Hot Air Balloons - I love them!

Who doesn't love seeing a hot air balloon floating in the air and watching it until it disappears?  In the fall, we see several hot air balloons floating around here and I just love them!!  I love to watch them come and go behind trees and buildings.  And in the end wonder where they finally land?!  I find myself drawing them in my sketchbook all the time!  But honestly, I don't think I could ever ride in one ... so I just enjoy watching them floating through the air and making them out of paper!

While I was experimenting with pallet wood, I was seeing what ink spray would do on the wood and had this leftover piece left sitting on my desk. I just love the way the ink sinks into the dry, rough wood grain of the pallet wood. 

But then I added some map paper and liked it more for hot air balloons.  So I pretty much covered up the pretty stencil pattern on the front ... whoops!

Then I got to work on my balloon pieces.  I covered some burlap in gel medium to make it stiffer.  I also love gel coated burlap because it doesn't fray.  I love that it gives me burlap options!!

And finally I finished up the background ....

Glued down my pieces, doodled, highlighted and finished up!!

And this is how the back ended up!

And some close-ups!!

 

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #8

It is time for another challenge .... this month's challenge over at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge is to use PINK!! I love pink!!  So please, come on over to the challenge and try it out with us ... it will be so much fun!!!!  I love to see everyone's work - such an amazing community of talent!!

And of course, there is a prize this month .... hold on .... one of my favorite online papercraft stores .... Ellen Hutson!!!  One lucky winner will win a $25 Gift Certificate to Ellen Hutson!! Woohoo!!!

And now, my Think Pink Project .... 

And some close-ups ...

First, I started off with a wood scrap! Thank goodness everyone in my family knows to keep wood scraps for me!! This one is awesome because it has a section of the piece that still has a bark section on it!!  I just used the flat surface as my canvas and then left the rough section!

I put tissue paper onto the wood and then painted over it through a chevron stencil.  Then I used a heart punch to punch out a ton of different pink hearts. Gel medium is the glue that sticks them together in layers to create the flowers for the canvas.  I also cut out some green paper for grass and leaves. 

The middle of the 'flowers' were a little bit harder to figure out what do because the centers where all the hearts came together just weren't pretty.  I covered some burlap leftovers with gel medium and let it dry.  Then after the burlap was dry and rigid, it was easier to cut out heart shapes without the burlap fraying everywhere!

 I put all the parts together, doodled, highlighted and then I was done!! 

I tried it out by my owl and it did look cute there...

I tried it out on my bookshelf, but it was too white and I even had to enhance the color of the pic so that it stood out ...

And then I put it on my front hallway table where it just looks perfect!!

And she ended up here in the front hallway!! Perfect for spring, which hopefully will come soon here in Atlanta!!

Hummingbird Fun

Sometimes, I just have a little sketch in my sketchbook that sits in there and stares back at me and  I can't seem to find the perfect spot or project.  And then one day, the idea finally jumps out!  This was one of those sketches -  I just took this hummingbird sketch and cut her out of some fun paper - and then she took on a life of her own!!

I have the hummingbird in my small sketchbook and then I drew her onto the canvas.  The canvas is 11x14 - so this little bird is actually pretty big!   And when I got some new American Crafts Serendipity paper from a fun (new to me) online store, called Butterfly Reflections, Ink ... she just came alive!!

For the background I used Archival inks through the flower stencil.   I used bright acrylic paints, picked to match the paper, through the chevron stencil.  Then I took a thin whitewash to fade the colors into the background! Cut out my pieces, glued them down with gel medium, added some paint, doodles and washi tape ... and she was done!

I hope you all enjoyed my hummingbird canvas ... she was fun to create!!  If you stop by, be sure to say HI - I love to hear from everyone!!

K

Art Journal to Pallet Wood Art

In the spring, I asked my kids to drag a wood pallet home from a trash pile and then I asked my husband to cut it into scraps that I could use for art projects .... they all thought I had gone a little nuts.  (Well, it probably wasn't the best quality wood pallet ... but hey, free canvas right??)  The wood scraps have sat and sat in my pile, waiting.  And finally I took a couple of them and glued them together and used them to work on.  I took a fun page from an art journal and recreated the piece onto the pallet wood.  I had so much fun and got SO many splinters. Note - you just cannot finger paint on rough wood without consequences! (Art lesson for the day!)

So here she is - my bird on pallet wood!

Scrap wood - really rough and dirty!!

I used Carpenter's wood glue to stick these bad boys together!

Then I played around with inks, sprays and Archival Ink to see what would stick out ...  I knew I needed the background to be waterproof.  It was a lot of fun to just spray away.  I actually took the sprayers out of the spray bottles and put them right into straight-up ink bottles - MESSY!! (But fun!)

This is where I stopped playing and realized it was a little bit crazier than I really needed it to be.  Then I lightly painted a whitewash over the top - which I regretted!  The wood soaked up that white paint like a thirsty sponge and I actually lost too much color.  So after I had placed my paper pieces - I had to redo some of the background!

I took out my paper supplies ... the tree is brown paper bag.  The bird and leaves are scrap paper.  The nest is a Linnie Blooms canvas sun that I took a little bit off the top to make the nest.  Then there is a paint, doodles and some rub-on stickers! 

And here is the journal page with the final ... I don't think it turned out too badly!!   I kinda love this little bird!!

Annie Sloan +Old Ikea = Love!

I had my dresser in the closet for the last 14 years so I honestly, couldn't even see it.  However, when we moved this summer, our new room had plenty of space to put my dresser out ... but 1990's Ikea pine ... just not looking so hot!!  So, Ikea pine, meet Annie Sloan Country Grey Chalk Paint!!! I love it!! 

Of course, I forgot to take a picture before I started working, but here she is with the drawers out.

I shellac'ed the drawer fronts and sides of the dresser.  I did two quick thin coats.  Besides the smell, this is a really easy step!!  It also made the chalk paint go on like butter!

I decided that I wanted to stain the top of the dresser instead of painting the whole thing.  So I got out my trusty sander mouse and got started!!

I taped off the bottom of the dresser and started staining!  I used General Finishes Gel Stain - my favorite!!  After about two coats of stain, I topped it off with a coat of polyurethane for protection! 

 

After the shellac dried I used the chalk paint.  I mixed in a little bit of water to thin down the paint and gave it two coats of paint.  I love the color!!  And after the paint was dried I finished it off with with a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax. 

 I added some fun knobs from Hobby Lobby and she is DONE!! 

I put her upstairs in my room and I just love it!! You would never know that this little beauty is an old pine Ikea dresser ... 

Whew, now back to the art room!!

Happy New Year and Happy Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!!

I have been SO excited to share with you, not only a ton of new work that I have done this month, but also the challenge design team that I am joining!! The Mixed Media Monthly blog is a SUPER fun site with an amazing challenge each month and amazing sponsors.   This is my first post as a design team member!! Whoohoo!!

This month's challenge is to use something NEW to you!!! I chose burlap canvases.  What? I know, I saw them at the store and thought that I could do something cute and crafty with them, but I wasn't sure about using burlap as an actual background texture for a mixed media canvas.  I think I like it!

This month's challenge sponsor is the online Scrapbooking/Mixed media store - Butterfly Reflections Ink.  Her store is adorable and full of paper and rub-ons and stamps that I MUST have!! 

So make sure you join us in the challenge this month!! This is a great month to start off with a new challenge and art time to start off the new year - plus you could win a $25 gift card to Butterfly Reflections Ink!!

  

For my project, instead of buying the actual burlap canvas, I actually used some loose burlap that I had laying around and glued it down to regular canvas.  It worked pretty well, but there were a few lessons that I learned along the way!! 

I started off with a basic canvas, but a fun size .... 4x12! And then I painted the canvas since I didn't want the white canvas showing through the open burlap.

Then I tried two different mediums to 'glue' the burlap down .... clear tar gel and regular gel medium.  Well, after drying they both worked but differently.The tar gel is shiny and made the burlap a little shiny too.  The Gel medium, on the other hand, kept the burlap much more matte.  In the future, for making burlap canvases, I would stick with the gel medium.

I pulled out my sketch book and found these two funny birds that had long legs.  I knew they would be really fun on the long 12 inch canvas!  

 Finally, I cut into the paper stash that I have had sitting out waiting for the right project!! Burlap and Bouquets by Fancy Pants ... love!!!

And after cutting, gluing and doodling, my birds were finished!!  

Make sure to come back and visit ... I may have been a big blog-slacker lately, but I have some painted furniture, more canvas and journal projects to show you!! I have been super artsy busy lately!!