Acrylic Marbling

I am a HUGE fan of all things "Marbling"... marbling with food color and shaving cream, marbling with nail polish...etc. etc. etc. so when I saw marbling with acrylic paint - I of course had to give it a try.😊 Here are the results: 

It was so very simple - anyone, big or small, artistic or not, could certainly pull this one off. It may be just what you need to add a splash of color to that dark corner in your home, or maybe you're looking for a fun, messy, memorable craft to do over the holidays... this may be just the thing to do!

A few points of advice -

*watch for clumps coming out of the bottle when you squirt on the paint, and remove them before you smear... If you don't, they won't smear right and they'll look gross when they dry in my opinion anyway.😉

*Put the canvas up on something before it dries so that it won't dry to the wax paper or whatever you use to cover your work area. I used a few jar lids.

The acrylic paint will crack when it dries. It may not if you mix it with a little water before you pour it on, but I'm not sure of that.

Paint colors I used were as follows:
Paints I used: Cranberry Wine Metallic Berry Violet Snow White Metallic Zinc Fuchsia Black

Happy Painting!!

A Few Bottle Crafts

I have saved all of our bottles from our special occasions for what seems like forever (especially if you're my husband and have had to haul them from house to house with every move...;)) But this summer I have finally been able to put to good use all of that Pinterest research on glass bottle crafts... here are a few of the things I've done so far ~

3 Two-Tone Decorative Bottles: 

Because these bottles had labels that were etched into them, I needed a heavy spray paint that would coat well. I used several coats of Hammered Paint and Primer in one by Rust-Oleum and then sprayed on a metallic almost champagne rose color just around the neck and let it ombre down the bottle to give it a beautiful pop of color. I really love them... now just to find a place to put them!;)

Artificial Terrarium:

This sweet little terrarium turned out so much better than I had even imagined. It's a Crown Royale bottle with the label obviously removed, making a perfect little frame for whatever is inside. The butterflies are made from a punch and then embellished by adhesive back rhinestones. The flowers are pieces of a larger bouquet of fake flowers. Long tweezers would've come in very handy for this project, but since I didn't have any a kebab skewer worked great! Double stick picture tape was my go-to adhesive for this one -not too sticky and clear! 

Shabby Chic Tri-Bottle Vase:

I used 3 small bottles for this one. I'm loving the metallic spray paint! It took several coats, but the shimmering color brightens up the room.:) The rest of the design is pretty plain to see... burlap and lace wrap the bottles, and then is sewed tightly together to hold them in place, the bow is sewn on separately because I felt that tying a bow with the burlap would make it way too big and bulky. I think some pretty live white daisies would make this a beautiful centerpiece as well. 

So keep those bottles and make them into something unforgettable!;) 

Birdhouse from Driftwood

We love watching birds around here. We love feeding them, too! I was gifted this beautiful piece of driftwood that was just begging to be made into something special, so we tried our hand at making a birdhouse. The hole for the food was made by a few different drill bits. The wood itself is screwed into a piece of plywood for the base, large enough to give it balance. Before we screwed it in we applied some wood glue for good measure.;) The top is simply screwed on and has held so far. We found some cute little bricks at Menards for $.45 ea. and they dressed it up like I was hoping. It's a bit more rustic than I had thought it would be, but I love it and the birds seem to as well! 

A Few Paintings

Here are a few of the paintings I have done over the last couple of months. I am obsessed with texture and roses.:) 

This one was done with a thickening medium and painted layers, and then the flowers were marbled with paint and medium and then placed with a palette knife. Lots of fun, and popping with 3D expression - can't get much more texture than that!;) 

Acrylic roses have quickly become my favorite "go-to" item to paint. When there's a blank canvas begging to be made vibrant with color, and I feel that artistic craving to blend some paint together - roses it is!

Watercolor canvases... wow. Talk about fun! No taping the paper, no unsightly wrinkles, easy corrections... With all that you'd think my lines would be perfected, wouldn't you? Nope. When your imagination gets put on a canvas, imperfections highlight the fanciful nature of the captured dream. At least that's what I tell myself.;)

This is watercolor on watercolor paper. It's a painting inspired by the stories told from the "OUR Rescue" team - an organization created to save children who are in the clutches of sex slavery all around the world. I wanted the image to combine all ethnicities - a way of stating all races, all children all around the world are OUR children... OUR responsibility... OUR obligation... OUR HOPE. Take up the torch and light the way to freedom. For more information on OUR rescue visit http://ourrescue.org and while you're there please donate to the cause. Your donation WILL make a difference. 

The texture and color on this one are certainly not captured by this quick cellphone pic. It will hopefully be the first in a series of three paintings of similar design, but different colored shading. I'm thinking of going with an aqua green one and then a purple one as well, but maybe it should be yellow...Hmmm... We shall see. It should happen soon... I have the canvases, but need more medium... lots of medium.;) Textured paintings get pricey, let me tell ya! But they're worth it. 

:)

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the artwork! 

A Few "How To" Watercolor Youtube Videos of Mine

This first video isn't so much a "how to" as it is just an idea for a beginner. Small brush with well diluted paint making short repetitive brush strokes...

This next one is an easy "how to" to make watercolor bubbles. Be sure to use diluted color (almost runny), and only enough water on the brush to fill the bubble... too much water is a watercolor paintings worst enemy - in my limited experience anyway!=)

And this last one is how I paint detailed tree trunks using watercolor. I apologize that the video is grainy... this was actually the fourth tree painting I had recorded and although it was still flawed, was the best out of 4. Practice makes... better!:) 

Thank You for checking them out!! If you have any questions or a suggestion for a "how to" video, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to reply!=) 

How I Know God Loves me

Do you ever feel like we may take many, many things for granted when it comes to God and the glorious creation He bothered to give us? I know I do. There is so much beauty put in place to keep us awestruck and reminded of His attentiveness, His eagerness to show us the depth and magnitude of His love. My daughter (7 years old) does the narrating in the video below, and hearing her repeat the dialogue makes this mommy's heart leap at the thought that throughout her life, whatever she's going through or wherever she's at she will be reminded of the simple words proclaiming the allurement that didn't have to be, but is just because "God loves me".  

Above All Else - Be Kind...

As I send my 7 year old out into the multi-cultural, multi-aged, two-gendered world of "play with your friends", my final instructions to her are always, "Above all else - be kind." And that's the boiled down version of the lengthy discussions on "don't be bossy", "take turns picking the game", "Even if everyone else is making fun - you don't make fun", "Even if someone is being mean - you don't be mean back"... "Above all else - be kind". I expect her to fail at that more often than not, just as I do. I will ever remind her of it, because I know it is her heart's desire. When she is pushed and every fiber of her being says "push back - harder", perhaps I can be the voice in her head telling her "Above all else - be kind"; not because I want her to be easily manipulated or a push over, but because I don't want her to do something she'll regret IF I can help it. I wan't her to stand up for herself, I want her to form her own opinions and voice them, I want her to be strong, but none of that at the expense of someone else. I want her to stand up for herself and pull the other guy up with her as well; I want her to form and voice her own opinions in a way that instructs with an overabundance of resources, sources, and information but does not belittle; I want her to be strong because she's made every effort to make sure those around her have also been strengthened. Will I be disappointed when she falls down and chooses not to keep herself in check every once and awhile? Ashamedly, yes... but only because I have failed to see how often my heavenly Father has looked past my stumbling to the next lesson... never for a moment taking the time to point His finger at me in disapproval. If He can do that with me, I am forever encouraged to do that for her. Correct her path unwaveringly, but not give her a feeling of hopelessness.   
As I sit here waiting for the bottom layer to dry on a canvas, I'm collecting all of my weightier thoughts from this last week such as "What's my purpose?" "How can I make a difference?" "Will I be successful at something?" "There's so many in need, and I want to be a part of the solution, but how?" To the simpler thoughts of "I have so much joy in my life." "I am so grateful for my family, friends, home, income..." to the paintings I've enjoyed painting and practicing on even if they are still not the envisioned masterpiece brushed on with great ease and the mellow attitude of highly intoxicated French art-eeest, but more the "Hey, you can barely see that huge mistake. Nice." And I think of the overly common phrase "Find joy in the journey"... Which is really a guaranteed failure if not given with the broader instruction: "Don't give up. Keep hoping. Keep dreaming. Be grateful. Don't blame or shame, just learn. Never look back, except for perspective purposes. You never know what tomorrow will bring - it could be exactly what you've been looking for. And if you do all of that - you will be able to find 'joy in the journey'". This next painting is something I've never tried before and if it doesn't work out you won't hear about it most likely - goodness knows, I'm not THAT humble;) - but I am excited to try it because it doesn't require any distinction in depth, no proper placement of items to give the right scope to the landscape. I am excited about this because it is something I really struggle with as I don't have good depth perception at all. Driving with me is a real delight; playing "catch" with me is better referred to as playing "pick-up" (which doesn't quite have the same enticing ring to it, oddly enough...). But painting has helped me practice at my perception of depth, and working at it always reminds me of my earliest memory of practicing my perception of depth and it involved stairs... It was before I was school age, but old enough to walk and I remember these wooden stairs in our house so vividly... their dark brown chipping paint, the railing barely within reach, the cold hard concrete at the bottom, the one 40 watt lightbulb dimly lighting the 12 to 14 stairs and that was only if someone had left it on, because I wasn't tall enough to reach the switch... I remember falling down those stairs EVERY time I tried to descend them, so much so that I remember being at the top and thinking a small child's version of "The only way I ever make it down these stairs is by falling, so... away we go". And eventually ... now you're hoping I say, "Eventually I learned how walk down them without falling", but that sadly isn't the case.... no, eventually I learned that crying at the bottom just took up time. The pain became predictable and therefore manageable. That's life. It's going to hurt a little bit and maybe even A LOT. Over time I became tall enough to grasp the railing to the stairs with both hands... But those stairs taught me a very important lesson: they were never going to change, I had to adapt. I had to get smarter, stronger, braver, and never give up. 
So to wrap up these acrobatic contortions of my ever evolving thoughts on life and learning, I will say: we'll stumble and fail - you can count on it; we may or may not be successful, but we will keep getting up every day, because you just never know; life will never get easy; but no matter what above all else - we will be kind. 
I hope this blog finds you practicing at something you love, just because you love it. And if you don't have anything (legal;) that you enjoy doing, I hope you find someone who is practicing at something they love and you practice right along with them, just for the sheer energy involved in having a "passion". Happy practicing!!                  


*The above paintings are the 'dot paintings' I was working on at the time of writing this. I hope to do a 'tips and tricks for dot painting' blog soon.