★ Simple Heart Wreath ★

I ended up getting a lot done over the weekend, and will be sharing the big project that has been consuming my time for the past couple of months later this week.  I'm still trying to decide if there is more that I want to add to it, or if I'm happy with it the way it is now.
In the meantime, here is a wreath that I put together on Saturday for our front door.  Big bulky Christmas wreaths don't work on our front door, as they often don't fit between the wooden door and the storm door, so we're limited as to what we can do there.  I wanted something that said "country" of course, and my original plan was to make one of these babies

but I waited too long to get the wreaths, and Michaels was cleaned out on Friday night, so I had to improvise.

I really liked the heart-shaped wreath, and it was only $8.00 for it.  I strung the bells (9 bells for $1.00 at Dollar Tree) on some jute and tied it to the metal wire on the wreath that holds it together.  If you're using jute, I recommend threading it through a wide needle first and pushing the needle through the holes in the bells, as the openings are small and the jute will fray and just give you a huge headache.  Then I tied an oversized fabric bow around the whole thing to hide the knots from the bells.  No glue is necessary if you tie everything tight enough.  I didn't use any glue so that I can change out the bow if I want to. I just tied a little jute onto the back of the wreath so that it hangs more easily.
It looks very cute on our front door, it was cheap, and it took less than 20 minutes to make!

★ My New Art Studio ★

TGIF!!!!

I'm so glad that this week is coming to an end... it has not been a great one.  However, I did accomplish something pretty substantial this week.  I converted the 2nd floor kitchen in our house to my new art studio.  It was a room that has pretty much been left untouched since we moved in because we certainly don't need two kitchens.  So instead of having my art & craft supplies in random places around the house, now everything is together!  It has certainly freed up a lot of room around the rest of the house too!  Now I finally have a place where I can work on things and not have to clean up every time I'm finished for the day (although I'm sure my neat-freak ways will take over and I will anyway).

Here was the room before:

And here it is now:

I'm not completely finished with it.  I would like to get the fridge and extra stove that still currently reside in there out, and the drain pipes in the sink leak and need to be fixed (a project that my dad and I will hopefully tackle soon).  I would also like to make some nice curtains for the windows.  I painted the one accent wall with leftover paint and made a little chalkboard out of some home-made chalkboard paint, (sorry I couldn't think of anything more creative to write on it... but I was rushing!).  Andy said that I should have just done the entire wall in chalkboard paint, but it would have been a huge pain to mix up that much chalkboard paint.

I think the room is cute and cozy, and I'm happy that it will finally get some use!!!

★ DIY Christmas Tree Star Topper ★

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  It has been quite a week for me, but the end is near!  I just keep counting the days until my 12 day Christmas vacation.  Only 15 more days left!!!

I have been busy lately, and have several Christmas-themed DIY tutorials coming (as well as a finished painting that will be revealed in the coming weeks).  I have also been working on my biggest (at least in size) project to date, and am looking forward to revealing it very soon!

Andy and I did our traditional "day after Thanksgiving Christmas decorating" over the weekend.  When I pulled out our Christmas star I was disappointed to see that it was coming apart (although I did buy it at the dollar store about 3 years ago, so I can't really say that I'm too surprised).  But it did get my creativity gears turning!
This is a star that, like I said, I purchased at a dollar store at least 3 years ago.  It is made of soft plastic and is hollow on the inside.  It had glitter and foil on it that was peeling, so I just decided to help it along...

I thought it would be easier than it was (the glitter especially was a pain)... but with a little elbow grease I got all of the crud off.

And again comes my failure to take any "during" photos.  Basically I painted every other side of the star either red, green, or gold.  I took my trusty container of all-spice that I use to grunge up my crafts and sprinkled some of it over the wet paint.  When the paint was dry I sealed everything in with mod podge.
Then I took strips of red and green plaid fabric and mod podged them onto the remaining surfaces and allowed those to dry.  Once they were dry, I carefully cut off the excess fabric, and sealed those with mod podge.  Here is the finished product...

I also painted the "neck" with gold paint and added allspice.  Sorry I don't have a closer-up photo, but I didn't even remember to take one until it was up on top of the tree.  You get the idea :)

★ Primitve Painted Antique Sled ★

First off...
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

I hadn't realized that it had been so long since my last post....
I have sort of been on hiatus (although I have been working on some things, most of which are either unfinished or need to wait until closer to Christmas for their unveiling).  However, I am finding things around my house that I have done but never shared.  One of those I will share today :)

I painted this sled sometime in the spring/summer this past year.  I purchased it and another just like it for $15 each from someone in my town that was selling them in front of his house.  He was a collector and was looking to clean out some things.  He asked what I wanted them for, and I told him that my plan was to paint them.  He said he had never thought of that before and said that was a neat idea :)  I painted the other one too but plan on re-painting it because I'm not crazy about how it came out.  I will wait to post that one until I'm completely finished!

I have been seeing a lot of relatively simple (and relatively cheap!) ideas for homemade Christmas decorations, and I plan to try my hand at some of them... so I hope to soon be blowing up your feeds again with new posts!

I wish everyone and their families a very Happy Thanksgiving!  If you're from the northeast like I am and are also in the midst of this lovely noreaster, please be safe in your travels!

  

★ Simple DIY Curtain ★

Good morning,
I have completed quite a few projects recently, but I'm sharing them one by one in order to spread them out.  It might be awhile until I complete my next one, as it's pretty large.  Unless you know already I don't think you'll guess what it is :)

This projects came to me on a whim.  Since we moved into our house 2 years ago, it has been a nightmare trying to find a curtain that fits the window on our kitchen door.  There was a hideous green and white frilly one there when we moved it, and that just couldn't stay... and leaving it uncovered was not an option, since I have a fear that someone is going to decide to come to the kitchen door and watch me.
After searching a seemingly endless number of stores (including online stores), I got frustrated enough that I bought a clearance curtain panel from Kohls and cut it (sloppily) to size.  It was there for almost 2 years.  When we finally painted our doors a few weeks ago, the mismatch in color started to bother me.  I wanted to get a different curtain that's color would match both the kitchen and the door (the old door was white, the kitchen is green, and the old curtain was green).  I got some homespun fabric the other day with a different project in mind, but when I walked by the kitchen door that night inspiration struck me.

It came out very cute and it was easy.  If you can sew (and have a little patience) you can do this!  I just had to cut the fabric to size, sew it to allow the curtain rod to slip through, and hem the sides.  Voila!  A cheap and easy curtain solution!

 

★ Art Show & DIY Vintage Milk Bottles ★

Hi everyone,
Well my Art Show was Saturday and I'm sorry to say it was kind of a bust.  Through no fault of my own, mind you.  I had a bunch of people who were planning to come around 1-2, but I ended up packing up at 12.  Oh well, there will be others!  I did manage to take some photos of my table.

My haunted house painting is missing from the table because it was with the other raffle items.  I don't know who won it (there were a few bids on it), but I hope it went to a good home!  I must say that after the fact, it was difficult to see it go.  But the proceeds went to a good cause.

You'll notice on my table the little milk bottles that I made on Friday night :)  They are even cuter in person and super easy to make!  Here is what you need:

- Empty "Starbuck's Frappuccino bottles" (you know, the ones they sell in grocery stores)

- Black & White Acrylic Paint

- Long paint brush

- Homespun fabric (for ribbon)

- Sharpie

1. Drink the Frappuccino (the caffeine will motivate you!) and clean the label off the bottle.  I soaked the bottle in hot water in my sink, peeled off the labels, and they scrubbed the sticky goo with an S.O.S. pad to get everything off.  It was pretty easy.

2. Paint the lid of the bottle black (or another color of your choice.  You'll need 2-3 coats of paint.)

3. Get a long paint brush that is thin enough to fit into the bottle.  I used a 1" flat brush and it worked pretty well.  Paint the entire inside of the bottle with the white paint.  Allow to dry a little bit and paint with a second coat.  (Since it's inside the bottle, the paint takes awhile to dry.  I wasn't patient enough to let it dry completely before doing the second coat, but it turned out fine.)

4. Cut a ribbon out of some homespun fabric.  I got mine at Joann Fabrics.  Tie around the neck of the bottle.

5. This step is obviously optional... the bottle looked too plain when I was finished, so I decided to write "MILK" on it with a sharpie.  I think it's cute!

Definitely a quick & easy Friday night craft project!

 

★ Don't forget! Art Show this weekend! ★

Hi everyone,
I know it has been awhile since my last post, and for that I apologize.  I've had quite a bit going on that has kept me preoccupied... BUT I'm very excited because this weekend I am participating in my first art show!  Please stop by and show your support.  I will be raffling off this painting.

I will be announcing the winner on my facebook page on Monday, October 14th.  I also had some cards made up that I'm going to give out on Saturday.  I hope to see you on Saturday!  I've listed the details again below:

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




 

★ Painting: Crossed Keys Tavern ★

Only one more day...
I'm in the midst of battling a miserable cold, and ended up staying home yesterday to rest.  Resting seems to consist of either sleeping or sitting there like a lump thinking about how lousy I feel... so I needed to do something to pass the time.

I modeled it off a photo of the old Crossed Keys Tavern in Ohio.  I was looking for inspiration, and stumbled upon the building.  It was built in 1802.  It definitely helped to keep my mind off of being sick yesterday.

★ Painting: "Abandoned" ★

Good morning everyone,
I got a few suggestions to paint a house with a Halloween theme.  I thought it seemed appropriate, since Halloween is creeping up fast!  I played around with a few ideas in my head, and took some suggestions that I received regarding my overall painting style into consideration (adding animals, etc).  I ultimately decided that a good subject for a "haunted" house would be one of those big, beautiful Victorians.  I know of 3 elaborately decorated Victorians within 2 miles of our home (plus at 3 least more that aren't so elaborate), so we drove by them for some inspiration.

This last photo is of the old Wallingford Victorian Bed & Breakfast.  It is currently on the market and I would LOVE to buy & re-open it.  Unfortunately we don't have an extra $750,000 laying around.  Shucks.  I actually think that's a good price for a fully renovated, 6093 square foot 1891 historic Victorian home with 7 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms... but nevertheless...

I knew that the painting was going to be a nighttime one, so I wanted some color in the house so that it stood out.  These Victorians are also notorious for elaborate, over-the-top details in them.  I knew that if I was going to paint a Victorian, it was going to be a "go big or go home" situation.  Andy & I both liked the colors in the first house photo, so I based my color scheme off of that one.

Overall, I'm happy with it.  I didn't plan on finishing it yesterday, but I took a half day at work because of a wicked sore throat, and finishing this helped me keep my mind off of the pain.
I added a spooky old graveyard for effect.  I got the inspiration from the old graveyards around, where the stones are asymmetrical (and some are literally just rocks).  I think I was successful in making it look old.  I also added random bats throughout the sky, and of course, a full moon.
I tried to brainstorm about what I could add to it, and thought about adding a black cat on the porch, but I thought that it might look a little too forced or obvious.  I like subtleties in paintings.  I didn't want this one to scream out "HEY!  I'M A HAUNTED HOUSE ON HALLOWEEN!"  I merely wanted it to be suggestive.  That's also why I didn't put Halloween decorations in front of it.  I really wanted this house to look like it had been abandoned, maybe recently.  I think my attempt was successful.  If I were walking a secluded area at night and came across this house, it would certainly send a shiver up my spine, and I would wonder what stories this house might have to tell...


 

★ 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!