A Little Friday Free-style

Hi All! It's FRIDAY!!! Woo HOO!!!

Just thought I'd share a little project I did a while ago for the daughter of a good friend of mine.

Sophia is one creative kid, so for her 5th birthday last summer we threw an art party for her. This was the sign that I made for the party (which now hangs on her bedroom door). 

To make it, I covered an up-cycled canvas in black gesso and LET IT DRY. (We know the mantra right?) I decided to do the lettering using bright and bold papers from my stash. So I got out a variety of letter stencils-masks from Hazel & Ruby and used them to trace the letters, which I then fussy cut. Yes it did take a longish time, but it was worth it to achieve the look I wanted. I then attached the letters with Mod Podge and LET IT DRY.  After the Mod Podge dried, I doodled a couple of daisies on the canvas for interest using acrylic paint. When the doodles were dry, I have the whole thing another coat of Mod Podge and called it done.

Here are a couple of close-ups of the letters and doodles:

And here's one more look at the sign:

I hope you enjoyed a little canvas goodness today! Have a fantastic weekend!

Kraft-y Hearts Blog Share: Family is Forever

Hi All! Welcome to the Kraft-y Hearts' September Blog Share! This month we'll be taking a look at Close To My Heart's September Stamp Of The Month: Family Is Forever. 

Now, on with the share! 

Have you ever started a project with one idea in mind only to have it morph into something completely different? Welcome to my world. I started out with a little 6x6 canvas and stamped the tree image from the Family Is Forever on it. I had visions of a beautiful fall ombre tree that ended up...well...not so beautiful. So it was back to the drawing board. And this is what I came up with instead:

I stamped the tree image and sentiment in Black Exclusive Ink on a 6x6 piece of kraft cardstock. I also stamped the top of the tree in Ruby Pigment Ink on a scrap of kraft cardstock and fussy cut the hearts. I adhered the red hearts over the ones on the tree with liquid adhesive. I used a paint brush and Colonial White Exclusive Ink to add a little pop of highlight to each heart. I then cut 2 slits in the cardstock on either side of "forever" and threaded through some of our Cranberry Striped Twill ribbon and tied it in a bow over the tree trunk.

Here are a couple of close-ups for you:

Before adhering the cardstock to the front of the canvass (using liquid adhesive), I inked the edges of the canvass and the cardstock with Black Exlusive Ink. I then went over the ink on the canvas with my ShinHan Touch Black marker to deepen the color. I also covered the outer edge of the canvas with more of the Cranberry Striped Twill Ribbon. When the adhesive on all that was dry, I adhered the cardstock to the front of the canvass.

Here's another look:

I didn't start out with a sort of primitive art look in mind, but it's what I ended up with, and I like it! Happy accidents are the best kind!

I hope you enjoyed this little project. Don't forget to hop on over and see what the oh-so-talented Lynn Darda has in store for you at From My Bungalow.

And as always, the Stamp Of The Month can be yours for $17.95 or for $5 with a $50 purchase.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi All! IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! WOO HOO!!! It's also Snow Day Part II--for that, I'm not nearly as excited…. The kids, on the other hand, are completely stoked!

For our last Valentine's Countdown project, I thought I'd share the Valentines I made for my kids. The first thing you have to understand is that bacon and macaroni & cheese rank among the top 5 loves of their lives. The other thing you must understand is that my teen and tween are willing to put up with a lot from their quirky mom. (For that, I'm truly grateful.)

So we start with my teen son, who is pretty sure that EVERYTHING is better with bacon:

While rummaging through the craft room, I found two 3x5 inch canvases. These were perfect for little Valentine mixed media pieces. (I added a matchbook to the back so that I could write a note.) For my son's canvas, I used a chevron stencil and some Mr. Huey's Leaf Green color mist to give it some color. I used my heat gun to dry it and then used Mod Podge to attach some tissue paper hearts for more texture. I also used Mod Podge on the back of the photo to adhere it to the canvas. (I have an ink jet printer so I'm not sure what would have happened if I had used the Mod Podge on the front. I have a ton of letter and word stickers in my stash, so I used those for the sentiment. (The colorful letters are from Simple Stories and the words are from Authentique.) I added some wooden elements that I colored with Sunset Exclusive Ink and more Mr Huey, and a little corrugated star and metal piece from my stash. I adhered the star and wood pieces with Liquid Glass. I then used some grey velvet ribbon to finish off the edges since this won't be framed.

Now let's take a look at my tween daughter, whose standard order ANYWHERE is mac & cheese:

For her canvas I used Lagoon Exclusive Ink re-inker and water in a spray pen and a floral butterfly stencil for the background. I sponged a little Cotton Candy Exclusive Ink around the edges and added some rub-ons from my stash. I went over the whole thing with Mod Podge, which activated the ink and gave it a tie-died look. (To do this you want to dab on the Mod Podge instead of brushing it. If you use brush strokes, you blend everything together and lose your pattern.) I also added some tissue hearts at this point. I then adhered the picture to the canvas and added the sentiment. I dip-died a paper butterfly in Lagoon and added it to the canvas (after it was dry, of course) with Liquid glass (which I also used to add the other embellishments). The paper flower, wooden heart (inked in Hollyhock Exclusive Ink), and bling are from my stash.

Here's a look at the canvases side by side:

So that wraps up our Valentine's Countdown! I hope you enjoyed it and have been inspire to create something fun along the way. Thanks so much for joining me!

Stay tuned for the Kraft-y Hearts Blog Share that is coming your way February 16 & 17. We'll be featuring some fun favorites from the new Close To My Heart Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book. You don't want to miss it!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!