Autumn Blessings

We have had a beautiful Fall.  Today was in the low 70’s.   I think it will be our last warm day.  Tomorrow will be the low 50’s.   Winter is on the way.

I’ve been working on a couple of Fall projects.

I made this wreath using old canning rings.  They were old and rusty.  I painted some of them orange and some of them white.   After the paint was dry, I wrapped them with various Washi Tape.  I then tied a burlap ribbon at the top and hung by my front door.

I painted this cute little Halloween shelf sitter and added some vinyl to it.   I finished it off with some spatters of paint.

A little decor by my front door.

My trees are starting to turn colors and are covering the grass.   The sun was shining, with a few clouds in the sky so I grabbed my camera.  I love Fall colors.

And the bees are still buzzing around the little bit of blooming lavender that I have in the front of my house.

I hope your Fall has been as beautiful as mine!    Time to start creating for Christmas!!

 

Be Creative!

December Magic

This is a project that I made for December.  I used my painters tray that I shared previously with my Fall project.  I had the digital images printed on heavy cardstock at Office Depot.  All of the shapes are cut using my Cameo.   It took a bit to assemble but worth it.  I sponged the edges with Vintage photo distress ink and added a little ribbon and bling here and there.  Kerry Bradford has some awesome SVG files.

I hope you are enjoying time with your friends and family!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Be Creative!

 

Power Tools

 

I  {Heart}  power tools.   As most of you know, I paint.  Decorative painting, Tole painting, whatever you want to call it, that’s one of my hobbies.  I cut most of my own wood so I have a couple of different kinds of saws, sanders etc…    It shouldn’t  surprise you that I asked for a new DeWalt palm sander  for Christmas and Santa delivered.  I finally pulled it out of the box today to work on a new project.

I bought the items I needed for this project sometime in November.   I needed a little prep done by My Handyman before I could get started.  I told him it was no rush because, well…  I was just too busy creating things for Christmas.    I am Grateful for his help. He finished up for me a couple of weeks ago so now it’s time for me to begin.

The piece of wood is sanded, drilled and ready for paint.   I painted the base with Traditional Burnt Umber.  I use Americana paints by Decoart.  They are my favorite. 

The  base coat is really the undercoat.   It will look much different when finished.   You know me and my distressed look!  I’m trying to decide if I’ll use blues or green’s….  

I guess you’ll find out when it’s done!

 

Be Creative!

Consuming

This is what has been consuming my time and taking longer than anticipated.   It will be an advent calendar.  I finished gluing everything together and the base coating.  I am going to be putting Christmas paper on the front of each little box and will paint a Nativity in the middle..   Hopefully I’ll finish by next week.

Sometime this weekend I need to make 4 cards, too…   then I’ll have a few more things to share with you..  Maybe I’ll sneak in another picture of the nativity once I get going on it.

 

Be Creative!

40 Sucks!

I made this fun little gift for a co-worker.    40 really doesn’t suck.  It’s a great age!   I wish I was 40 again!   Next year I’ll be the big          5  OH !   It’s just another number.   I’ve been fortunate so far in my life.   Age has never really bothered me.   I have been blessed.

 

Be creative!

I {heart} Fall!

Fall is the best time of year!  I love the cooler temperature.  It’s still nice during the day and the evenings are cool and great for blankets and cuddling.    
The leaves are turning. The colors are fabulous!  My favorite color palette ever!
I made a couple of fun Fall projects last week; both involving pretty Fall paper.

I found this trio of pumpkins cut from pine.   They were on sale for $1 at my local craft store.    Can you imagine the wheels turning in my head?   I painted the edges with Americana acrylic paint, traced each pumpkin onto beautiful designer paper, cut out and attached to the wood with Mod Podge.  After it was dry,  I sponged the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink – Wild Honey.  Isn’t that just a delicious name for an ink color? I then painted the entire project with a top coat of Mod Podge to seal it. 
This pretty little shelf sitter is sitting on the table in my entry.


And speaking of pumpkins… I made a few more out of 1” paper strips. 12 to be exact.    Craft Warehouse had a nice selection of papers to choose from. I held each group of strips together with a brad at each end and fanned them open into a pretty pumpkin shape.

I cut the leaf shapes out with my Silhouette, then sponged the edges with vintage photo distress ink.

I found a spool of raffia that has wire in the middle.   I wrapped around a pencil to make a little curly vine.

I hope you’re all enjoying this beautiful time of the year.   Relax and enjoy it! 


Be Creative!

Fall is in the Air

Yesterday I had my Grandkids for the day.  They’re such cuties.   I was able to get a couple pictures of Kendall.  She is now 5 months old.

 

She loves having her fingers in her mouth and she is a thinker.

 

This one is a little fuzzy cuz she is such a wiggle worm but you can see her cute little chubby legs and little piggies.

While the kids were taking their naps I got out some Fall decorations.

I love Fall colors and I love when there starts to be a chill in the air.  (maybe sometime this week it will cool down?)

Carter and I got crafty.   I saw this fun Halloween craft idea and thought it would be something he would love.  It’s a bat made out of egg cartons.  It was hit!

Be Creative!

 

Wedding Season

Wedding Season will soon be here.  Brides and their Mothers are busily planning for the big day.   One of my Blogger friends,  Cherie over at Bakow Babble has a daughter getting married soon.   She has been trying to get ideas from her readers.   

As most of you know, my Daughter Ashley was married to her Prince David in June of 2010.    I had fun going through the 5000+ photo’s to pick out a few to share.    This will give Cherie a few fun ideas.  We did almost everything ourselves. From building the backdrop to painting, to sewing flowers.  I hope you enjoy the slideshow..  

 

 

Be Creative!

Faith, Family and Friends

One of my Blog Land friends emailed me and requested a painted project.     I went down to the Habitat for Humanity Store  -  Restore  and found some old kitchen cabinet doors.   Perfect for a framed painting.  

I painted and sanded several layers and colors of paint to get that nice grungy look.   This door is oak..  and it’s heavy.   Not the best lighting for pictures out in the garage, but you get the idea.

I had to find a box about 38 x 15 for it to fit into.   That was fun!  LOL!  Luckily my local UPS store happened to have one.  It was about 3 feet tall but he was able to cut it down for me so that it’s only about 6 inches thick.   Just enough room for the packing materials.     This will be on it’s way soon.    Here is what she said when she say the photo.   “OOOH Girlfriend, I TOTALLY LOVE IT!’      

I’ve been cutting wood and planning some Christmas Projects.    I have a work bench, a big drafting table in the 3rd stall of my garage, a space heater and a radio.  It’s a nice cozy place to do my painting.  It can be messy so I keep this workspace in the garage.   I’ll be sharing some Santa’s and Snowmen in the future with you.