Monday, September 30, 2013

★ Project Re-do: DIY Primitive Grubby (electric) Candles ★

If this were Tosh.0, I would be calling this a "web redemption".  Last year I saw a tutorial online for DIY grubby candles and attempted to make them myself (see my attempt here) only I didn't have all of the materials that the tutorial suggested (I used hot chocolate instead of instant coffee, and coffee grounds were the main ingredient in the coating).  They looked good at first, but very soon the coating started to crack off of the candles.  Pretty soon I had to throw them away.  While I haven't re-tried this on actual wax candles yet (although I do have some in my stash that I plan on making) I decided to try the project on some battery-powered candles that I had on hand this past Saturday.  So far so good!  No cracking yet!

These are the candles and candle holders before I did anything to them.  I tried finding brass or pewter candle holders at Goodwill, but I had no luck so I had to improvise.  I got these glass ones for $1 each at the Dollar Tree.



And these are the candles after I got my paws all over them.  I think they came out really nice.  Instant coffee is more expensive than I thought, so I just used acrylic paint to color the modge podge mixture instead, and used the instant coffee as my primary ingredient in the coating.  I painted the candle holders with black acrylic paint (3 coats) and tied a rustic ribbon around them.  I recommend spraying the candle holders with a sealer, since acrylic paint doesn't adhere well to glass, but I got lazy.  Eventually I will seal them, but they won't be handled too much.  I also painted the glass bulbs with a very thin layer of golden-yellow acrylic paint so that they give off a yellow-ish glow.  I haven't had them on long enough to see if it omits an acrylic-paint smell, but we'll see.  I super-glued them into the holders because they wobbled around a bit, and the batteries go in from the top, so the bottom doesn't open up.



Here is my tutorial:

Supplies:
- Electric/battery powered taper candles (I think I got mine at Christmas Tree Shops after Christmas last year)
- Modge podge (matte finish)
- Instant coffee
- Spices (I used allspice, cinnamon, & nutmeg)
- Ground coffee
- Glass taper candle holders (I got mine at Dollar Tree)
- Acrylic paint in brown & black
- Ribbon
- Super glue (optional - for gluing the candles to the holders if they don't stand upright)

Directions for Candles:
- Mix equal parts modge podge and water, then add some brown acrylic paint to tint the mod podge brown (don't worry if it isn't dark, mine was roughly the color of light chocolate milk).  You can mix in a jar for later use, or I just mixed mine in a disposable cup.  Remember you don't need a lot of it.
- In a zip-lock bag, mix together some instant coffee, spices, and a small amount of ground coffee for texture.  There's no science behind this - just use any combination you want.
- Empty the dry mixture onto a piece of tin foil and spread out.
- Using a paintbrush or sponge, apply the modge podge mixture around the candle.  Hold the glass bulb to keep the mixture from getting all over your hands.
- Roll the candle in the dry mixture until completely coated.  Apply more modge podge in sections that seem to be sparse.  Lay on a paper plate or tin foil and let dry for 30 minutes.
- When someone dry, apply a generous coating of the modge podge mixture to the the coated candle & stand candle up somewhere to dry (mine stood right up on the paper plate).  Let dry for 2-3 hours to avoid smudging the coating.

Directions for Candle Holders:
- Set candle holders on a piece of newspaper, and paint with black (or whatever color you choose) acrylic paint.  Allow the first layer of paint to dry (acrylic paint dries relatively quickly) and repeat process two more times to ensure an even coating with no glass peeking through.
- When the final layer is completely dry, tie a ribbon around the stem of the candle holder.






I will re-post a tutorial on how to make these with wax candles once I make them again myself.
Enjoy!


 

Friday, September 27, 2013

★ The Good Ole Durham Fair ★

I love country fair season.  I think they're just so much fun!  I love looking at the exhibits (especially photography, painting, and baking) to see what awesome things people come up with!  One of my favorite fairs is the Durham fair, which started yesterday.  It's only a few miles from our house, so a lot of the vendors there are from our town.  This year I have gone to the North Haven & Durham fairs with another something in mind.  I've made up my mind that I want to enter paintings in both of them next year.  The Durham fair specifically has a category for Folk Art (how perfect!) and I wanted to see the entries from this year to see how mine matches up.  Well... I don't know if I can effectively do that myself, since I'm sure I'm biased... so I'll let my readers be the judge.  We looked 3 times and all we could find were the 2nd and 3rd place winners of the Folk Art category.  I don't know where the 1st place winner was (kind of disappointed about that) but oh well, what can you do?  Of course I took photos!

2nd Place





















3rd Place














So what do you think?  How does my New England Saltbox painting match up against these?  Be honest here!  I'm open for constructive criticism, because I really want to be able to compete next year!
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Also, I just had to get a souvenir.  I saw this clock and loved it immediately.  I think it ties in with our country decor, don't you?






















I plan on starting my next painting tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll be able to finish it tomorrow night or Sunday.  I'm trying to get faster, but I don't want to go too fast and cut corners.


 

Thursday, September 26, 2013

★ Autumn at Our House ★

It's officially autumn at the Horn household!
We went last night to the local farm down the street and got our pumpkins, gourds, hay bales, mums, and corn stalk.  It all barely fit in the car, but we made it home in one piece!  I was out in my front yard in the dark last night putting everything together.  People driving by must have thought I was a nutcase, but they don't know me very well, and how I get when I'm motivated to do something...  Andy & I just love decorating for fall.  He put out the metal pumpkins, haunted house, and turkey yesterday.  I have to give him credit for that :)



I can't get over how nice that new red door looks!


 

Monday, September 23, 2013

★Painting: Classic New England Saltbox in Autumn & NEW DOORS!★

Happy Monday!
I had quite a busy weekend this morning (although arguably Andy's was much busier).  I finished my latest painting on Saturday night, and I'm very excited because I think this one is my best yet!  I can't remember the dimensions, but I believe that it is a 16x20 inch canvas, which is quite large, so it will make the PERFECT showcase painting for the art show, especially since it's an autumn painting & an autumn art show.  The painting is based off of the Nehemiah Royce House, which is the oldest standing house in the town of Wallingford, where we live.











The house is now owned by the Wallingford Historical Society and is being restored to open as a museum.  When we first moved to Wallingford two years ago, the house was painted red.  Within the past year or so they have begun restoration on it by installing a new roof, new windows, and white siding (apparently they determined that the house was probably originally white), but I had to keep the red color, because personally I loved the red color on the house.  The house has a lot of history behind it, because George Washington stopped there twice on his way through Wallingford and made speeches to the townspeople both before and after the revolutionary war.  The house is simply beautiful and full of history!  The landscape itself was my own doing, but the house is based on that house in Wallingford.  It is now hanging proudly in our living room :)



Also, yesterday, we FINALLY painted our exterior doors, like we've been talking about (loosely) since we moved in two years ago!  Both doors were white, which was boring since the house is also white, and the paint was flaking and chipping drastically on both doors.  It wasn't very high on our priority list since it was only a cosmetic issue, rather than a structural one.  But it's finally done!!  My dad helped us sand the doors almost down to the bare wood, since the paint was chipping so badly, and we primed and painted them.  The front one is like a barn red, and the back is a royal blue.  So much better than dirty, chippy white!  The hardware on both doors, as we found out, is solid brass.  The front door hardware was painted black, so I got some black paint and touched it up, and I painted the hardware on the back door to match the front, since it was very tarnished and didn't want to come clean!



Thursday, September 19, 2013

★ Painting: Albany Covered Bridge ★

Good morning!
It has been awhile since my last post, but things have been busy in the Horn household.  We finished our little living room renovation last Friday, and we are both very happy with how it turned out!  I was sick Monday and Tuesday, but now I'm back in commission.
Despite everything going on, I've been hard at work painting new pieces for the art show on October 12th.  My goal was to get 3 new pieces done by then.  Well I've finished the 1st one and have laid the base for the 2nd, so I'd say I'm in pretty good shape.  I wasn't going to post anything until after the show, but if I want to keep readers, I have to post!  So here is the first one that I have completed for the show.


This painting is of the Albany Covered Bridge along the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire.  Andy took the photo that this painting was based off of.  I'm pretty happy with it.  I think that my skills are definitely improving!  They say practice makes perfect, and I certainly have been practicing!  Andy is working Friday & Saturday this weekend, which stinks, but I'll need something to do when I'm home alone and I plan on finishing the one that I started last night.  I hope to be able to post that one on Monday!


 

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

★ Ledges of Roseledge Walktober Art Show & Wine Tasting ★

This exciting opportunity just happened to fall into my lap this morning!  I was glancing through my Facebook news feed, and I stumbled upon a post from a lovely little Bed & Breakfast in Preston CT that Andy & I took a trip to back in December 2009.  We have stayed at 4 other B&Bs since this one, but it's still our favorite!
Anyway... the Innkeeper posted that they are having an Art Show & Wine Tasting (wine tasting sponsored by the Preston Ridge Vineyard), and they are calling all artisans to participate!  I quickly sent her an e-mail, and I'm in!!!  Below are the details of the show.  Come support me & other local artisans and have some wine while you're at it!  I don't yet know what the cost is, but I will update once I learn more.

Date: October 12, 2013
Time: 10AM - 4PM
Location: Roseledge Country Inn & Farm Shoppe
                418 Route 164, Preston CT 06365
Inn Website: http://www.roseledge.com/




 

Monday, September 9, 2013

★ Painting: "Small House" at Old Sturbridge Village ★

Happy Monday Afternoon!
Monday afternoons aren't nearly as unbearable as Monday mornings, or so I've found.  Only 90 minutes until it's time to go home!
Andy and I decided last Wednesday/Thursday that we wanted to give our living room a makeover.  My inlaws are having their floors refinished in a few weeks, and they have decided to get new furniture.  They were going to just sell it, but Andy and I talked and thought that it would fit in very well with our home's country decor, so we decided to take it.  We also decided to do some more re-arranging of our living room as well.  On Friday, Andy took apart our entertainment center (it was there when we moved in, but was of no real use to us because it was for a square TV, and it couldn't fit through the front door fully assembled).  My dad came over on Friday night to help us take our old couch out, as well (we were going to put in the basement and sell it on craigslist, but that too would not fit through the front door... I still don't know how the heck it got into the front door, although I do remember that it almost didn't).  So that needed to be taken apart too.  We decided yesterday that we were going to attempt to bring the new furniture over.  After some minor setbacks, I'm happy to say that the furniture is in the room.  We still have a few things to do before the room is finished, but we are hoping that it will be done by Saturday.  I will post 'before' and 'after' photos upon its completion.

In the meantime, here is a painting that i finished up over the weekend.  I modeled it after a photo of the "Small House" at old Sturbridge Village that I took during our trip there in January.  Overall, I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  I have also decided that I want to enter one of my paintings into a local fair next year.  I'm hoping to at least place, but 1st place would be nice :)


















 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

★ My Weekend of Painting ★

Hope everyone had a nice, long, relaxing Labor Day Weekend!  We had a party on Sunday, and I think I still may be recovering from it.  Yesterday was tough, naturally.  Anyway, it was a good farewell Summer, hello Fall party!  I'm looking forward to begin decorating for fall.  I can't wait to take a trip to the farm down the street and get our pumpkins, gourds, mums, and hay bales... although it doesn't feel like fall outside yet!  We all think it's going to be an early fall this year - we're already seeing some color changes in the leaves.  Usually that means the foliage isn't going to be very good, but I guess we'll see.
I decided to try my hand at painting again this weekend.  It has been awhile since I've painted something on a canvas, and I never tried that hard when I did, but I've decided to actually slow down and take my time with my work (what a concept) and I'm pleased with the results so far.  The lighting is off on the second one, but I finished it at around 11:30 last night and was just anxious to go to bed.




I'm pretty happy with both of them (I really didn't know I had it in me!)  I'm just going to keep going and hopefully get better and better.  My goal is to be able to enter a painting in the North Haven fair next year.  That means I have about 11 months to really get good enough to enter.  Even if I didn't win, it would still be fun to have my painting on display there.  I'm really enjoying this painting thing!