Another DIY Mixed Media Angel

Hello Everyone!

I am back! Thank you all so much for your patience with my long absence. It was never my intention to go silent for a month! I was trying to upgrade my blog to better serve you and in the process I broke it. In fact, it was so bad that tech support was baffled. They had no idea what I did and how they could fix it! (even my mom agreed that it is something that would only happen to me, haha) Anyway I am back online, and over the course of the next few weeks I will be working on cleaning up the blog and making it more used friendly. But for now I am back and I will be posting new projects weekly. I have a ton of ideas for Fall and Halloween so be on the look out of those projects in October.

If my blog ever goes down again you can keep up with me on Instagram

Let’s get into the latest project. I did another mixed media angel. I showed you how to make a mixed media angel that was black and gold. You can see it again here.

For this angel I went with lighter colors and I like the way it turned out.

Materials:

• Angel
• White Gesso, soft gloss gel, Mica Powder, brushes
• Ribbon, roses, wire and other embellishments

Instructions:

~ Make sure the angel is clean and dry,  then add a layer or 2 of gesso to get a good base for painting.

    

~ Start to add embellishments. Just like the previous angel I mixed micro bead with soft gloss gel for texture on the wings. Then I added ribbon for the dress, I just adhered it with 3D paste. Then I added some roses for interest and a wire halo and then I was done with the texture for the angel..

~ Once she was dry I added more gesso. I added a few layers to make sure she was all covered and ready for the paint.

~ Now time for the fun part, adding paint! I mixed Soft Gloss Gel with Mica Powders to make my own paint and then I applied it to the angel. I did some dry brushing and some heavier paining. I just kept at it until I was done.

    

When I was happy with the final result I added a clear protective coat of spray paint. Then I let her dry and now she is ready to be displayed. I am having a blast with these mixed media projects! What should I do next?

         

Related Posts:

Mixed Media Angel

Frozen Mixed Media

Travel Journal- Heart of the Desert Pistachio Farm in Alamogordo, NM

This post contains affiliate links.

Hello Everyone!

Fun Fact about me is that I love to visit factories. I love to see how things are made, what process are used and all the ingenuity that goes into a factory. I have been to power plants, fish farms, tea factories, candy factories, airplane factories, and many more. I love meeting the people that work there and learning all about what they make and how they do it. So when we went on our road trip a few weeks ago and learned that there was a pistachio farm on our route. So we just had to stop by and check it out.

Heart of the Desert

What a beautiful place, that was my first impression when we got there.  When we got there the weather was warm, but sunny and beautiful, and it was peaceful and the trees were just so awesome to look at.

    

The first thing we did was get some pistachio ice cream while we were waiting for our tour to start. I forgot to take a picture of the ice cream, but believe me when I said that it was wonderful! So good and refreshing on a hot day.

     

Our tour started out looking at the trees and we learned about how they  grow the trees and more about the history of the company.

Then we went to the processing part of the pistachio. I had no idea that so much detail went into processing the pistachio. Machines do a lot of the work, but the last step is to check all the pistachios by hand. It is a tough job, but I appreciate all their hard work.

Our tour guide was wonderful. She was so informative and answered all our questions and helped us fully understand the process.

Tons of shells left over from de-shelling some of the pistachios. We even saw where they roast and season the pistachios. There are a ton of flavors and varieties. I am partial to the roasted and salted and the roasted and unsalted ones. (I know, I know, not very adventurous, but they are delicious any way you eat them.)

Boxes and boxes of pistachio varieties. There is something for everyone.

Once we were done the boys wandered around the shop while the moms taste tested some wines. The wines were wonderful, it was so hard to choose what to buy, but I ended up purchasing a bottle of Riesling.

They have this wonderful patio where you sit and enjoy a glass of wine or you can rent it out for events. If we lived closer I think I would rent this patio for almost every event, it was so beautiful and peaceful.

 

 

    

Heart of the Desert is a great farm and the tour was wonderful. I am glad that we stopped by for a few hours.

What tours have you taken? Do you have any recommendations for me? We are headed to Florida in a few months and I would love to  hear your recommendations for factory tours in Florida. Thanks!!!

In case you missed it here is the link to the first part of our August Road trip:

Travel Journal-Ojo Caliente

DIY Star Wars No Sew Tablet Cover

Hello Everyone!

Have you ever wandered around a fabric store and see some fabric that just jumps out at you and demands that you buy it? No, is that just me?

Well that is what happened with this Star Wars fabric, it demanded to go home with me and to be made into something awesome. I think I did the fabric justice by making a no sew tablet cover.

Materials:

~ Fabric I used this awesome Darth Vader fabric for the outside and I used sweatshirt fabric for the inside to help protect my tablet and provide a little cushion

~ Ribbon

~ Hot Glue and Velcro

Instructions:

~ I laid out the 2 fabrics with wrong sides together and cut out how much I needed. There wasn’t any measuring just make sure you have a little room on the sides and enough on the length to create a flap. I left a little extra on the side (but not too much) so I had somewhere to put my stylus pen.

~ Hot glue the fabric together around the edges. I did a little at a time and used a popsicle stick to help smooth out the edges with out burning my fingers.

~Once you have the edges glued then fold up the fabric, make sure you have your tablet to measure what you want the pocket to end. Then glue the edges together.

~ Then hot glue ribbon around the edges. My ribbon was not wide enough to wrap around the edge of the fabric so I glue some on the front and the back of the fabric. Glue ribbon every where that you see a raw edge.

~ Then glue on Velcro to the flap to close your cover and you are done.

I am in love with the fabric, I think I need to go back and get more to make a circle skirt.

In a upcoming post I will show you how to make a sew version of a tablet cover.

 

How to Reupholster an Office Chair

Hello everyone!

An office chair has got to be one of the most pieces of furniture that a person can own. You spend a ton of time in your chair so it should be comfortable and good looking. I had a chair that was wonderful, it worked great and I had it a long time. But it broke. So I had to search for a new one. After searching high and low I found one at a surplus store. It was in great condition and for only $15, I thought it was a steal. The only problem was the green fabric covering it. The color was ok, a dark green, but it was itchy and that was not ok. So I decided to recover so it didn’t drive me crazy sitting on it for 8 hours a day.

I think it turned out very cute. I found the fabric at Who Gives a Scrap. I talked about this awesome donation center last week. You can revisit that post here. They had this great upholstery fabric for only $2. Can’t beat that price. Here is how I went about recovering the chair.

Materials:

~Chair (this one wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the itchy fabric. Now I know why they had it for sale at the surplus store.)

~ Fabric (The stripped patter is cute and for only $2 I could pass that up.)

~ Staple gun, screw driver, glue gun, ribbon for edging

Instructions:

~ The first thing I did was take off the arm rests with the screw driver. I could have taken the whole chair apart and this might have made the process easier, but I decided to work around everything except the arm rests.

~ Then I measure the fabric and started stapling it on. The way this chair is constructed is a little weird. It has a plastic back and the original cover was Velcroed on, but I didn’t want to go that trouble so I decided to staple over everything.

    

~ I got the top part done then I went to town on the seat of the chair. The stripes made it easy to match the top to the bottom. I stapled everywhere then I went back and added more. I wanted to make sure everything held.

    

~ Once everything was secure and stapled on I hot glued on a tan ribbon that coordinated with the fabric. Then I put the arms back on that that was it. It took me a couple of hours to complete but it was worth it to not have an itchy chair.

    

Once I finished my son loved it so much he has asked me to do a chair for him. But if my chair is ever missing I know who to took it.

DIY Cell Phone Case From Old Tie

Hello Everyone!

I found this fantastic store in town, it is call Who Gives A Scrap. (BTW I love the name!) Anyway, this store is so awesome it has all kinds of craft supply donations that are up for sale. The stock is always changing so you never know what you will find. If you follow me on Instagram you already saw my haul, but this what I scored yesterday for about $25! The item I am most excited about is the bead loom. I have tons of pins on Pinterest for the bead loom and now that I have one I am excited to learn how to use it. Does anyone have any experience or tips on how to use a bead loom? Please share if you do.

So many new things to play with and to use for my crafts and DIY projects. Even our cat, Starlight, approves. haha.

 

The other day my sister and I were having a Craftersation on Pinterest. (A Craftersation  is a craft conversation between pinners on Pinterest.) She has the best Pinterest boards and I think she has pinned just about everything on the internet, haha. You can follow her here.

Anyway she pinned this really cute cell phone case made from an old tie so I pinned a different version of the same thing. And on it went for while. We have a lot of Craftersations, it is a fun way to stay connected and see what each other is interested in even though we live almost a thousand miles apart.

When I was at Who Gives a Scrap I saw that they had some old ties that would be perfect to make a cell phone case out of. After I got home yesterday I made my version of what I saw on Pinterest.

Here it is all done. I am in love with it!

Materials:

~Old Tie

~ Needle and thread, or sewing machine

~ Button or snap

Instructions:

This is one of the ties that I picked up yesterday. Isn’t it wonderful? I fell in love with it on the spot. For this project the wider the tie the better. Skinny ties from the 80s won’t work, but those ties can be use for different projects.

Next just measure how much space you need for your phone. The pointed part will be the flap, so factor that in. You will have to pick out the stitched that keep the flaps together so you can slide your phone in.

For this step I glued the ends together and the center flap closed using Fabric Fusion. I used clothes pins to hold it together while the glue dried. The glue worked just fine, but when I do this project again I think I will sew it all instead of using glue, I think it will be stronger and it will look better. You can hand stitch or use a machine.

 

     

Next I hand stitched on these buttons I had in my stash. They are so cute, I got them from Patterns of Time. They have so many great items on their website, when I ordered last it was hard to narrow down the items in my shopping cart to a reasonable amount, haha.

The case was all complete I thought it was very cute just the way it was but I decided that it should become a purse instead of just a case. This Tie Purse is perfect for me when I go out for an evening and my skirt doesn’t have pockets and I need to carry a phone and my ID and a credit card and some cash, it will all fit into this cute purse.

To add the straps all you do is hand sew the remaining part of the tie onto the sides of the case. And that is it.

Have you made one of these before? I would love to see it if you have. Stay tuned for more projects made from items I got from Who Gives A Scrap, that place rocks!!

There are no affiliate links in this post. All opinions are my own.

Travel Journal- Ojo Caliente, NM

Hello Everyone!

Travel is one of my favorite things to do. I love visiting new places and exploring everything in that new area. Travel rejuvenates me and it soothes me and get my creative juice flowing. I am always up for new adventures, I will go just about anywhere with just about anyone. While traveling I look for ideas to incorporate into my crafts and DIY projects. 

I recently returned from a road trip to New Mexico with my son and his friend and mom. So it was 2 moms and 2 teenage boys. It was tons of fun! We spent about 5 days exploring the state and enjoying some of the natural wonders of New Mexico.

Our First stop was Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort and Spa

Here we are crossing the New Mexico Boarder. We are a little travel weary, but excited to get to our destination.

Next stop was Ojo Caliente. The moms had spa appointments to keep so we had to keep on schedule. The drive down was nice, the weather was great, traffic was not too bad, and there was beautiful scenery along the way.

We were thrilled to finally get there! The weather was very warm with clouds, so it was nice that the sun wasn’t blaring down on us. The cloud cover was appreciated.

 

We arrived by mid afternoon, which was perfect because our appointments were at 4 so we had time to soak before our spa time!

 

          

Such a beautiful place, and so very relaxing. The wonderful desert colors were speaking to me and it sparked my creative juices. Just sitting this relaxing environment brought new ideas to mind, and I can’t wait to get started on them and share them with you!

Before our spa appointment we hit the waters.

 

They had a pool for just about anything! And of course we had to try them all. Even the boys got into it and and tried all of them, except the mud pool The mud pool was so much fun. You spread mud all over your body then sit in the desert sun and bake then you wash it off and your skin feel amazing after you are done. That was fantastic!

         

We soaked and relaxed for a while then we went to our spa treatments while the boys continued to hang out it in the water.

I had a foot reflexology treatment done. It was amazing. Having my feet rubbed has got to be one of my favorite things and this treatment was awesome. I wish I could do it everyday.

After my feet were all massages and relaxed I went back into the pools and we hung out until dinner.

They were doing some construction, improving the space, but that did not detract from the tranquil feeling at the spa. I felt so relaxed at the spa, it was wonderful. And when the construction is complete it will be even better, so I am thinking that a return trip will be necessary.

After we will all relaxed we grabbed some dinner at Red Mountain Pizza down the road. It was fantastic food, and it hit the spot after a long day.

After dinner the boys hung out for a while. The cottages that we stayed in were great. There were 2 beds and a kitchenette and a little dining area and a bathroom in each cottage. They were cozy and comfortable and nice place to spend the night.

 

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This was a perfect way to start our vacation. Ojo Caliente was beautiful and relaxing and it is a place I look forward to returning to.

There are no affiliate links in this post or sponsors. All opinions are my own.

Disney Frozen Mixed Media Canvas

Hello Everyone!

I just love Disney movies. They are so wonderful watch and when it is a musical it is even better. I own just about all of the Disney soundtracks and I will always sing along at the top of mu lungs, especially when I am driving. haha. My son just loves it when I do that…

Anyway, I found this great Disney Frozen puzzle at the Dollar Store and I knew that it would be perfect for a mixed media canvas.

Materials:

~Puzzle

~Canvas

~Stencil

~Prima Marketing’s Art Basic Modeling Paste, mica powders, Soft Gloss Gel, and 3D Gloss Gel

~Clear gesso

~Mod Podge

~Swirl and snowflake stencils

Instructions:

First put the puzzle together. This is a fun part, I love putting puzzle together. Once it is together I painted the back with Mod Podge to help keep it together while I applied Gesso to the front.

Apply a layer of clear gesso to the front of the puzzle. This will help the paint adhere to the puzzle.

While the puzzle is drying you will need to work on the canvas. For the first layer I added some swirl stencils that I thought looked like snow swirling around. Prefect for the Frozen motif. I used a stencil and modeling paste and add the stencils everywhere. This is a great base layer that adds texture and interest. 

Then I glued the puzzle to the canvas with 3d gloss gel.

Then I mixed mica powders in pink and blue and purple and silver with soft gloss gel and dry brushed painted it all over the canvas. I highlighted the stencils and created interest with the mica powders.

Once the painting was dry I added the rhinestones and snowflake gems. Stick them everywhere to add sparkle and dimension to the canvas.

Once it is all dry use a clear spray sealer to protect your work. This fun canvas is perfect for any Disney fanatic.

 

DIY Agate Coaster

Hello Everyone!

Happy August to you! Is is just me, or is this year flying by? Now that it is August I just realize that I am waaaaay behind on my crochet temperature blanket. You can read about it here. Time to start working on it again, but that is not what this post is about, lol. I am going to show you how to do something completely different

These DIY agate coasters are an easy project that make a perfect gift.

Materials:

~ Sliced Agate. You can find them online in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes.

~ Paint Pen

~ Felt

Instructions:

I have had these agates for a while, they were my Grandfather’s, I found them in his stash of rocks. He was a rock hound and had something of everything. They are a little smaller than I would have liked, but I like to use what I have on hand. The neutral color is perfect for me, but you can get them in almost any color of the rainbow.

Then you paint around the edges with a paint pen. I picked mine up at Wal-Mart for a few bucks. I painted around the edge twice.

 

Put felt squares on the bottom to help protect your furniture and that is it!

 

Easy project to add interest and spice to your home.

 

Mixed Media Angel

Hello Everyone!

I am excited to show you this new project that I just finished. A little while ago I went on a girls retreat to Mojito Creek. This is a wonderful cabin in Colorado that was the perfect place to craft and recharge and relax! While I was there Tanya from Free Heart taught a mixed media class. Tanya teaches Finnabair inspired mixed media techniques. Tanya is a awesome teacher! I was so much and I was so inspired from the class that I went home and started painting everything! I can’t wait to take another class and learn more techniques!

This is the angel that I just finished. She looks great on my mantle and I already have more ideas on what to do next.

Here is how I created this mixed media angel

Materials:

~ Angel (I found mine at the dollar store. Look for something that you like the overall look of, not necessary the colors because you will cover everything up)

~ Black gesso

~ 3D Gloss Gel, Soft Gloss Gel, Mica Powder (I am using Art Basics from Prima Marketing, which is amazing!)

~ Paint brushes, cheese cloth, micro beads, wire, rhinestones, and anything else you want to use as texture

Instructions:

~ The first thing you do is paint the angel with gesso. This will cover her and get her ready for paint. Then I added cheese cloth to her body as a dress. I adhered it to her with 3D Gloss Gel.

~ Then I decided that her wings were too smooth and plain so I mixed micro beads with 3D Gloss Gel and sponged it on to the wings. This added a wonderful texture that looks great on the wings.

~ Then I added rhinestones to the skirt for more texture and dimension, and I made a halo with some left over wire that I had lying around.

~ Once I had her all glued and textured  she was ready for more gesso. I added about 1000 layers of black gesso. Just kidding, but I did add a lot of layers until everything was covered with black and ready for paint.

~ Once she was dry I started to paint her. This is the fun part, this is where all your hard work pays off. I mixed mica power with the soft gloss gel and went to town. I layered the paint and mixed colors until I liked the the look. For the star that she is holding I sponged on some glitter eye shadow.

~ Once I was happy with the look and she was dry I took her outside and sprayed a layer of a clear gloss coat.

When I took her outside to put the clear coat on and I noticed how she looked different in the sunlight. I love how the mica powder is amazing and so versatile.

This was tons of fun! I have already started on a different angel, I can’t wait to see how she will turn out!

 

Please note there are no affiliate links in this post. All the links are for your reference.

DIY Locker Magnets

Hello Everyone!

Recently I told my son some bad news, I told him that school is starting soon…haha.  He is not too excited, but when I was his age I was excited for back to school. Not necessary for school to start, but mostly for the school supplies. I do love school supplies. I still do, I am always buying pencils, pens, notebooks, and other supplies. You can never have too many pens, haha.

Anyway, with back to school nearly here there are lockers that will need to be decorated. So when my sister and her family were visiting last week  my niece and I decided to make some locker magnets because she going into middle school in the fall and she will have a locker for the first time! Her locker will be all kinds of awesomeness! .

Together we made magnets for her locker using stickers and flowers! This is an easy craft that kids can do to personalize their space.

Materials:

~Stickers and flowers

~Powder (I used foot powder, but baby powder would work)

~magnets

~Glue

 

Instructions

First take the sticker you want to use and put powder on the back. (I have a ton of stickers that I have collected through out the years, I seem to always pick up stickers when ever I am at the store. I just love stickers) Using powder is the trick to keeping the sticker from sticking to everything. I used foot powder because this is all I had, but baby powder works too. The powder sticks to the sticky part then you can put a magnet on.

 

We glued the magnet on (the magnets are sticky on the back, but I didn’t trust it so we glued it on) We used a magnetic sheet that we cut into smaller pieces.

We made a ton of sticker magnets and then we put magnets on some flowers I had. These all turned out super cute!

Also, I had these super cute Wall stickers that I got from the dollar store that look like frames. These are so cute so we made one of the stickers into a magnet frame. This will be perfect for her to show off her friends in her locker.

Here are the finished magnets. Isn’t she a cutie! I can’t believe that she is old enough to go to middle school. Time flies so fast!

 

Bonus Craft!

While she was in town we decided to make a magnetic board. We just took a dollar store frame and put a magnetic sheet in the frame. Then she decorated it will rhinestone (she is a girl after my own heart, you can never have too many rhinestones!)

 

I think it turned out awesome. (sorry the photo is backlit, but you can still see how cute she is.) It was so much fun to have a crafting buddy, I can’t wait until she comes back to town so we can do more projects together!