Swedish Folk Art Take 3!

Not sure why, but I think turquoise should be in any folk art painting...This is probably just my opinion, but so what.

I painted this one Turquoise and Moroccan Red.  The other colors used were Antique Gold, Hunter Green, and White.  Right side:

Left side:

Finished!

Swedish Folk Art Take 2!

This mini bird house turned out great.  Hearts and roses. 

I used Midnight Blue, White, Moroccan Red, Hunter Green, Leaf Green, Couscous Yellow, and Antique Gold.With this type of painting, there is a lot of color mixing going on.  It is much easier to paint traditionally on a smooth surface.  The floating doesn't turn out nicely on these rough surfaces, so no floating was done.  Here is the right side:

Left side:

And here is the finished front. 

Swedish Folk Art Take 1!

I bought these little unfinished bird houses at the local craft store when they went on sale (70 cents a piece!).  I got one of each style, six in total. 

I LOVE Swedish folk art and have painted it here and there over the years.  I wanted to buy these mini bird houses and try my hand at some free hand.  Here we go.  I love these little buds, so this first house is just that...



I used Ivory, Wedgewood Blue, Poppy Orange, Antique Gold, Leaf and Hunter Green.  All free handed, NO line art...which is what I usually do.  I will sketch lightly in pencil on my piece before I ever put paint to anything.  It is a comfort thing for me...I HATE having to redo anything, and I am the pickiest person I know.  And I think it turned out quite nice.  Simple.  Love it...Wonder who will end up with this cutesy little birdie house???

Is It Summer Yet?

I really wish it was...I am tired of the snow on the ground...and the cold...and the kids cooped up in the house...So I was rummaging through my bin "o" wood in my craft room when I came across a "Summer" I bought a few months...or maybe two years ago...but who's counting.  Having five days off from work can get you caught up on your bin "o" wood...especially if you don't visit the handy dandy wood shop.  This one is really simple, and for once, no glitter...sad...

The set came with the wooden letters and the three wooden knobs.  

I started by painting the letters and knobs.  If you want a washed look, you can add a bit of water to your paint.  You will be able to see the wood grain though the paint.  Here's another hint...If you have pieces that are round (like wooden knobs), you can place them in a round paint tray to dry.  If you don't have a paint try, you can use an egg carton.  Ok, moving on... 

I used garden themed papers that were double sided.  It makes it easier to coordinate your papers if you get them in a set.  I always trace my letters before I paint, and cut them out while my pieces are drying.  Pencil marks get on the wood and then you have to touch up if you have already painted.  I used a chalk ink to distress my paper before I glued them on the wood letters.  It is easier for me, and also I tend to mess up when I ink stuff...it is really hard to get paper off wood when you use Modge Podge... 

To dress up this set, it was pretty simple.  Hot glue the peas (knobs) on top of the "U" or pea pod.  I must insert here that Noah at first thought this was suppose to be watermelon...and was wondering what the wooden balls were for.  And before I am too harsh, it totally could have been a watermelon slice....

Three paper cut flowers, a heart, and a button for the flower.  I inked each flower and used glue dots to assemble them.  You can bend the petals for a 3D look. Cut your heart in half to make the flower's leaves and top off with a button on top.

I tied a cute little spade on the "R" with a thin piece of twine. 

And then whala!

Materials:

-Garden scrapbook papers (double sided)

-Acrylic paint:

     -Ivory

     -Christmas Green

-Gingerbread chalk ink

-Twine

-Garden tool charm

-Button

-Paper flowers (small, medium, and large)

-Paper heart

Hippity Hop!

This little "Hop" was just to cute to resist. 

The set included the wooden pieces and chipboard feet and nose.

I started by painting the pieces.

While the pieces dried, I cut out the printed paper that I traced for the feet and ears.  I used a round dobber to apply glue for the glittered poka dots on the "H" and "P".  From here I used hot glue to attach the feet and nose.  Modge Podge is my favorite glue for pasting down paper.  I painted the eyes and pads of the feet next.  I used a ceramic blush for the bunny cheeks.

In each of the eyes and pads I glued a small diamond rhinestone.  After tying the ribbon on the bunny, I used a large purple rhinestone in the middle.  A medium purple rhinestone is in the center of the paper flower.  The whiskers are a brown wire glued into place.



I tied ribbon on the "H" and "P" to finish it off. 

Materials:

-Echo Park Springtime Fresh Flowers (double sided) paper
-Acrylic paints:
     -White
     -Sunset Blush
     -Sweet Pea
     -Walnut
-Glitters:
     -Blush
     -Orchid
-Ribbons:
     -Purple and white scrunched ribbon
     -Wide purple toole
     -Wide cream toole
     -Wide black toole
     -Wide hot pink toole
-Blush chalk
-Mini diamond rhinestones
-Large and medium purple rhinestones
-Paper flowers
-Wire

Lady's Night

I wanted to have a get together with just the girls this month.  I made these simple invitations for the occasion.

I used the Cricut Alphabet and Preserves cartridges.  The invitation is a 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 piece of card stock with the corners rounded.  I like to get those 4 by 6 paper stacks and cut them down to whatever size I need.  Much easier.  The scalloped front of the invitation is from the Cricut Craft Room Basics and is 3 by 5.  I cut out the single and double strawberry to dress up the invite.  Of course I can't do anything without glitter, so I used a sparkles acrylic paint over the "Your Invited".  The strawberries are chalked along the outside edges to give them some depth.  At the bottom of the scalloped rectangle, I used the Cuttlebug and a poka dot embossing folder.  The ribbon is just folded over and stapled on.

I printed a little blurp about the night, my address, the date, and my phone number on the back of the invite.  Turned out pretty cute.  Of course, I am from the south, so it is going to look country no matter what!  Oh if only I had some red and white gingham ribbon...darn!

Materials:

-Cricut Preserves Cartridge
     -10 Single strawberries with layers
     -10 Double strawberries with layers
-Cricut Alphabet Cartridge
     -10 Scalloped 3 by 5 white rectangles
     -10 "Your Invited" words
-10 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 card stock rectangles
-Corner rounder punch
-Brown chalk
-Sparkles paint
-Ribbon
-Stapler
-Cuttlebug poka dot embossing folder

Easter Egg!

Ok, so for my birthday I took a couple of days off.  Feels good.  Did whatever I wanted.  And today, I wanted to start on my Easter stuff.  I finished my door hanger first.

I bought the set at the wood shop.  It is pretty simple, a wooden oval and three chipboard molding pieces.  I picked out my colors to match my paper, and started to paint.  Noah was horrified.  You should have seen his face after he saw these colors...I am sure he was thinking there is NO WAY that is going on our front door...patience...but seriously I was kinda thinking that too...yuck!

Ok, so now the dress up.  I cut out my papers, and glued them down.  Again, Noah was like "why are they all crooked???"  Geez, I am not perfect...but on a important note, it really doesn't matter if they are crooked when the seams are covered by something else.  Don't judge me...it does look bad!

Let's move on from the awful crooked paper to the fun part.  Glitter!!!  Are you surprised? I put glitter on each chipboard piece, except the yellow stripes.  Remember when you use glitter, you can paint your pieces a little darker color if you don't have the exact color you want, and apply a lighter glitter.  Hence the crazy colors I picked...Once I finished the glitter, I used hot glue to attach the chipboard to the egg.

Cute huh.  I used a silver wire for the hanger.  After applying the chipboard, I put some diamond rhinestones on top of the glitter and finished it off with a bow.

One Easter Egg Door hanger C/W!!!

Materials:

-Paper:
     -Purple felt paper by Doodlebug
     -Scallops (Double sided) Summer Days by Echo Park
-Acrylic Paints:
     -Royal Fusha
     -Pumpkin
     -Turquoise
     -Spring Green
     -Crocus Yellow
-Glitter:
     -Frost
     -Mint
     -Apricot
-Diamond rhinestones
-Ribbon:
     -Yellow and green poka dots
     -Pink and white stripes
     -Purple wide toole

Happy St. Patty's Day Month!

I was thinking I needed something for my door for every month, so I have decided to start the projects.  My first month is of course March, so I went with "Luck".  Each month I will make a new door hanger project.  So.  Here we go!

The set came with the wooden "Luck" and the two overlay chipboard pieces for the "L" and "C". 

I bought 3 little chipboard shamrocks to use on this piece, even though at this point I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with them.  The demo that was shown when I bought this was very simple with just solid painted letters that were all a different color, with a bow at the top of the wire hanger.  I was less than impressed with this....I like fun...and glitter, so that is all I knew I wanted to do.  I painted the base and "C" in Leaf Green, and the "L" and shamrocks in Christmas green.  The buttons, or medium wooden circles, are painted in antique gold.

I started by gluing the "U" and "K" papers down.  Always work from the lowest layer up.  It can be tricky if you forget and glue the top layers down.  And remember when you paint the front of the the piece, it doesn't have to be perfect, just nice around the edges that will be shown. Next, I used hot glue to secure the "L" and the "C" over the wood piece. 

I glittered all three of the shamrocks, but still didn't know what I was going to do with them.  I also glittered my "buttons" and the "L" and "C".  I decided at this point that I wanted the "L" to have a top hat and gold buttons down it's shirt. So I cut the felt top hat in half so it would lay flat against the door.  Next I needed to add the wire since once I had the top hat glued down, I wouldn't be able to secure the wire.  So.  Wire check.  I positioned the top hat, and tied black, gold, and light green ribbon.  I left the ends long on the light green to secure the first shamrock on the top hat. I finished it off by gluing the top of the hat to the top of the "L", the buttons, and the shamrock on the "C".  I tied the remaining ribbon bow on the top, and alternated dark green and black ribbon down the leg of the leg of the "K".  Turned out great, considering I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I started! 

Materials:

-2 chipboard shamrocks

-3 wooden medium circles

-Green glittered jewel

-Ribbon:

     -wide toole gold

     -wide toole black

     -wide toole dark green

     -light green shimmer

-Black felt top hat

-Glitter:

     -pesto green

     -ebony black

-Acrylic paint:

     -Christmas Green

     -Leaf Green

     -Antique Gold