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!

 

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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!

TBT Restoration Hardware Chandelier DIY

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to take a few minutes today to do a TBT. I made this chandelier about 4 years ago and I still love it! Here is the original blog post: Restoration Hardware Chandelier

The DIY took me a while to complete, but it still is one of my favorite projects! I hope you all enjoy the walk down memory lane.

I have a lot of new readers so I wanted to share this DIY with everyone.

When I saw this RH chandelier I fell in love! I mean it is a perfect blend of sparkle and fancy with rustic, industrial elements. But I did not fall in love with the cost.

The Full instructions are in the original post, but here are the abbreviated instructions

I found this old light fixture and added some hoops that I found at the craft store.

After adding the hoops I spray painted everything with Rusteloem Oil Rubbed Bronze (my favorite spray paint)

Then I added all the crystals and light bulbs

Then we hung it up and it looks awesome! People are always surprised when I say that I made it!

What DIY projects have you done that were inspired by Restoration Hardware?

DIY Duct Tape Covered Plastic Basket

Hello Everyone!

The old adage “Necessity is the mother of invention” is usually true. And the case of today’s DIY it was especially true

I have this plastic basket that I use to store my paint brushes in. But the holes in the basket make it very easy for the brushes to fall out. So I needed a way to plug the holes.

 Yikes! Look at that mess!

Duct Tape to the rescue!

All I did was wrap the basket with  this fantastic duct tape that I found at the dollar store. The basket is tapered so the wrapping was not perfect, but it works great for my brushes.

Don’t forget to wrap the inside, because the sticky side of the duct tape peeks through.

Once I was done with the duct tape I added some sparkle tape to the top and bottom for a little fun.

And that is it. The basket is finished and now my brushes are contained!

Recycled Glass Vase DIY

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great week. Last weekend we had a wonderful relaxing weekend, with not much on the schedule!  In fact, over the weekend is when I finished this recycled glass vase project.

I have had these little champagne bottles for ever. They were just too cute to throw in the recycling bin and I knew that I  would eventually find the perfect project for them. And I did, I made these cute vases!

Materials:

~ Glass bottle. (I used the champagne bottle, but you can use almost anything else. For instance a used olive oil bottle. )

~ raffia, jute, cord, burlap, ribbon, flowers

~ washi tape and anything else you want to glue on your new vase!

~ Hot glue

Instructions:

#1. The Shabby Chic Vase

~For this vase I used this Natural Polished Hemp and wrapped it around the entire bottle. I did not take of the labels for this vase and the cord did a good job of covering the labels. But if I were to do it again I would take them off. Just keep gluing and wrapping until you cover the bottle. This will take awhile so put a tv show on and go to town.

~ One I was done wrapping I added some burlap ribbon to the base area and then a layer of pretty ribbon.

~On the neck I added some brown ribbon and a flower. And there you have it, a cute shabby chic vase. 

#2 The Diamond Wrap Vase

~ For this vase I wanted a really fancy, blinged out vase and I think I achieved that look, haha. To start take the labels off and then take the bottle to a well ventilated area to spray paint it. (Confession time: I am not very good at spray painting, I am too impatient to wait between layers and I always make a mess. So usually my hubby takes care of  my spray painting, but I really wanted to get this project done so I didn’t wait for him to get home from work. I thought my cardboard box was good enough to keep the spray paint contained, buuuuuut I may or may not have painted the glass my outside table… Oh well, I guess refinishing the table will be a new project for me to work on this summer. lol)

~Anyway when you are done painting and it is dry start wrapping the bottle with Diamond Wrap (I found this at the dollar store) Add a flower to the top and you are done. This is perfect for the dinner table or for holidays. Imagine how cool this vase would look in candle light?

 

#3 The Washi Tape Vase

~ I have this wonderful washi tape that I found on Amazon and I thought would look great on the bottle. I just started wrapping the bottle using a different tape for each layer.

~ Just keep going until you are done. Since the bottle is curved the tape didn’t lay flat in all areas, but that is ok, I think it look like it has been aged in a attic for a long time.

~ Add a ribbon to the top and a flower and you are done!

There you have it, some great vases made from a glass bottles that were headed to the recycling bin!

What have you used to make a vase out of?

 

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