Stained Glass Look Paper Ornaments. Homemade Dimensional Paint Tutorial

Every year my 4-H club makes ornaments to decorate a tree for the parade of trees in our community.  This year we made paper ornaments that have the look of stained glass.  It's a challenge to come up with a project that small hands can make along with  a few older kids.  Plus we have to make enough to cover a tree with the addition of glass balls in a couple of hours time.  Challenge for sure!

First I found some Christmas ornament shapes online, printed them out and made some templates.

Then traced them onto watercolor paper.  I can't believe what a difference the paper makes!

Now, here's the great part!!  Add a bit of black paint to a partial bottle of white school glue and shake to mix well.  This will be your "leading"! Homemade dimensional paint for pennies! It works great! I'm sorry I can't find the link to where I saw this idea.

Then you just "pipe" the "leading" on like you were decorating a cake.

I didn't take a picture of the inside piping, but now you add some divisions any way you want so it will look like pieces of glass fused together.

I put the sheets in a low oven to speed the drying process.  This was harder than it looks for me as I don't have a super steady hand.  The kids could have done it, but we didn't have time for them to do this and get them dried and painted.  So I prepped all the pieces ahead of our meeting.

Then I chose some 4 and 5 letter words from this free AWESOME typeface, called South Rose. Thanks to Jessica from How About Orange for blogging about South Rose!

I resized the words and used carbon paper to transfer the word to the watercolor paper.

The words had to be big because the glue is not a fine line.  Some detail had to be left out.

I think if you used actual dimensional paint you could make your self a neat poster with this font on watercolor paper because you could have smaller words. 

Then after following the lines for soooooo long, I just wanted to squirt out paint/glue where ever I wanted!

So, I made myself a little Christmas tree.

And painted it too!  I even found a frame for it from my stash of frames. :)

Now, if all goes as planned, we will have a wood tree made out of lathe to hang these from....we'll see!

The kids really enjoyed making these!  It was neat to see how even in filling in with water colors, each kid had their own style especially noted in the intensity of the colors.

I think there is a LOT of potential for making your own dimensional paint on the fly at home.  Valentines with red added comes to mind first!

With gratitude this Thanksgiving Eve for you all who come by and read my blog....

I wish you a Blessed day tomorrow!!

Throw Paint!

Isn't this a great quote?!

"Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it."

I took a picture of my paint brush after I painted the cupboard in the basement and this is what it led to.

This could be a great life motto.

Yesterday, for me, the day was full of all the icky worries and heaviness of the world.  I'm not sure why, but this is what I'm keeping in mind today, throwing paint!  And, it just makes me smile.

How about all of you?  Do you need to throw paint at your life?  

I'm linking up today with Kim and Texture Tuesday.  The above image was textured with Kim's "oceanside" texture.

Saturday Digest

►I've never watched Downton Abbey, but I hear it's a great show.  Knowing that it inspired this line of fabric from Kathy Hall, makes me want to watch it.  The above print is called The Dowager's Paisley in Ebony.  The entire collection can be viewed here at Hawthorne Threads.

You may enjoy the collages of the fabric collections here at The Fabric Depot blog.

►Now this looks like fun!  Printing using polystyrene.

►And, from the same site, Total Art Soul,  bird seed ornaments.  I'd like to make these with the kids.

►I made these Chocolate-Pumpkin Cupcakes this week.  Big thumbs up to them.  Recipe makes about 16 cupcakes.

►I never could do a decent cartwheel.  Found out last night that I still can't.
Thank goodness I didn't break anything. :)

Have a great weekend!

An Awesome Purse: A Small Photographer: The Magic Wand Tool

My Friday finds this week are so fun!  First of all I recently purchased this awesome bag from Robelyn of Redneck Chic!

I wanted to post about it and on a whim, asked my 8 year old to hold the camera "like this" and "push here".

She giggled when she was done and said, "I just kept clicking every time you moved!"

It was neat having her help me and her getting such a kick out of it!

  

Then I messed around learning how to use the quick selection tool and the magic wand tool in Photoshop.  I still need a lot of practice, but I'm getting there.

Robelyn's bags are top of the line quality and all so unique!  (I have more than one...)  I thought they deserved a unique "Thank You"!

And, thanks again to Kim for getting me started learning Photoshop!! Her tutorials and classes are top of the line quality too!

Wordless Wednesday

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Sweet and Pretty!

My second daughter made this for her sister for her 14th birthday.  Isn't is neat?!  

I didn't have a wall to hang it on with good lighting for a picture, so sat it on a chair by the window.  

We will be hanging it in my daughter's room soon. I get to enjoy it until then. :)

She learned to quill from a friend at "craft night".  This is only her second project.

I think she caught on pretty quickly! 

Simple clean lines.

Graceful.

Elegant.

Expressive.

Martha quills here.

Supplies can be found here.

And, great instructions for the beginner here.

Do you have experience in quilling?  Wouldn't quilling be a great addition to mixed media pieces too?

Saturday Digest. Come On, Have a Seat.

►This is my daughter's instagram photo from the antique store we stopped at last weekend after stopping at the garage sale.  I have an attraction to chairs, and I love the feel of this photo. All those chairs, just waiting to welcome someone to rest.

►The results of our 4-H meeting last night. I will share more information next week.

►I've been thinking about crocheted Christmas Trees.  I doubt that I will make any, but when looking about for some patterns these two stood out:

Popcorn Stitch Trees:  Picture here. Pattern here.

This one is actually a hat but I'd just stuff if and sit it on a shelf: 

And for inspiration, as it is sold out, here. It's so little and cute.

►And, not crocheted, but upcycled wool and my favorite....here.  Sure hope to make a similar one!

Signature Quilt, My Friday Find

Yesterday, I posted about the early morning sun.  Yesterday, I caught the late afternoon sun.  Both, fleeting, but so special.

This past weekend, I accidentally stumbled upon a garage sale in a near by town.  I have been to very few in the last couple of years.  I ran it past my girls with me to see how much opposition there would be...and we were good to stop!  I was thrilled with the items I came home with, one of them being this signature quilt dated 1962.

You can read all about signature quilts here at the Quilt Index.  They are wonderful pieces of history!

"Ophie Estes", what a great name!!  Ann Smith must not have been one to embroider as she used those once popular embroidery paint tubes.

Thank goodness Mrs. Joe Gray thought to add the year as she is the only one who did.  Lucile's hand writing looks a bit like my Grandma's did.

I would have loved to have photographed each block, but there wasn't time.  

I wonder what brought these 35 people together?  What was their connection?  And, did everyone know "Foxie" only as Foxie??  Was she foxie??

Quilts would make perfect porch decor, if only we didn't have weather.  :)

Never pass up a chance to shoot a late afternoon shadow!

The quilt will be folded up and placed in my cupboard in the bedroom in the basement that I've working on re-doing.

Margaret, Peggy, Ann, Hallie, Mrs. Joe, Ophie, Lucile, Helen, Norene, Kathryn, Foxie, and friends, I am so happy to have met you!!

If it works out, I'll take pictures of my other buys at this garage sale.

Early Morning Light on A Happy Little Spot

Things have changed and have grown a lot from this post I wrote in July!  

The plants are growing and many have found new homes with others.  A few are thriving in our den also!

I brought in this sewing machine base from my Dad's old shop to use as a plant stand.

I put an old board from a broken up dresser I bought at an auction on top for the table.

Where there are plants, there is water, so an old board isn't going to get damaged, just better looking. :)

I also am using an old tray that was already rusty as the drainage tray for this snail turned planter. The snail was one of those fuel burners that you burn like a candle outside.  Well, the inside pot that held the fuel broke.  When I looked down in the snail, there was a hole, so it works great as a planter!  By the way, I would not recommend the fuel burners.  The flame is HUGE and the fuel is burned up quickly.  

This plant is a Swedish Begonia.  My sister in law gave it to me.  It was grown from a cutting off of her plant which she got from a cutting from my aunt, who got hers from a cutting from my grandparents who brought a cutting from a relative in Sweden when they visited there 40some years ago.  Cool, huh?!

The little yellow pot on the right is a sweet vintage tea pot that had no lid.  I didn't drill a hole in the bottom, so I water sparsely.

I bought some plants at our church's bazaar and right away took some cuttings.

I am pretty much out of room for plants now.  My daughter's room (who loves plants) is pretty full too.  But, once you start taking cuttings and propagating them, it's hard to stop!

The early morning light makes such graceful silhouettes of the leaves and really brings out the beauty of the singer base.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Digest

►When we hopped out of the car yesterday, my 8 year old said, "Wow, look at the shadow this little guy is creating!"  I ran for the camera.  Too fun.

►Do you like sewing?  Do you like science?  I do.  :)

Check out this free printable.  It's from The Scientific Seamstress.  I thought it was pretty creative.

►Progress on the basement bedroom. The wall was yellow (my daughter's high school color choice)  now, it is a robin's egg blue known by the name "Hazel" at Sherwin Williams.  The cabinet is in the foreground.  Painted in Graphite (Annie Sloan Chalk Paint)

►This is a neat centerpiece, but what I really like is the idea of using Epsom Salt in the big jars to lift a smaller candle up.  

~Enjoy your day~

My Instrument Collection in My Laundry Room

This is my collection of washboards in my laundry room.  

I also have trays to catch the odds and ends of flowers that I bring in to dry.

When I had a booth, I tried to sell a couple of washboards.  Very cheaply, I might add.  And, there were no takers.  I'm enjoying the rejection now.

Oh my, from a day gone by.  And, I must say I'm so very grateful I do not need to use any of these!!!

The lighting was so dark in here as two bulbs are out so I apologize for the grainy and off pictures.  But, I had to take them now, because yesterday, I got to see some videos of my nephew.

He's playing the washboard!!

He lives in California and has traveled with various shows with his talent, but we have never been able to see him perform live.

If you'd like to watch a couple more videos, you can check out this link.  And, this one.

You also just have to love the washtub too!

Wordless Wednesday

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