Patriotic Tea Party!

I have created a Patriotic Tea Party!

This painting was a lot of fun and actually helped me get through some stressful times.

Art is very healing.

Sometimes just getting out the supplies on a big table gets you going! 

I always start with a large canvas (hobby lobby was packs of them at great prices)

I take old papers and with a matte medium, apply them to the canvas.

Some of my old papers crack me up....I guess they lied about dieting stuff way back!

Terrible how this kind of fraud was allowed, but it still is really.

I like adding recipes and cartoons too. 

Sometimes I glue some tissue paper too. You just have to apply these carefully so they don't wrinkle.

I drew a few ideas down....

from my sketch....I think it is a good idea to do this before hand.

I started adding paint...letting some of the old papers show through. 

I really wanted the teapot to have a flag...because usually teapots have flowers or sweet designs...

I wanted it to be different. 

Roses! 

I work on one area, and then go to the next while it dries. 

I sketched a spoon at the bottom.

Adding greenery. 

Folk art is very forgiving....lol.

It's ok to make mistakes or be a little sloppy. 

Things are coming together, but I didn't like all that space around the teapot. 

Lots of shading.... 

coffee or tea? 

I added a patriotic banner! 

I slipped it in and I love it! 

This is my process and I had so much fun.

This is a perfect project for a rainy day!

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My daughter Selina ( with a fox camera app)....

She is a happy girl because she has a new laser machine and it works like a dream.

Her other machine broke down and caused all kinds of trouble... right after

quilt market!  Now she is almost completely caught up on all the orders and feeling much better!

When it rains ...it pours!

It's almost Father's Day!

Just need to be able to say how you feel?
Tell Dad with this Woodsy sign.  (only $3.99 this week!, u download and print)

Makes the perfect gift for Father's day 

or when baby is born and there is a new daddy in the family.
Looks great hung up in the man cave.

This is a dollar store frame...painted white....so easy!

Hope you have an amazing weekend with your dad....your step-dad, your father in law, uncle, grandpa or cat daddy...lol.

Being thrifty~making pendants from scraps

Hey ladies!

I have been SO darned busy the last few weeks...I have had zero time to have fun and play!

What with graduation stuff and huge orders....and lots of tasks in between, I felt like I was always doing something that had to be done. 

Until now~

I made some fun pendants...and they could be key chains too.

My daughter makes these mini hoops.

Some times the outer hoop part doesn't make it though "Quality control".

The inner circles always make it....so she has lots of the middle circles.

I hated seeing them sit around.

I decided I needed to play around with them.

I drilled a hole and got out my papers. 

I have lots of paper punches that I already punched out....another thing just laying around for a long time.

I decided to glue them....mod podge them.

This shot is in mid process....I also decided I wanted them double sided... a design on each side that is different. 

Here is a sweet butterfly! 

I found some phrases I had typed up on my old typewriter...cut them out and glued. 

This chickie poo has a chick on the other side. 

I sprayed some gloss spray on them ...both sides and added a jump ring. 

This is three layers of paper punch flowers. 

This is easy enough for kids to do!

They were addicting to make and it was fun to get back to crafting up a storm!

With all the pretty papers out there...can you imagine the possibilities? 

There is also great digital art on etsy....like bottle cap circles. 

I even just paper punched old scrap papers...which is the bottom beige circle. 

This only took me a couple hours to make a whole bunch. 

Some are for sale in her etsy shop!

But more importantly...I felt artsy again...it revived me and made me feel inspired.

If you want to do something like this and need wooden circles...hobby lobby has them in their wood section.  

Come to Craftastic Monday!  Come to Show and tell linky party!  Come to the Home matters linky Party!  Come to the Pin me linky party!

Painting....with my daughter!

I have been taking a painting class from Mindy Lacefield called "permission to play"

It is a blast...I recommend taking online course from you favorite artists....not only is it fun, but It is great to learn!

Above is my first "Big eyes" girl.

There is alot of layering with paper and painting in layers too. 

Here is the same painting mid way through....creepy!!! 

Here is my daughter Selina's painting of  a big eyes frozen character....Elsa!

I must tell you...we had a blast painting together...watching the video...going over techniques....so fun! 

Here is her painting mid way through...amazing how things change.

Then on Saturday...we decided to do another on a smaller wood plaque.

I chose purple hair and a smile...lol 

Seems she is thinking of love. 

Selina was thinking...Alice in wonderland.

She is a big fan of the Tim Burton movie!

It is so nice to have your teenage daughter request to paint another!

...then she went out on a movie date with her boyfriend.

Good times!!!

Come to thrifty thursday!  Come to the Pin me Linky party!  Come to the Party Bunch!

Little things to make it all easier

It's a lovely fall day today.

Leaves are falling like snow.

I have been using a lot of little gadgets to make life easier around here.

They all come from Deflecto!

Above is their chalk board sign....normally in rectangles....I cut this one with scissors..into a sweet leave.

With their chalk paint pen (which is erasable with water)....I scribbled on "Give Thanks" and added some dots!

They would make great Thanksgiving day place cards for your dinner guests. 

Here are some clear pockets and a pear clip...perfect to store some of my Christmas ACEO's.

This makes it protected, yet easy to see and find!

On the opposite side of my red and green ACEO...I put my blue wintery ACEO's.

So much fun!

I made these using old photos, pretty papers, and printed out words and phrases.

Here is a plastic chalk board sign....I just wrote out my favorite saying...."Once begun is half done"..... and then added flowers, squiggles and dots with the chalk paint pen.

This saying really motivates me to just get going.

I love tags....I can't stop making them and collecting them.

I just string them onto a pear clip from Deflecto and they are all together.

They stay organized and nice this way.

So sweet this way! 

I have also been using the pear clip for clipping together my patterns....you could clip your collection together!  They are easy to hang on a peg this way.

These gadgets are so handy!

I have a fondness for all things French....here I used the sign holder and made a sweet little piece of art...Marie Antoinette with a glittery muslin banner saying "Dream it".

Here is a side view.  It is plastic and easily holds small signs and paper.

I made a sign for my dishwasher....It stays on with the magnetic clamp.

The sign was fun to make.

I am always wondering if the dishes are clean or not.

See how this works....very handy.

Here are a few pics from my recent Quilt show .

It was so hard to fit all my samples and patterns into my booth.

These clamps worked great to hang up unusual items. 

It made it alot easier. 

Also at the Washington state quilt show...I used the double clamps to hold a sample (A Happy New Year door hanger) and a pattern on top of a turn style.

People could really see everything well. 

The magnetic clamp was so handy on my metal cabinet I brought to the quilt show. It helped hold small quilts....to sort of fill a hole in my display.

I hung my "She lingers in the garden" quilt with the clamps and had the pattern nearby using the magnetic clamp. It is really hard to pack so many samples and patterns in one booth, but the Deflecto products made it much easier. 

So I have been a busy girl.

Now .....I need to finish up a cool Thanksgiving ornament pattern.

So much to do!!

Come to The Party Bunch! and to Thrifty thursday! Come to pin me linky party!