Christmas Crafting - Swirl Ornaments

I was inspired with the vases that I made as Christmas gifts and decided to give painted ornaments a try.  I've seen some great tutorials on these.  For example, Oh Sugarplum! has an entry on swirl ornaments (with a really cool tutorial on making marbleized ornaments as well).

I made eight, some with red and gold, some with blues and white.  My favourites though were a couple with blue, red and gold.  I used Folk Art Metallic paints for these.

Christmas Crafting - Painted Vases

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to make some painted vases as Christmas gifts this year.  This weekend marked the beginning of my Christmas crafting, I did a number of projects just to get a head start.  Since I'm planning on making a number of these painted vases, I figured I should start ASAP.

I tried two different techniques.

Air Blown Painted Vases:

For these vases, I pick two - four colours and "dribble" a little of each colour around the bottom edge of the vase.  From there, I just blow on the paint until it is sufficiently spread around the entire vase and in a design that I like.  Using a straw works if you are worried about getting too close to the wet paint - yes, I have ended up with paint on my nose as a result of losing track of how close to the vase I was.

Once the vases are painted, I let them dry for at least two days and then pop them in the oven to bake in accordance with the instruction on the paint.  I tend to use Americana Gloss Enamels, but mostly because that's the only enamel product that the Michaels closest to me.

 (I store them upside down until the paint dries.)

Interior Swirled Painted Vases:

These ones are as simple as adding a few colours to the bottom (inside) of a vase and SLOWLY twirling the vase to coax the paint around and around until the entire interior is covered.  Additional drops of paint are added as necessary during the process.

When complete, drain the excess paint from the vase.  I stored my upright to dry because I purposely wanted some streaking to occur, caused by the wet paint wanting to pool in the bottom of the vase.  When the paint is dry for a couple days, I'm going to coat the inside with a varnish.

Its amazing what glue, paint and a canvas can become

Once again inspired by Pinterest (see here and here), I decided to continue adding to our wall decor with DIY projects rather than buying something at Homesense or the like.  I was really intrigued by some of the ideas using glue to create raised surfaces on painted canvases.

I ended up making a few different pieces.  I did a simple three piece set featuring concentric circles, a larger piece with multiple circles, and two pieces that I'm not quite sure what to do with yet (with script that didn't really work out as planned).

It really is as simple as drawing a design with the glue, waiting for it to dry and painting over it.

Once they are hung up, I'll post updated pictures.

Painted Glass - First Attempt

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, and since I've been crafting all weekend, I have a backlog of posts to put up, so I might as well post some of the pieces I've completed in the past month or so.

As with many of my projects lately, I've seen a number of amazing ideas on Pinterest for painted vases and, of course, I figured I would try my hand at it.  I elected to use elastics and tape to make designs and painted a few dollar store vases with Americana Gloss Enamels.  Well, as will be clear below, I'm not trying that again any time soon.

However, in my frustration, I also tried another technique.  I splattered the paint around the bottom edge of a vase, using two colours, and gently blew on the paint to make it spread over the vase.  I adored how it turned out, so much so, I will be making a few more of these as Christmas gifts this year.  In fact, I've already started making a bunch more this weekend (post to come).

Here are pictures of the works in process:

(P.S. I'm loving Tim Hortons' Grey Cup themed coffee cup!)




Pictures of the final products (not my finest hour):

Pictures of the one that I actually like:

I'm already making more of these.  I love how the colours mixed as the paint was spreading around.  I will be posting more pictures of the process when I make a batch of these for Christmas gifts.

Pinterest strikes again - DIY Wall Decor

Our house has a few areas that definitely need more art on the walls.  I've been looking at pieces at the typical stores but I've also been checking out Pinterest for potential DIY ideas.  I recently found a great idea using pages from books on a canvas on Pinterest via Blue Cricket Design.  The inspiration can be found here.

Items used:

- canvas (De Serres always has reasonable prices)
- book pages (any book you are not going to read again)
- glue or Mod Podge
- applicator sponge
- permanent marker
- bird shaped sticker (the inspiration piece drew the bird on, but I happened upon these really great laser-cut felt stickers that were too cute to resist)

Steps:

1. Glue the book pages onto the canvas in what ever arrangement is pleasing to you.

2. Apply top coat of Mod Podge and allow to dry.

3. Sketch a tree branch onto the pages and fill in with permanent marker.

4. Apply bird sticker (I used a little extra glue to ensure it would hold.)

Simple as that.  I don't have a great hand when it comes to drawing but I was pleased with the results.

I haven't decided where to hang this one but will update the post with an additional picture once it is up on the wall.