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! 

Sharing At: 

A Stroll Thru Life

BFF Open House Link Party

Happy Friday Eve all! Whew. Another week gone by  just like that. Hope it was a good one for you. Let's take a look at some wonderful ideas from last week's party shall we?

Whether for Easter specifically or Spring Decor in general, these decoupaged eggs from Craftify My Love are a great touch of Spring. 

Tassels are everywhere from jewelry to all kinds of accessories. Domestic Bliss Squared has a great DIY tutorial to make these Layered Tassels so you can make as many as you like in all the colors you love! 

When people tease me about all the stuff I make, I joke that I have a "Martha Stewart Personality Disorder" because I'd rather DIY. Martha and I part ways though when it comes to gardening. Just never took to it. So this post from Repurpose and Upcycle on how to incorporate Air Plants into decor is right up my alley because I don't think even I can kill these. I bought some old sugar molds at a Junk Show that are screaming for these! 

With Girl Scout Cookie season over, you don't have to wait until next year to get your Thin Mint fix. Family Cookie Recipes has got you covered with these Homemade Thin Mints. 

Now let's see what everyone's been up to this week! Hoping this works smoothly as INLINKZ has switched over to a new format so bear with me if you can't link up right away! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mega Paint Pour 30 x 40 Canvas

Happy April everyone. If you love April Fool's Day good on you. Me, not so much! 

Sharing my biggest Acrylic Paint Pouring project today. I shall call her "Canvasouras".  I had so much fun with this one and have to say, it is my favorite one yet. 

Supplies: 

• 30 x 40 canvas (Michaels had these 70% off so this one was $34 less 70% final cost $10.20 and of course I bought 2  and any video of me getting these out of the store while pushing a cart is for sure hilarious)
• Artist Loft Acrylic Paints in White, Raw Umber, Black, Gold, Light Turquoise ( picked up a couple of large bottles that were 40% off at Michaels). The big bottles are $9.99 full price and the smaller 4 oz tubes are $3.99 full price. 
• Zinsser Flow Control paint medium
• Water
• Hand Sanitizer (secret ingredient!)

My first challenge was figuring out how I was going to stabilize my canvas and keep it off the floor. Enter giant Target plastic storage bin, the kind that will hold wrapping paper etc. Inexpensive , had on hand, flipped it upside down and worked great!

Next came mixing the paints. For this, I used bigger cups ( 12-16 oz red Solo drink cups for the white, black, gold and brown) than I've been using and one thing I've learned along my paint pouring learning journey is to get the paints thin enough w/out making them too runny. This is trial and error but I did about 1/2 paint and 1/4 ea paint medium and water. Stir slowly until really well blended. The secret ingredient? Hand Sanitizer! I saw this in a video and wanted to try it. The ingredients really aid in the creation of cells which is something I've been struggling with. More on this below. 

For this one, I did what's called a "puddle pour" which, as the name suggests, you pour your paints to make a puddle on the canvas, layering them as you go. 

I made puddles at each end of the canvas. One was white dominant and the other was brown dominant and I layered the colors randomly, and then took the rest of the the white and black and poured around each puddle on the corresponding side. 

The consistency was PERFECT this time because as you tilt the canvas, the paints flowed and were able to cover the entire canvas and run down the sides. Now for the "secret ingredient" the hand sanitizer. 

People use different mediums to create cells. Everything from WD40 to treadmill lubricant to hair serum etc. I picked up some hand sanitizer for $1.79 at the grocery store. The alcohol content plus the viscosity interacts with the paint to give you the right effect. Since I wasn't sure, I didn't add it to every color and will next time. I also discovered that if you don't securely have the cap on your paint tube, shake it so you can squeeze out the remaining paint, get it on your wall because oops....hand sanitizer gets it right off! Who knew? 

These are the "cells" I'm talking about. It's just chemistry magic. Don't ask me to explain it! I just love looking at them, mesmerized, as they emerge. 

This piece was going in our living room and while I'm known for neutrals, I wanted to pick up the aqua from the globe and tie in the brown from the clock , the chair etc. 

I'm SUPER happy with the results. What do you think? 

Sharing At: 

BFF Open House Link Party

Happy Friday Eve all. Ready to say goodbye to March already? Can't believe it. What I really can't believe is that it was a year ago this week that we pulled up stakes from Washington and moved to Arizona. Talk about time flying!

Let's see some ideas from last week's party!

You might guess this gorgeousness is someone's craft room or space decorated for a party. You would be wrong. The luckiest chickens in the world live in this CHICKEN COOP that is prettier than my office! If I ever have a chicken coop ( and since I have coyotes that walk through my neighborhood it's not likely I'd want it to look like this from The Inspired Prairie !

I am in love with the results of this table makeover in blue and copper chalk paint from Abbotts At Home !

I love this beautiful necklace from Bijou Bead Boutique but I love the story behind it even more so you'll have to go check it out. 

Finally, doesn't this cake just scream Spring ?! So pretty. From Howling At The Moon. 

Now, let's see what everyone's been up to this week! 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Welcome Spring: Floral Egg Wreath Under $10

I didn't do any Easter / Spring decorating last year since we were in the middle of moving, but this year since I get to decorate of course I had to make something new. I started out thinking I was gong to do a wreath full of plastic eggs but as projects go with me, it morphed into something else. HA!

Supplies: 

• Plastic Eggs ( Target $1 per package). Bought 5 ; used 4
• Wreath Form ( Dollar Tree $1)
• Felt  (on hand)
• Drop cloth scraps (on hand)
• Ribbon (JoAnn $3 on sale)
• Cuttlebug
• Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Die
• Scrapbook paper ( on hand) 
• Glue Sticks
• Glue Gun

I knew I wanted an ombre look so I laid the eggs around the wreath form to make sure I liked it. 

I also learned from a previous project that I didn't want any of the wreath form to show so I wrapped it in strips of drop cloth I had on hand. 

Then it was glue, glue, glue around the form. I left a space where I knew I would put the ribbon and which was just that much too tight to fit one more egg. 

I kind of made this up as I went along and my brain said "leaves" so I cut a leaf  template from paper freehand then used it to cut leaves from felt with pinking shears. 

I put a dot of glue on each leaf, pinched it together then glued to the form. Now, what to do to finish? 

I cut 16 flowers using my Cuttlebug and Metallic Yellow and Cream Scrapbook papers ( 8 from each color). I debated about alternating them or alternating the layers of each and ended up as shown doing half and half. 

Finished with a bow!

Sharing At: 

BFF Open House Link Party

Happy Friday Eve and Happy Spring All! Hope you've all had a great week.  A little calmer on this end so thanks for understanding no features last week. 

Starting off with these sweet Watercolor Carrots from Mamas Brush. This is more as a reminder than a project tutorial but a reminder of what? A reminder that our creativity doesn't have to be perfect ( whatever that really means) in order for us to be happy with it or for it to be considered art. There's a great reminder in the post: 

Are they perfect? No. But they are fun. And that’s my only requirement for being happy with something I’ve created. 

(As an aside: I never pursued my love of drawing when I was younger because I always though everything had to be perfect… what a game changer this new way of thinking is!)

I think this is a reminder we can all use. I know I can!

I  know what you're thinking: "That bunny's going to melt out there in the grass". HA HA Lisa, from Fresh Vintage by Lisa S fooled us. It's a Faux Chocolate Bunny she's painted to look like a real one.

Speaking of chocolate ( hello, you know where you are lol ) these Mint Oreo Cookie Balls would be a nice addition to a special Easter Basket or dessert table. From Butter With A Side of Bread:

Now, let's see what everyone's been up to this week!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Paint Pouring: Coordinated Panel Collection

I'm still practicing my paint pouring skills and wanted to do a kind of gallery wall with 12x12 panels in our bedroom. I am so happy with how these turned out!! 

If you're not familiar with paint pouring there is lots of help available on Pinterest and You Tube. I have a paint pouring board on Pinterest here. 

The reason I love it is there's no ( at least not to me) right or wrong once you follow the basics. It's all about what you like and experimenting with the mix of the pouring medium and colors you choose. The best way I've found to figure things out is to just play with it and do it. I will say that if you're going for a coordinated look like what I did with this project, it's probably better to do all of your pouring on the same day so you can be consistent in your formulas. Weather can also be a factor so doing them on the same day ensures drying time etc. is also consistent. 

There are also kits and paints designed specifically for paint pouring. I've just been winging it with a mixture of different acrylic paints and mediums. Here's what I used for this project: 

Supplies: 

• Paint Booster Paint Additive ( I got mine at Lowes)
• Artist Loft Acrylic Paints (Michaels)
• 12x12 Wood Panels ( Blick Art Materials)
• 12x12 Canvas (Michaels)
• Alcohol ( 91% or more is best)
• Water 

You'll also need: 

• Something to cover work area
• Mixing Cups
• Gloves ( eg vinyl or latex because your hands will get messy)
• Push Pins (push these into at least 4 corners of the back of your surface to make a little stand so the panel isn't touching your work surface)

There are different techniques to paint pouring. You can pour your paints directly onto the surface individually or you can layer in a cup which you'll then flip onto your surface. I used the former for the white panels and the latter for the black panels. I also thought I was going to just do four but decided six panels worked better for the space. I only had 4 of the wood panels so I did the other two on canvas since that's what I had on hand. 

I didn't prep the wood surface but I did cover the canvases with a couple layers of Mod Podge as a sealer. 

Layered Flip Cup Method

This is the method I used on the black panels. Once you mix each color separately with the mediums ( I used a couple capfuls of the paint booster, one capful of alcohol and a little water to get a pourable consistency...one that drizzles steadily from a stir stick) you can then layer each paint color in a separate cup. I just alternated colors. 

Someday I'll do videos but not yet :) 

Once you have enough paint ( I just used plastic drink cups and for a 12x12 panel filling to the top was enough) you put your surface on top of the cup and then flip it over. 

Some will seep out so be prepared! You can slide your cup around your surface or just lift the cup off where it is. 

Oooooo magic! This is my flipped puddle and you just start tilting your panel slowly to spread the paint. You want to make sure you cover the entire surface and then as the paint drips down the sides you can take a gloved finger and kind of finger paint the edges. 

I love that no two are alike and each piece you make has its own personality. They're soothing for me to look at ad just discover new patterns each time I do. So much fun!