Friday Photos~

Photos~

An attempted nap. Laid there and played with my phone and instagram.

Never actually slept. Brain would not stop.

My patio chair cushions were looking grimy. bleck.

New cushions average $30 each! and I need 6. ouch.

So I researched fabric spray paint.

I chose Simply Spray brand from Amazon.

Averaged $10 per can (with shipping and tax)... 

not cheap but less than replacing and easier than sewing covers... 

It took about one full can per pillow, as some seemed to absorb into the fabric.

Be sure to choose a color that compliments the original color as some does blend through, it's better to work with it rather than against it.

I chose a dark grey to go over the tan. The colors of DIRT.

Boring, but practical. I will add color with throw pillows.

I still might stamp something on them, maybe... but it will be subtle.

 Paul found a spot on the pigs that, when rubbed, causes them to plunk over on their sides.

He finds this extremely amusing.

 Here is the progression of our workshop we are building off the back of the barn. 

As of Wed. the 26th.

Roof is ready for metal. 

Walls are sooner easy for windows and metal siding... 

If you look close you can see Paul, grinning.

Eve is taking 'before' photos of the garden plot that is to become 

the Battle Ground Community Garden (Facebook link). 

She is setting up their blog (blog link) and volunteering to prepare and mentor.

Yesterday I did some creativity exercises with myself.

Made some Rex Ray and Matisse inspired paper collages. 

The girls had to climb the barn walls and sit in the rafters.

Had. To.

 

Studio Spring Cleaning~

It's t.i.m.e. Time for spring!

Which means spring cleaning.

The studio needed some serious attention, the dust was embarrassing 

and the space needed logically reconfigured.

My space is sort of split into two, since the room used to be a porch (waaaay before we lived here), the front door is in the middle and the room is long and narrow.

The left side used to be for art journaling and crafting and the right for painting and sewing.

I was always moving the sewing machine to paint, or the paints to sew, and when I wanted to paint in my journals, I had to drag one or the other from side to side. duh me.

After several days of knitting and contemplating 

(I get a LOT of thinking done while I knit), I figured it out.

Here are before and after pics of the left side...

(Click on any pic to see larger images)

Before it was for art journaling and crafting.

I always have to include a shot of my helpers.

Now it is just for sewing, spinning and yarn storage. 

The sewing machines do not need to get moved back and forth 

and projects can stay in progress and not be disturbed.

Sewing machine and serger each have a 'place' and do not need to be moved back and forth.

My threads are all on their happy hanger, under my Allen Designs Cat clock! 

 The center wall is directly across from the front door and 

has a doorway on either side that lead into the living room.

Here is the before shot of my ikea cubes, packed full of books, fabrics and paints.

I stole the book shelves from the kitchen (where they were only collecting jars and dust) 

and put them on the center wall.  Extra storage space! yay!

The cubes got moved to the end wall in the painting area (scroll down to see pics of that)

The new shelves now hold only paints and painting supplies... all together in one spot!

Here is a before shot of the painting end...which held the paints & supplies 

and all of the sewing stuff.... a hot mess!

Here are more fun shots of the madness...

We removed the long shelf from the end wall and 

put the white ikea cubes from the center wall in it's place. 

Here it is before adding all of the art journaling supplies...

Here they are all filled up with my magical supplies!

Eve is already spread out on the floor, "arting" up a storm.

Painting table...

View out the window of the painting table.... see the bee hives?

Now the painting and journaling can stay out, works in progress do not need to be moved much.

Time to create and make this room a mess again!

Halloween Spray Painted Jars~

Last week Jackie sent me a link to a DIY for spray painted jars... So our play day project was just that.

She made yarn wrapped jars which came out cute, and I decided to do some super tacky Halloween themed jars.... jack o' lantern and black cats!

First step was to mask off part of the jar. I used simple making tape and drew my design on with pencil. I cut the features I wanted masked off with an exacto knife and peeled away the excess tape.

We then took the jars outside and spray painted them. I think they each got three light coats total. We sprayed until they looked covered. No exact science here.

The black cat jars got a coat of matte black (which I love love LOVE), and the jacks? Some got a coat of orange then neon-pinkish orange, and the rest just the neon. This pinkish orange fluorescent/neon color makes me weak in the knees.

Once they were dry I peeled the making tape off, put votives in and lit them. MEH.
Not so spectacular. The features were lost on the pumpkins and the cats just disappeared. duh. Black jars don't really glow that much. (no pics of this step, I sort of had a mini-tantrum).

Next day my brain kicked in and I decided to paint the Jack's featured black. I used acrylic, which will probably peel off at some point. Not so worried about this as they are not handled much. A sharpie marker may work better? I will try that if the paint peels off.

The cat jars got a layer of white gesso inside. WORKED! yay.  

Once lit, the effect is a bit woozy, which is just perfect!

Craft Hope~ Bracelets for Russia

My friend Michelle rocks.
She is a busy artist/business woman/mother so getting together to art and hang out does not happen as often as we would like, but when we do... watch out!
Most of the time we just chat and brainstorm, but last Friday we made stuff. Cool stuff!

It was her idea to make bracelets for Craft Hope... Project 12: Orphan Outreach.
Here are photos she so graciously shared.. it was late in the evening and I forgot my camera. doh!

Most of the bracelets in the wagon were made by Eve & Ann last fall for their GS troop. 

They donated them for Craft Hope. 

I crocheted a pile from my handspun foozles and beads. They are in there somewhere...

The cuffs in the front were made by Michelle. 

My favorites? The collaboration bracelets... Michelle sewed my crochet bracelets to her cuffs.

You can see one here... it's the second from the left.

The second one? I totally snagged and kept. >:)

Here is a link to Michelle's post about it. With more pics!

Can you please transfer me?

A few weeks ago, during "Studio Day", Jackie and I were playing with transfer methods.... and inevitably made a huge mess, but had a ton of fun.

Jackie Sparkles in a blur of activity.

Here are some shots of my scruffy results.... I am a fan of the scruffiness. I figure if I want a perfect image I can just collage it on, right? 

I was working in my old altered leather cover scrapbook album.

The rat genetics images are from Vintage Printable.(a rockin' free image blog)

Cat image is my Ezmaralda.

Rat genetics close-up.

The bee image below is from Vintage Printable also... 

MESS! This one came out a mess, I deemed it abstract and will use it as a design element instead. 

Not a bad thing, just a make-it-work-happy-accident.

Here is a link for some awesome transfer methods!

You may be familiar with some of these methods, but I wanted to share my excitement with you!

Any other links you know of please share in the comments???

Links in this post:

Vintage Printable

Transfer Method Links from "Mixed media Artist"

Jackie Sparkles

My Vintage Scrapbook Album post~