Family Paint Pouring: Meet Mr. Chocolate and Chocolate Chip

 

Since he left for undergrad, we've been used to going months without seeing our son each year and looked forward to his Summer visits. Needless to say with COVID, we weren't sure that was going to happen this year but he made a carefully planned drive from where he's studying in Chicago to come see us in the desert. We've been hanging out at home and it was the perfect opportunity to do a family craft project so I asked my "boys" if they'd want to try  paint pouring and they did. The above is mine which I kind of mucked up because I messed up the white paint and it got lumpy but theirs turned out GREAT! 

Meet Mr. Chocolate and Chocolate Chip (off the old block...get it?! I'm punny) and their paint pours! 

Mr. Chocolate loves yellow, silver and black so those were his color choices: 

During COVID, son started a plant collection so he chose colors to complement his plant area in his apartment, green, brown and gold. 

I'm working on some Halloween decor and decided to use burgundy, black and white. I ended up doing two canvases to use up some of the leftover paint. The one above and this one. Stay tuned for upcoming projects that will use these as backgrounds. 

All of the supplies came from Michaels: Artist Loft Acrylics and Pouring Medium

A good time was had by all and they're happy with their first foray into paint pouring! 

Swirls & Swirls : Paint Pouring and Quilling

Sharing a gift I made for the friend who started me on this Quilling obsession. We've been friends since the 7th grade and since I've recently retired, you can figure out that's a loooonnng time! She also just became a Grandma this weekend! Age is a state of mind though right? So despite over 60 years of marriage between us, we're still in HS, going to our favorite pizza place and ice cream parlor. 

Where I'm heavily into neutrals, she's heavily into colors. The paint pour I did was in honor of the peacock feathers and jewel tones that were part of her wedding colors. Swirls of turquoise, greens and purples. Did I mention she made her own wedding dress and each of our bridesmaids dresses then fast forward to her daughter's wedding 2 years ago and she made her dress? She's amazing. 

I did this piece on a wood cradle board which is one of my favorite surfaces on which to paint pour.

For the Quilling piece, I once again turned to embroidery hoops as my "frame" which have become my go to as you'll see in some upcoming projects! I went with shades of purple and dark brown which coordinated with the paint pour colors.

And being a cardmaker and a paperholic at heart, I made a card to send along with:

I went with Jewel Tones that coordinated, using a Jewel Tone paper stack by Craftsmart and a bicycle themed sheet from another Craftsmart paper stack, In Bloom. I am hopeless when it comes to Michaels either buy one get two free or 70% off on these stacks. Hopeless.

I Quilled the butterfly in coordinating colors.

Supplies Used: 

• Craftsmart Acrylic Paints (Michaels)
• Wood Cradle Board ( Blick Art)
• Embroidery Hoop
• Juya Quilling Papers (available on Amazon)
• Misc Coordinating Paper
• Aleene's Turbo Tacky Glue ( Walmart) 

Quilled Monogram in Black and White

My love of and adventures in Quilling continue. The more I do, the more I want to do! Apologies for the photo quality. Between it being overcast and the fact that the dog accidentally broke my main camera lens and I'm having to use my distance lens and it's hit or miss...frustrating b/c this may be my favorite project ever! 

Supplies: 

• Cardstock for outlining monogram and matting
• Scrapbook paper for matting
• 12x12 shadow box frame
• Quilling paper
• Glue
• Quilling tool 

Choose a font to use. I used one called "Acherone". I printed out then traced w/ my lightbox onto white cardstock. I cut 1/4 inch width pieces of cardstock and then glued the strips around the letter to form my outline. Once the whole letter was outlined, I added a middle strip for more definition.

I decided it didn't matter if my pencil marks showed because I could just fill in those areas with quilled coils. 

I made coils, swirls and teardrops and just kept filling in the frame at random until I was happy. Once done, I added a few swirled coils as shown. 

I trimmed the paper the monogram was glued to, and then  matted that w/ black cardstock. Then I chose a black and white piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper and framed using a shadow box frame (Michaels...they come in multiple sizes in packs of 2, $29.99 regular price but I bought mine when they were 50% off). 

First Cards of 2020

I have several friends and relatives having birthdays in January so here are the first cards I've made in the New Year. 

Supplies : 

• Cricut Explore 2
• Copyright Free Image
• Aqua Glitter Paper ( Michaels)
• Foiled Vellum Paper (Michaels)
• CraftSmart Classic Chic Paper Stack ( Michaels)
• 110 lb Cardstock ( Michaels)
• Rhinestones (Stash)
• Foam Squares

For this card, I found the birthday cake image online and uploaded in Cricut Design Space. Cut two images and layered them using foam tape to give dimension.

Card is sized 5x7. Cut vellum paper panel 5x7 ; aqua glitter paper to 4.25x6.25 ; polka dot paper ( CraftSmart stack) to 4x6 and layer as shown. Finish by mounting the layered birthday cake. 

I tend to leave the inside of my cards blank more often than not but I haven't been doodling / lettering much so I used the negative from the cake image I cut and traced it on a panel of paper which I think doodled / hand lettered: 

For the next card, I used: 

• Whisky Barrel "Hot Buy" Paper stack (Michaels)
• 110 lb Cardstock ( Michaels)

I have a little bit of a paper addiction ( OK I have a HUGE paper addiction) and when Michaels has their "Hot Buy" stacks either 70% off / Buy 1 Get 2 Free, I'm there. That's where I found this Whisky Barrel stack which is great for "man cards". 

For this card, used only the stack, selecting two coordinating sheets of paper and one panel from a sentiments sheet in the stack. Same process and dimensions for the basic card, trimmed the sentiment with a black panel and layered all as shown. 

For the interior, I drew a double banner ( thank you You Tube!) and then lettered the sentiment inside. 

For the last card:

• Silhouette Design Store Image
• Silhouette Cameo 3
• Antique Gold Glitter Paper ( Michaels)
• Cardstock 110 lb (Michaels)
• Music Themed Vellum ( Stash) 
• Cricut Brushed Gold Adhesive Foil ( Michaels or JoAnn's one of the two!)

Card is also 5x7. Layered vellum panel, then alternated gold glitter and white cardstock cutting the image on my Cameo and layering on a white panel. I like the simplicity of this one. I used the "stencil" from the first card for the interior and forgot to take pictures but did it in gold gel pen instead of black ink. 

Black and White Wickedy Witch Wreath

Happy October! Yikes. But here we are. I actually had time to make something this weekend and had so much fun with it. Super easy and inexpensive and I'm really happy with it!

Supplies: 

• Wire Wreath Form ( Dollar Tree)
• Recycled Packaging ( See below for description)
• Tulle (on hand)
• Ribbon ( Michaels 40% off, 2 rolls)
• Halloween Picks (Michaels 40-60% off)
• Hot Glue / Glue Gun

Don't ask me how my brain works. My family has tried and failed. It just does what it does, which is how I came up with the idea to use this "packaging stuff" that's used to protect things in shipping to pad my wreath which my brain decided needed to be done. That's it. I had a wire wreath form on hand from Dollar Tree and thought just wrapping it in ribbon the frame might show through so wanted to pad it before wrapping it in ribbon. 

I cut it in strips and then wrapped and glued it to the frame w/ hot glue. WARNING: I used to have a fancy glue gun then it broke and I've been using a really cheap little "one temp" one. You might want to use "low temp" if you use this material because it can melt. I recovered and kept at it but you've been warned!

Wrap and glue, wrap and glue, wrap and glue watch "SVU". 

I ended up not wrapping the whole thing because a couple of burned fingertips makes you lazy and I also figured that where I was going to put "stuff" didn't need to be padded.  You can see the difference it made though and I do like the padded part which is the exposed part of the wreath. Wrap with ribbon et voila. 

Once my wreath was ribbon wrapped ( say that three times fast) I made a six-loop bow from black tulle, tied the ends around the wreath, and secured with a couple of dots of hot glue. Using the second roll of ribbon, I made an eight-loop bow and glued down to the wreath. 

Then, assuming your puppy hasn't run off with your witch leg pick, remove the stems from the hat and legs and glue down and you're done. 

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Paint Poured Reverse Canvas : Makers Gonna Make

Color! I know what you're thinking. Most of my projects are neutrals but I decided to play with some brighter colors on a paint pour. True confession. This was a "happy accident" that didn't start out as what turned into this project. 

I was doing a paint pour canvas to try and pick up some colors in a lamp in our living room. The periwinkle and magenta dominated WAAAAY more than I thought they were going to and I did not like it for that space AT ALL ( neither did Mr. Chocolate). So I did what every maker does when they have a craft fail. Re-purpose until you get something you like. 

I've also wanted to do a  reverse canvas project which I've been seeing a lot on Pinterest and in the blogosphere so I decided to use a canvas I wasn't happy with to try and make one. Worst case scenario, I'm out one canvas with which I was unhappy anyway. 

Supplies: 

• 16x20 Canvas ( Mine was from a pack from Michaels when they had them 5 for $10)
• Paints (I used Artist Loft White, Gold, Turquoise and Martha Stewart Poppy, Folk Art Periwinkle and Magenta)
• Zinsser Paint Addititive
• Silicone Oil
• Black Glossy Vinyl ( I used Cricut)

Other tools

• Utility Knife
• Staple Gun

First step was mixing my paints which I continue to experiment with. This time I added a few drops of Silicone Oil (HW section, Lowes) along with the paint additive. 

I re-use paint cups so if you see a color I didn't mention, that's why.

I did the puddle pour method again so you can see the rings of the colors as each new one is poured into the last. 

This is the canvas after tilting around to move the paint. Not my favorite. What to do? Enter reverse canvas idea. My brain. It's how it works. 

What is a reverse canvas? You basically take apart a pre-stretched canvas and reconstruct it using the frame as a traditional frame vs the frame around which the canvas is stretched. The first step is removing the canvas. I chose not to painstakingly remove each staple from the back of the canvas. Emphasis pain because 1.) it was a pain in the neck to do and 2.) it hurt.  I used my utility knife to cut the canvas close to the staples. The remaining strip pulls right off. 

This is the frame that the canvas was on. You can leave it plain or stain or paint it. 

I painted mine black since I knew I would be using black vinyl. I cut a quote I downloaded from the Silhouette Online Store and cut it using Cricut Glossy Black Vinyl on my Cameo. 

After the frame dried it was time to re-attach the canvas. I placed the frame painted side down then laid the canvas on top and attached with my staple gun. The biggest challenge here is getting your canvas pulled taught. The more staples the better seemed to be the lesson learned here! 

Flipped it back over and then trimmed using my utility knife. 

I immediately liked it better with the black frame! After I finished trimming I applied the vinyl and was ecstatic! The canvas I was prepared to toss became my favorite new piece of wall art for my office! 

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A Stroll Thru Life