Oops!

Sorry about the duplicate post (for email subscribers only) from May on my daughter's prom...not quite sure what happened there.  I was working on pulling some material from my blog for my website and I must have accidentally hit a button. Ooops!

Anyway, my website is coming along slowly but surely and I hope to launch it early next month ~ so stay tuned!!!! I can't wait for the big reveal!

Come make a Splash with me!

Come splash around with some stencil fun today as I post a video tutorial at StencilGirl Talk making this cute little baby turtle!

See you there!

What's going on around here...

Around here... I have been busy with the start of school, writing a gazillion checks, taking care of all the stuff that has been pushed aside, enjoying the start of high school soccer, working and setting up concessions at said soccer games, fitting time in for art and time for play.  Here is a recap in photos of my week.

paperwork ...ugh!

tennis date with my son...fun!

new studio creations!

Hope you have FANTASTIC week!

A video debut!

Well here is my tutorial on the birthday sign I was having problems with before the StencilGirl Blog Hop went live, but it is available now to watch if you like. It is my first attempt at creating an art video, so it is a bit rough around the edges.  For the full tutorial on both projects scroll down to my "Celebrate and giveaway!" post and read more.

I hope to improve my techniques in editing, and get better background music too.  Enjoy!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

First Day of School 2013

Happy to see the wonderful people my children are becoming...but a bit sad they are off to school again and won't get to hang out with me during the day.

Today was the first day of school. A Friday. A half day. Don't even get me started on how ridiculous I think that is....

But my sweet girl became a junior in high school today...she is...

confident

smart

independent

athletic

beautiful

sassy

social

my first born, my daughter and my mini-me in many ways!

My son became an 8th grader...he is...

kind

funny

sensitive

intelligent

athletic

charming

handsome

my baby, my only son and he is still a hugger (which I am very thankful for)!

Here they are after their long day (I kid) opening their traditional First Day of School cones (read about the tradition here) that I fill with goodies for them. I put anything in it from earbuds to school supplies to underwear. They have been getting one on the first day of school every single year. I anticipate doing this for them in college too.  It is something they LOVE and look forward at the end of each first day of school.

Love you both very much and hope your school year is full of great learning, good friends, quality teachers and happy memories!
BIG FAT MAMA HUGS to you both!!

Celebrate!....and a giveaway!!!

Welcome to our August Blog Hop featuring June Pfaff Daley's Cupcake Sprinkles stencil from StencilGirl Products!

I created two things with June's stencil and will attempt to explain them both since the video I created for the first one did not come out.  I am a technological work in progess ~ hope with my upgraded computer I will be able to show you some videos soon! 

So the first thing I made was a door hanger or sign.  Birthdays are big in our house so we like to make the birthday girl or boy feel super special on their day ~ I thought this little door hanger would be great to post on their door on their special day. But honestly it could be used for any special day ~ after all there are a lot more things to celebrate throughout the year to only limit ourselves to ONE day! :)

Birthday/ Celebration Door Hanger Sign

(1) First thing I did was  take a 5x7 white canvas and paint with mixture of red and orange paints in loose stripes.  

(2) After that dried, I took the stencil and used molding paste to create the cupcake and dimensions all around the canvas.

(3) Once the molding paste was dry, I painted the cupcake and circles and added glitter to give the piece a fest vibe.

(4) Then I screwed 3 eye hooks into the canvas so I could make it in to a hanger.  Two on the top near the edges but not too far.  One on the bottom center.

(5) I then took festive ribbons from my scraps and threaded them through the eye holes of the screws to make a hanger on the top and just some festive fun on the bottom.  I added a button and charm for the center of the festive ribbon bunch on the bottom.  The charm says "wish"/

My second project I did take more step-by-step photos.  I created a gift bag. It could be for a birthday gift or any "happy" as I like to call them. After all, the best gifts are for no reason at all.

 Gift Bag

(1) I took a muslin bag that I saved from something ~ honestly I don't remember. I just save these kinds of things, thinking "one day I can make something with this" and it goes into that pile.  Do you have a pile like that??

(2) I selected my color palette ~ quinocridone magenta, orange, green and bahama blue.

(3) I placed cardboard in the bag so the paint wouldn't seep to the other side.

(4) Instead of using brushes and water, I used cosmetic sponges to carefully apply the paint, working with small amounts and gently dabbing over and over until I got an image I was happy with.

So this is what it looks like so far...

Okay, here I added orange and I thought to myself..."ew...not liking it so much".  But unlike canvas, it is muslin and it's not so easy just to paint over it.  So I decided to paint over it in another way, I added one of the other patterns on top with some white paint. It gave it more of a vintage-y feel.  Yes, I just made up the word vintage-y. :)

I continued the process with other paints and patterns within the stencil. I also added some white sprinkles to my cupcake.

(5)  I wanted to define my cupcake just a bit so I used my 0.3 micron pen in black to add some detailing.

(6) I then stamped "oh happy day" on the bag for a final touch.

 So there you have it ~ two projects to celebrate those special birthdays in your family!

Enjoy and make sure to leave a comment so you can be entered to win this bundle of sweet crafting supplies including Basic Grey stickers, washi tape, rhinestones, icraft cards and envelopes and an "enjoy today" stamp.

Keep hopping along and enjoying the great art tutorials!

StencilGirl Talk 

June Pfaff Daley

Mary Beth Shaw

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Paula Phillips-Journal Artista

Kirsten Reed ...you are here now

Marjie Kemper...go here next

Mary C. Nasser

Carolyn Dube

Maria McGuire

And the winner is...

Thank you all for the wonderful feedback on the Stencil Girl Blog Hop ~~ I loved seeing ALL the different ways to create from the same stencil! I feel very lucky to work with such a creative team at StencilGirl.

Remember you can come back to the post and watch them again at any time. Bookmark them as "favorites" for when you need some creative inspiration.

I know I will!

And as promised I drew a name for the winner of Mary Beth Shaw's wonderful book Flavor for Mixed Media, a $25 value.


And the winner is:

giniginJuly 27, 2013 at 9:19 PM

Thanks for such a thorough tutorial - love those stars! Wish they looked like that in my sky. :-) Please enter me in stencil giveaway, would love to try some of your techniques.

ReplyDelete


Email me at:  kirstenreed@yahoo.com with your mailing informaiton and I will send it out tomorrow!