Trick-or-Tooth...make mine Hounds Tooth!!!

This cute duo look great in some hounds tooth printed fur!  I am from Alabama, so you can probably guess why I am a hounds tooth fan...if you can't, google Bear Bryant...Thank you Wood Creations for stocking this paper!

These two come separate, each with the body, 2 legs, 2 eyes, and a nose.  I painted them in black to start with white eyes, and pumpkin noses.

These were a little bit tricky!  They are higher/longer than the standard 12x12 printed card stock.  The easiest way I have found was to line the paper up perfectly, and tape them together.  If the paper you choose has shaded edging, you can cut it off the joining sides, and then line the pattern up to tape, which is what I had to do with this.  Once taped together, I traced each cat, and then cut it out as a whole.  To save paper (and to keep the pattern the same), I then traced the legs once positioned on the body, and cut them out of the main piece of paper.  Once you glue the paper, make sure you line the legs up perfectly before nailing, or gluing them down.  It gives you the seamless look, and no one will ever know that it wasn't a solid piece of paper on the bottom.  The whiskers were a bit tricky as well.  I curled the back of the wire, but a few of them would still slide out of position when I stood the cats up.  To get past this, I put a small drop of hot glue in each curl on the backside, and poof! Problem solved.  I used dark brown ink around each cat and leg. Lastly, I added some orange chunked glitter on the nose, green rhinestones for the eyes, and ribbon...bow tie around the neck, and a wrapped tail.  These kitties will be meeting my trick-or-treaters at the door this year!!!

Halloween Fun!

What screams Halloween more than witches, candy, and creepy castles?  It was hard for me to choose, so I did a little bit of all three!  Wood Creations sells a lot of pieces that come in groups of three, but also sold separately.  I decided to pick the small witch in the set, the medium candy corn, and the spooky castle that came by itself.  They turned out pretty cute, I especially like the witch.  I wasn't sure how she would turn out, after the battle with the burlap failed! (I wanted to work in some burlap ruffles, but it pretty much fell apart in my hands) 

 

The witch came unfinished in three pieces.  The main body, broomstick handle, and the hat overlay.

 

I painted her with black, leaf green, and wild iris purple.

 

I bought the paper, straw, spider, ribbon, and wire at Wood Creations.  I glued the paper and fringe down first.  I bought the fringe a couple years ago, and decided it would be great to use after the burlap idea was a total fail.  I thought it would spice her up a bit.  I finished off her fringe choker with a rectangle clear rhinestone.  The final thing was the straw hair and broom.  For the hair, I used a line of hot glue, and just shoved the straw in it.  Once both sides were glued down, I gave her a hair cut to even it out.  I did the same thing with the broom, a line of glue, wrapped the wire, then trimmed the broom.  I paint the eyes and chalk the cheeks last on every project, and viola! She was complete!!!

 



 

Next came the castle.  This was the easiest one to do.  It came from the shop unfinished in 8 pieces: 4 windows, the castle, a moon, a door, and a bat.

 

 

I painted the castle and door is wild iris purple, the moon is a light yellow, pumpkin orange for the windows, and black for the bat.

I used a yellow/orange glitter chalk to shade the moon, and purple to trim the bat. 

After gluing the paper down, I edged the castle with tuxedo black, and dark brown on top of that. I used a printed paper on each of the windows, and topped them off, as well as the door with a shimmer glue.  I added rhinestones for the bats eyes and the door knob.

The candy corn turned out too cute!  It came from the shop in 2 pieces.

I painted it light yellow, pumpkin orange, and wicker white.

I glued a printed paper on the molding and added some iridescent chuncky glitter on the top, and finished it off with some ribbon...p.s.  Wood Creations has the best ribbons EVER!

And...TA-DA!!!

 

 

 

Sweet Summer Time!!!

Wood Creations posted a few of their new summer items on FaceBook, and I absolutely fell in love with this one!  How fun is this!!!  It incorporates everything that I love about hot summers.  What is not to love about sweets?

The kit sold in the store includes each wooden piece and the chipboard overlay for the watermelon and ice cream cone.  I have all of the basic things as far as paint and glitter, but you can pick up everything you will need to complete a project at their store.  I love the convenience of it! 

I start all of my wood projects by sanding the rough edges off each piece.  If you leave them rough, it is harder to paint and doesn't look as clean when you have finished the project.  Once I have sanded my pieces, I paint them.  It is a personal preference of mine to paint all sides, even if I cover them with paper.  I think it also better protects the wood that goes outside.

After each piece is painted and dried, I apply any scrapbook papers I am using.  Be sure to trace your pieces out before you paint them so you don't leave pencil marks on your paint job:)  I also cut my papers while the paint dries to save time.  Modge Podge works great for papers and glitters.  I use foam brushes to apply my Modge Podge.  Make sure you apply it evenly and smooth down your paper right away so you don't get bubbles under your paper. 

Once the paper has been glued down and is dry, the fun begins.  I never really know how the piece will look until I am finished.  On the sign, I added the cherries in the corner to tie in the red with the pink...there is a fine line when you mix hot pink and red!  I used flat wooden circles, paper to cut out leaves, and a piece of spare brown wire as the stems.  I hot-glued the wire to the wood, then topped the wire with the painted (bright red), glittered cherries.  On the bottom of the piece, I added a strip of paper from the coordinating back of the paper I used.  Once it was all assembled, I chalked the outside of the leaves and the edge of the sign with iridescent green and aqua chalk.  The sign was painted with turquoise paint and the glitter I used was an iridescent tinsel cherry popsicle.  I like the fact that depending on how the sun hits it, the tinsel changes colors.   





The popsicle was fairly simple.  I added medium and small orange rhinestones to the orange poka dots on the paper.  The wood was painted crocus yellow, and I added lemon drop tinsel glitter to the popsicle stick.  The outside edge is shaded with iridescent yellow chalk.

The watermelon base was painted spring green, and the top piece is bright red.  For the base, I used sour apple tinsel, and mint fine glitter.  I added candy apple tinsel in the cracks on the top piece.  The edges are chalked with a red iridescent.  To finish it off, I curled black wire for the seeds.  Way cute idea shown on the store display.  Love it!

My favorite part was the ice cream cone.  Here is where the cherry idea came into play.  The store has half wooden circles, so I picked one up when I bought the set.  I played around with the idea, and to my surprise, it turned out just how I planned it in my head...that never happens!  I added the whipped cream with mini rhinestone sprinkles:)  I hot-glued the wire first, then topped with the glittered cherry.  For the wood, I painted the ice cream turquoise, and the cone royal fuchsia.  The cone is topped off with cotton candy tinsel glitter.



Each piece is assembled with black wire.  I curled the wire and let 2 inches hang in between each piece. (I bought 2 yards just in case, but 1 yard would cover this project) Once they were all together, I added ribbon and toole to finish it off.  Once you finish a project whether it stays inside or goes out, make sure you seal it.  I use a matt finish spray seal.  You can pick this up at Wood Creations as well.  This will allow you to clean your pieces if they get dusty inside and protect them from the elements outside.  Be sure to follow the directions on the can so you don't mess up all that hard work.  I will usually seal mine after all glitter and before I place any rhinestones.  It tends to make them look cloudy.  Always put extra coats on anything that goes outside.

This was such a fun project, and looks even better on my front door!!!  Thanks to Wood Creations for giving us such fun, cute projects to make!  Homemade is better any way you look at it:)

EMB

Guest blog!

The lastest project I have completed was part of a guest blog from the handy dandy wood shop where I get all of my wood pieces. Check out there blog Wood Creations;)

Last Bit of Easter:)

Before this year I only had two Easter pieces for my house. Both are ceramics that my grandmother made, one in 1982 and the other in 1996. I was definetly in need of a few things. This is the last Easter project, and I think I am set:)

This project is a kit that is made for a shelf. You would switch out the cutesy pieces depending on the season or holiday. I didn't really like the idea of putting this huge box shelf on the wall, but it sure does make for some pretty cute stand alone decorations:) And you get 5 for the price of one...I always like a good deal.

The set included a carrot, bunny, chick, and 2 eggs. Pretty simple but turned out better than I expected...especially since it doesn't have any glitter...and I really likes the glitter:)

Here are the unfinished pieces:

I painted each piece and decided to use bright pastel papers for the eggs.  I used a light brown ink to edge each of the piece.  Seemed to make the pieces match my house...and as much as I like the glitter, to much can be a bad thing:)

Here are the finished pieces.  I added some ribbon ( I did get some ribbon with glitter poka dots on the little bunny), and a few rhinstones on the chicky.





And that is the last of the Easter crafts...for this year that is!

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.