BFF Open House

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Welcome back all! Hope you've had a wonderful week. Between the ongoing pandemic, the wild fires in the West and the tropical storms/ hurricanes in the South, I hope this is a space to take a break from the news and look at some pretty things. To all those in affected areas, my thoughts for your safety. 

Here are some of the things that caught my eye from last week's party and as always, thank you for sharing your creations here at The Answer Is Chocolate. 

This week I shared some Mackenzie Childs inspired pumpkins and Paint Poured Halloween Canvases. 

First up, some gorgeous Upcycles from The House on Silverado. I love how paint can transform the whole look and feel of a piece! 

Virginia from Artsy Va Va is back with another amazing paint project. LOVE the colors she chose for this Wood Barn Quilt. 

How much fun are these Spooky Tree Halloween Vans and perfect for now through October from Love My Little Cottage?! 

Finally, even though the temperature remains above 100 degrees here in the desert. the calendar says it's time for Fall treats. 3 Winks Design has got you covered with these gorgeous and yummy Hot Chocolate Bombs! 

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

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Mackenzie Childs Inspired DIY Pumpkins

 

If you've spent any time in Home Decor world, you are probably familiar with Mackenzie Childs signature style. I love it, not only because she uses tons of black and white but because it's whimsical, pretty, and not rigidly perfect. It's also expensive and while I'd love to have a bunch of pieces, I don't. But hey, we're Makers so what do we do? We use our faves for inspiration and DIY that stuff! 

Here's an example of the real ones: 

Supplies: 

• Plain Ceramic Pumpkins ( $1 each from Target)
• Paint Pens ( I used Craftsmart from Michaels)
• Acrylic Paint 

Step 1: 

Gather your supplies. I found these ceramic pumpkins for $1 each at Target in the section that none of us can get past. They know us! I also grabbed two paint pens: gold and black. 

Step 2: 

For the signature Mackenzie Childs check, I went down the lines of the pumpkin with the black pen. 

Since the style here is to look handpainted, you don't have to be perfect. 

Step 3: 

I went horizontally around the pumpkin with the paint pen to create the squares.

Step 4:

Tip: When I've done checkerboard before, I've gotten the order messed up so I've taken to putting a pencil dot in the squares to be filled in before I start filling! 

Step 5 

When all of the squares were filled in, I went back down the pumpkin spines with a gold paint pen and colored the stem. (I went back over that gold spot w/ black)

Et voila! 

The process for the Striped Pumpkin was similar but I used acrylic paints instead of paint pens.

I did a couple of coats for opacity. 

To finish, I also used paint and just went down each side w/ antique gold. 

Et voila!

I am pretty happy with my $2 project! 

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) 

 

BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve all! I hope you've had a great week and to those of you who are conducting COVID Home School, I salute you! While I worked from home most of the years my son was in school, it was NOTHING like what moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas and aunties and uncles and teachers are doing now. And of course leave it to Makers to actually create some fabulous classrooms! 

Let's take a look at some of the ideas from last week's party! 

I'm in awe of those of you who change out your bedrooms seasonally and in LOVE with the black and white Buffalo check that Penny from Penny's Vintage Home used in her Fall bedroom! 

These fun and pretty Crochet Earrings from Lilah's Treasures caught my eye! Clean, bright, and with a virtual trip because Lilah's post will take you to the beaches of Southern Sicily which look like a place I'd like to be! 

Naush from Doodlebuddies showed us how you can take something as simple as empty pickle jars and transform them into beautiful color blocked vases. A pretty craft that's also "green".

Finally, this week's chocolate feature is aptly named: Oreo Yum Yum from Tracey at The Kitchen Is My Playground. Yes please! 

Thank you to everyone who linked up!! If you were featured, please feel free to grab a featured button here. 

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

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