one more freezer paper stencil project
November 27, 2009 at 12:20 pm | In FO, crafts, painting | Leave a Commenta worn t-shirt, some freezer paper, acrylic paints and textile medium:
i figured out the design as i went along, and cut three separate stencils: one for the flowers, one for the stalks, and a third for the roots.
the white dots were made with a pencil eraser dipped in paint.
chalk it up
September 18, 2009 at 3:55 pm | In FO, crafts, painting | Leave a Commentadventures in chalkboard painting!
first, grab some 10″ square pine-framed ikea malma mirrors.
remove the mirrors and cover the wood with a couple coats of chalkboard paint.
after 24 hours, use acrylics to paint aliens or monsters on the chalkboard-painted surface. paint the edges with paint that matches the alien or monster.
glue the mirror back into place.
hang the chalkboard and enjoy!
the past week’s FOs
July 4, 2009 at 8:38 am | In FO, collage, crafts, painting | 1 Commenti finished several small projects over the past week, but one of them is a birthday gift. i’ll post that after the birthday pal has received it.
in the meantime, i finished an altoids tin collage:
magazine/catalog pages and glitter.
and then i re-purposed a small canvas (i just wasn’t happy with its previous incarnation):
4″ x 4″. acrylic paint, modeling paste, applied in multiple layers, sanded, sprayed with alcohol, etched with a chopstick, and generally beat up. the sides of the canvas have little bits painted on them, too.
25 may
May 25, 2009 at 2:00 pm | In FO, crafts, knitting, painting | Leave a Comment
i was BUSY yesterday.
knitted a few roses.
decided to do something with my old “where’s waldo” t-shirt.
and i got an idea and shot a crappy photo of my right hand.
and i used that crappy photo as a guide to draw my hand onto the non-sticky side of the backing paper from that printable fabric i used to make wallets last weekend.
i think i should’ve ironed the painted part of the shirt before i pulled it over the dressform. but hey, no biggie. it was a fun experiment!
i also worked on a collage, which i may or may not finish tonight. gotta love those long holiday weekends.
use what you have, part 73659
March 23, 2009 at 1:55 pm | In FO, crafts, painting | Leave a Comment
i painted this 5″ x 7″ canvas board orange awhile back (like, a year or two back), and finally got around to adding a subject yesterday. i had fun and didn’t have to spend any money. my craft stash is now a few ounces lighter.
all that’s left now is to coat it with varnish and add some sort of hanger to the back. then up on the portrait wall it goes.
mermaid, finished
March 8, 2009 at 8:12 am | In FO, crafts, painting | Leave a Commentfinished the mermaid i’d started last weekend (see my last post for the “before” pics):
sure, she’s a little lumpy, but it was a hell of a fun project. i’d forgotten how much i enjoy making mermaids.
no longer sooper-seekrit
February 17, 2008 at 10:59 am | In crafts, painting | 2 Commentsthree little onesies, painted using freezer paper stencils:
i’ve also been working on some t-shirt surgery, taking the bottom of one shirt and adding it to the bottom of another, or cutting up the shirt and making floppy hats. no photos, because it’s nothing earth-shaking. just thinning out the t-shirt herd.
PS: my one-year blogiversary is tomorrow! please have a piece of cake (or pie or banana bread) to celebrate.
repurposed art
August 19, 2007 at 2:11 pm | In crafts, green, painting | 3 Commentsi bought these two prints at michael’s several years ago, on super-clearance sale:
they’re 7.75″ X 9.75″ and printed on 5/8″ thick particle board. i figured they’d be good for hanging in the kitchen, in the big blank spot over the sink. and they were, until i got bored of them. plus my husband thinks they’re creepy, and i guess i can see his point. instead of giving them to the SalArmy or Goodwill, i thought i’d repurpose the boards.
first, i covered them with several layers of acrylic paint. first red, then bright pink, then red again, allowing each layer to dry between applications. once the last red layer was dry, i rubbed some black paint all over the boards, wiping off more from the middle than the edges.
i pored through my files trying to find the right images to add to the boards and finally settled on copies of a Dover clip art illustration of a tomato. i colored each copy with acrylic paint, wiping off the excess before it was dry.
i pulled a couple of pages from an old Childcraft encyclopedia (published in 1964) and cut the words into ovals, which i glued to the boards with Yes! paste. i love that stuff. on top of that, i pasted a slightly larger oval of pattern tissue. and on top of that, the tomatoes. on the right-hand bottom corner of each board, i stenciled a letter using a white china marker. two coats of varnish followed.
this one taught me about chopsticks:
and this one taught me about haggis and Robert Burns:
here they are in the kitchen, hanging below the clock on the wall over the sink.
not only was i crafty this weekend, but i got in a fair amount of recycling with this project.
inner space and outer space
February 24, 2007 at 6:32 pm | In crafts, painting | Leave a Commentit was a beautiful afternoon, so after a walk out in the sunshine with the mister, i spent some time in my craft room.
the window above my craft table faces south, which makes it a very bright place to work during winter and early springtime. it also makes it just about the hottest room in our apartment during the summer months. lucky for me, my usual body temp is slightly lower than most. as if that makes it any less miserable, ha!
so today, i finally put the finishing touches on this little painting i started about a month ago. sometimes i have a hard time deciding when a piece is really “done”. we’re all our own worst critics, right? i’m trying to be a little more lenient on myself when working on arty/crafty stuff. it doesn’t need to be perfect, and it’s not like i’m classically trained in painting. the main goal here is to have fun. really, the main goal with this piece was to have something to hang on the bedroom wall next to the other portraits i have clustered together there.
it’s a 5″ X 7″ canvas board i bought on the cheap at aaron brothers. i used acrylic paints, colored pencils, and a little paper collage “squirrel fish” i made from copies of some etchings from some Dover books. i’d attempted to do some copy transfers (using a steenky light grey marker) on the right side, but the canvas texture was too rough for the transfer to show up very well.
i cemented some string to the back to use as a hanger, and when that dries, i’ll hang it. i’ll have to post a photo of the portrait wall once this picture is up. i’m kind of excited about adding another piece. i’d love to collect loads of them from all sorts of artists. right now, i’ve got three from Heidi Kenney, one from Kristyn Dors (from the first year of Bazaar Bizarre, where she & i were vendors) , one from the co-owner of Peligro Gallery in new orleans (purchased in 1999), and a couple of mixed-media bits i made.
and now for some dinr.
a note from our founder…
hi, i'm shawnee and this is my craftblog.
you may remember me from such crafty gatherings as Felt Club, Bazaar Bizarre (the craft sale and the book) and the Uncommon Threads teevee show.
i'm a desk jockey by day and a craftmonkey the rest of the time.
thanks for stopping by! oh, and don't forget: if you'd like to republish anything i post here, be sure to ask permission first (see the contact page for info).-
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