Decor Using Paint Poured Canvases

 

I shared last week about the fun I had w/ my husband and son showing them how to do acrylic paint pouring. The canvases I did were always intended for Halloween projects so I'm excited to share what I did with them and am really happy with how they turned out! 

These were the two canvases I did last week. As I mentioned in that post, I was not happy with how the white paint mixed, especially on the bottom canvas, so I decided to do what Makers do and play with it until I was happy with it so here's what I did: 

Step 1: 

Using masking tape, section off where you want to make stripes on your canvas: 

Step 2:

I painted white stripes in the exposed spaces. I ended up using 3 coats to get an opaque white

Once the stripes were dry, I went over the edges with a black paint pen. I didn't care that either the stripes or the edges were clean given the swirled nature of the canvas and I like a "messy" look anyway. 

Step 3:

I found this silicone mold at Dollar Tree last year and used it to create the skull out of hot glue. 

Step 4: 

I debated about doing the whole skeleton but decided to just go w/ the head. Once that was set, I painted white, then dry brushed it with silver. 

Step 5: 

I pulled some stuff out of my stash, little poison bottles and a small frame that I'd picked up a pack of 2  for $1.47 at Michaels on clearance. I dry brushed some silver on the frame and then added rhinestone eyes to the skull. 

It already had some gold so it matched the colors on my canvas perfectly. 

Step 6: 

I added the poison bottles on either side, added some Tim Holz chipboard Halloween themed words and finished with a few silk flowers. 

For the other canvas, I decided to go w/ a Frida Kahlo inspired Quilled Sugar Skull as the focal.

Step 1

I recently ordered some quilling strips from Quilling.com and the colors worked with this project so I gathered my quilling supplies and then cut out my base image on my Cricut Explore Air 2. 

Step 2

As I've been doing with my quilling projects, I cut two images and layered them together with foam tape. I like the depth and sturdiness of doing it this way. I lined the eyes and nose with black. 

Then went around the edges: 

And then started filling in with different swirls and coils: 

In my "Quilling Quest" I've figured out that if you have some spots that aren't perfect you can always stick another coil in to resolve it, so I don't worry about getting the base image perfectly clean. 

Step 3: 

Once I decided I was done gluing my coils in , then I finished by making some coiled roses from crepe paper I had in my stash. "I had in my stash" appears a lot on my blog and should tell you all you need to know about "my stash"! 

And now, despite not being happy when I did my paint pouring, I am thrilled with how these both turned out! 

Stay tuned...more Gothic Halloween fun to come! 

Supplies Skull Canvas

• Painted Canvas ( I used one I'd already paint poured)
• Coordinating Paint
• Paint Pens
• Masking Tape
• Silicone Mold , Hot Glue and Glue Gun or Melting Pot
• Embellishments ( I used Poison Bottles, Frame, Silk Roses and Halloween Words from my stash)

Supplies Frida Sugar Skull Canvas

• Painted Canvas ( I used one I'd already paint poured)
• Sugar Skull Base ( I cut mine on my Explore Air 2 or you could use a pre-cut diecut)
• Quilling Papers ( Quilling.com, Astrobrights Black)
• Glue (Aleene's Turbo Tacky and Elmer's)
• Crepe Paper for Flowers ( Lia Griffith Aubergine and Gold)