Snowman Canvas

I had my nieces over yesterday afternoon for a little crafting time. We had so much fun visiting while we created these little snowman canvases.

We started with blank 8x8 canvases and painted them with acrylic paint. Before painting the details we used an iridescent paint over the snowman...that makes him shimmer & shine just like real snow. The snowflakes are cut from Dazzling Diamonds & Silver Shimmer paper using my Big Shot and the retired Snow Flurry Die. They are held in place with rhinestone brads. A couple buttons and some wired ribbon for the scarf finishes him off.

Here are my beautiful nieces with their finished creations.

Cheers to Another Great Year!

Today I have a gift set to share with you...a hand painted wine glass with a coordinating card made for a friend.

I tried to match the colors used to paint the wine glass to SU! colors...so a few of the colors (and DSP) used are retired.

I used the fun Birthday Candles Jumbo Wheel to create the back ground on the Pixie Pink layer. I used paper piecing on both the large ribbon banner and the small banner to add detail. Here's a closer look...

The die cut label was stamped with an image from the new SAB set called You're Lovely, embossed in White EP and then die cut with the coordinating Deco Label Framelits.

I painted the candles with some of the same fun designs shown on the Birthday Candle wheel. I wrote, "it's my birthday and I'll drink if I want to!" around the glass. My friend really liked this set!

The large main image in the Another Great Year set made it easy to create a larger card than I normally make. I wanted it bigger because I put a 4x6 photo on the inside. I didn't photograph the inside because the photo of my friend was very unflattering, yet hilarious and she would kill me if I posted it anywhere! lol She laughed so hard when she opened card and read what I wrote that she was in tears. She said this card was definitely going in her special memory box.

Cheers to 2014!

Hello! I'm a little late, but wanted to wish you a very happy, healthy & creative New Year! New Years Day marks the anniversary of my blog...with I started on January 1st 2007. I cannot believe I've been blogging regularly for a full seven years! WOW! Where has the time gone? With that said...I've been pretty much MIA since before Christmas as far as my blog is concerned. We were without power here for several days right before Christmas so that made finishing up all the last minute Christmas details a real challenge!

I was in the middle of painting a dozen wine glasses for some wine themed gifts and was limited to painting near a window during daylight hours, same goes for wrapping gifts. Hopefully I learned my lesson as far as waiting until the last minute! (but I kinda doubt it!) I had purchased all the supplies I needed to paint the wine glasses way back in October, but I just had to wait until December 21st to get started!

We also had family from out of state staying with us for this past week after Christmas. (thankfully we had power by then!) We had a lot of fun, but no time for stamping.

Despite the challenges I faced, my first attempt at painting wine glasses turned out fairly well, and everyone who received them liked them.

This was the first design I painted...and I learned real quick that I was going to need SEVERAL coats of paint to make the design even remotely opaque. Red is always one of the hardest colors to work with, and the glass paints were no exception.

I paired the "all lit up" glasses with the "gettin' blitzened" glasses which had this cute reindeer with the lights tangled in his antlers. If I were to do these again, I would have written the "all lit up" phrase on the base like I did on the "gettin' blitzened" glasses, and I would have only painted one reindeer on the front of the glass instead of front & back...because they took so long to paint and I could have finished double the glasses in the same time...duh! Here's what i mean...

I only ended up making 2 each of the above glasses...those went to my nieces and their hubbys along with a good bottle of wine and homemade candies wrapped inside of each glass. I didn't get a photo of these finished with the candy. :-( All these photos are not that great, BUT...they were taken during the power outage with only the light of a sunless Michigan winters day...so I guess I should be happy I managed to get any photos at all.

 I did get some final shots with the snowmen glasses showing the candy wrapped inside.

The snowmen turned out to be fairly quick and easy to paint, so I made a lot more of them than the first two designs. I painted the snowman faces all around and the full snowman just on the front (see...I learned from the reindeer glasses!) and then filled in with snowflakes.

They turned out pretty cute I think...maybe someday I'll paint some for myself.

I didn't do as much baking as I planned since no power means no oven! But prior to the outage I went to my annual cookie exchange. I had cute gift bags in which to put my cookies, but first they had to go into ziplocks to keep fresh. Plain old naked ziplocks are kind of boring right? So, I got out my White Stazon and my Festive Flurry stamp set and fixed that problem.

That was a quick and easy fix and they look much more festive!

With our power back on, our house guests back in North Carolina, and my hubby back at work after a week long vacation I finally have time to get into my stamp room and play with some new stuff!!!

Thanks for visiting me today, especially to those who have been visiting me since 2007! Lets make 2014 a GREAT year!

Workspace Wednesday - With a Little Paint

With just a little bit of paint you can take something old and worn and totally transform it into something useful to coordinate with your space. I did that with an old jewelry box that I picked up at at a yard sale for a couple bucks. The small drawers are perfect for holding embellishments and tools. I've had this for a while...here it is in my room before the makeover. (I thought I took a better before photo...but you'll get an idea of what it looked like.)

BEFORE

AFTER

I took out the drawers and spray painted the outside with glossy white spray paint. (It took 3-4 light coats to cover the old wood) The drawers were painted with the same paint I used for the walls and for my peg board, then I sprayed them with a glossy clear coat. The handles were spray painted with metallic silver to coordinate with the drawer pulls on my cube storage below. See how nicely this little jewelry box holds my embellishments and tools?

I can fit 20 packs of SU! buttons & brads per drawer. It was a good yard sale find I'd say! Makes me want to get out there and hit some sales...haven't done that in a while. You never know what kind of treasure you will find!

I'm in the middle of transforming an old chair that had belonged to my Grandma...again, with just a little paint.  It will be my guest chair for when I have a friend over to stamp. Hopefully next week I will have that ready to share with you.

Thanks for visiting my Stampin' Studio today.

Medallion on Canvas

We finally got done with a bathroom remodel project and I needed a couple small pieces of art to hang above my towels next to each sink. After numerous shopping trips,  I either could not find the right size or the right color, or style I was looking for, so I decided to get out my stamps and create my own works of art!

I used a couple 8x8 canvases and basecoated them with my wall paint, which is kind of like a lighter shade of Baja Breeze. Then using acrylic paint I painted off a band of chocolate on the left side. I also used acrylic paints applied with a foam brush right on my stamps. The trickiest part was trying to get a nice clean image, because the canvas is stretched on the wood frame...so there is a lot of give. I found it easiest to place my stamp where I wanted it, and while holding it firmly in place, I flipped the canvas over and used my hands and bone folder to rub the canvas over the stamp. Stamps used: Medallion, Elements of Style & French Script background (retired)


Ater I had all my images stamped I antiqued it with some of the brown paint mixed with glaze. I rubbed it on and then rubbed off where I didn't want it as dark. I used an Antique Brad and some Chocolate Chip Scallop Dots Ribbon for the finishing touch. Here's what it looks like hanging in my bathroom.

I also have something, or I should say someone, else that is just so cute I have to share. Meet little Stevie. We just adopted him from the Animal Shelter, and while he's not much of a stamper or typist, he's the sweetest little thing! He meows until I pick him up to sit on my lap and then when he's bored with that he tries his hand, or I guess paw, at typing or running on my stamping table. He has yet to discover my ribbon...

Have a great day!

Welcome to the jungle!

I have it listed here on my blog description that I like to paint and would be sharing some of my painting projects from time to time. Since I have recently gotten a couple emails asking me about my painting, I thought I'd share some with you here today. Believe it or not, to create this mural I did a LOT of stamping.


While all the animals are hand painted by me (using no stencils) almost all the background foliage is done with stamps. I say almost all the foliage, because there are some leaves, such as the palms above the leopard, that were hand painted. To stamp on the walls I used acrylic paint which I painted right onto the stamp with a foam brush. This way I could shade the stamp by applying several different colors of green paint. I could then get 2 images stamped per loading of paint onto the stamp. So, yes...it did take me a while to do this, as I did the entire room. It was a labor of love however, so I didn't mind. The room was painted for my boys (aged 9 and 7 at the time) and I loved seeing their faces when they would come home from school to see what I had painted that day.This is my youngest son Danny around the time that I finished the mural - had to be 10 years ago now. My oldest son eventually moved into his own room downstairs, leaving Danny with the jungle room...yes it is still painted like this much to Danny's dismay. He has been asking lately for me to repaint, but I must admit I hate the thought of covering up all my hard work. Actually, when he has friends over they all say it's cool...even though a lot of it is covered by speakers, amps and guitars.No, I don't have twins, but by the looks of this photo you might think I did. A couple months ago Danny asked me to take two photos of him - one playing his bass the other his guitar, then in Photoshop he combined the two...cool, huh? Danny is the one I talk about here when I say my son helped me figure this or that out on the computer. He's really good at computer stuff.

Anyways...back to the mural. The photos above show the main part of the mural which is on the wall under the window and can be seen from the doorway. I also painted other animals, frogs, lizards & snakes that you might find in the rain forest around the room strategically placed between dressers, desk, etc... One of my favorites was this cute little frog that is next to the door. I actually copied that little guy from a t-shirt one of the boys had at the time. The other animals I painted were inspired from posters, wall paper border and magazines. I had originally planned to paint a giraffe coming up from behind the bunk beds, but never did get to that.

Hope you enjoyed seeing photos of my very first mural project. I have painted several since this one, but I think this will always be my favorite. If you live here in the southeastern area of Michigan and are interested in having some painting done, please contact me. I also do faux finishes and stenciling.

Enjoy your day...it looks like it's going to be a beauty! I'm heading out to a family get-together in a while so I know my day will be good!

Anyone want a blue toilet?!

Our bathroom/laundry room project is done...no more blue toilet or sink! WOO HOO! See the before photo here. I still need to add some accessories like a window treatment and hang some pictures, but everything else is done. We did all the work ourselves except for the flooring. For the most part it was a fun project, but it's good to have it finished! Although, now I have no excuse for not getting the laundry done! Unfortunately, these photos do not capture the true color or show the faux treatment I used on the walls. It is kind of a Mellow Moss color with a lighter hue rag-rolled over the top.

In the laundry room, we ended up putting in a new laundry tub & light fixtures. I had previously done some rag-rolling in there along with a pretty floral swag design stenciled on the soffet and over window and doorways. I didn't want to cover up the stenciling quite yet, but after painting the ceiling and adding the new flooring it didn't look as good as I thought it could. So, I decided to mix up a golden yellow glaze and give the walls a nice color wash. It gave the stenciling kind of an antiqued look, yet allowed the design to show through. The change is subtle, but it really freshened up the room and blended with the new flooring much better.

Here's a close-up look of some of the stenciling done above one door. Now that this project is done I plan on doing some more painting...this time in my bedroom. I've only had the paint for a year and a half...so I guess it's about time, huh?!

Oh, in case you thought I was serious...my hubby already took a sledge hammer to the "beautiful" old blue toilet before I could offer it here as blog candy! So hopefully you didn't have your heart set on snatching that beauty up! hehehe

Actually, I really wanted to play a joke on a friend of mine who has a gorgeous home on the lake. I wanted to take it over when she was out of town and place it nicely in with her landscaping complete with gaudy plastic flowers in the bowl, and see how long it took her to notice it. Too bad Mike didn't want to go along with my evil plan...I don't think I could have gotten it in and out of the truck on my own...oh well! Enjoy your day!

Sorry I've been MIA

I haven't posted anything since Monday because I've been so busy with my latest project. It is not related to stamping however, so I don't have any new samples to post...sorry! We are finally re-decorating one of our bathrooms. This is something I've been wanting to do for a very long time. I'm so happy we finally get to say goodbye to the ugly blue toilet & sink and the hideous flooring in the bath and in our laundry/mudroom! I'm so excited! I finally decided on which flooring and paint colors to choose - that was a huge decision!

The past few days I prepped the walls and today I am ready to prime. I will be a little bit sad to cover up the big sun I painted on the wall, but it has been almost 6 years since I did that, so it's time to say goodbye. It's hard to believe it was that long ago! The wallpaper border had curled up around the edges from all the steam from the shower, so I was glad to finally rip that down. I thought it was going to be easy since it was already coming away from the wall...WRONG! At one point I had attempted to fix the edges where it curled, so the glue I used was really hard to remove from the wall...lots of scrapping & sanding! Remind me to never put up any more wallpaper in a bathroom in the future...what a pain! And why did I have to put it at both the ceiling and the chair rail? Sounded good at the time!

This photo does show some stamping. See all the stars? Those were stamped all over the top half of the wall with gold metallic paint. The background behind the stars is a subtle taupe glaze that was sponged on. The sun was painted in metallic paints so it is really shimmery when the light hits it. The bottom half of the wall was sponged with several shades of blue to tie in the blue from sink & toilet and also the dark navy of the wallpaper. It's hard to see in the photos but there is also some metallic gold sponged in there as well.

Can you guess what colors we chose for the bathroom re-do? The walls will be similar to Mellow Moss with a touch more taupiness (is that a word?) to it. I will probably end up doing a rag rolling treatment on the walls with a tone on tone look. For accents I am using Perfect Plum and sort of an Always Artichoke. The hardware such as towel bars, light fixture, etc...will be polished chrome. The new marble sink came in yesterday and it is just gorgeous! I can't wait for Mike to install it! I guess that means I better get busy and paint! Have a GREAT weekend!