Hey friends! First, I want to welcome any new blog readers that may have found us through our book! Thanks so very much for visiting! We hope you'll stick around!
This weekend was filled with lots of different things...what else is new right? We are always bouncing around from task to task. We filled some orders, prepped for new ones, picked up some supplies at Michaels, and a bunch of other things. I always get a bit nervous on Sundays...almost like I have got to hurry up and cram in as much as I can before the weekend ends. I see the weekend as this time when the pause button gets pressed and I get to run around a do a bunch of stuff while "life" is paused...but as the end of Sunday nears I dread the unpausing. I wish I could say that I get the idea of a lazy Sunday, but I don't. Sunday is my time to catch up and set up for the new week. And I know I'm not the only one. I know you peeps with kiddos don't ever get lazy Sundays...you're preparing the kids for the upcoming school week, finally grocery shopping, getting caught up on laundry. So a whole lot of you guys get what I mean.
Now as far as weekend creative projects go...I was able to afford myself a little time for those. Not much time...but just enough. I started out with those sweet little putz houses you see above. They were sent from a very sweet friend to replace some that we had lost. They were already super cute but the whole plan was to give them a bit of a makeover. I was first inspired when I was painting in the studio the other day. I looked over and saw a couple of the houses peeking out of a box and I thought that they'd look much sweeter if they were in the tones of paint that had on my palette. I'll have to chip away at them to get them done looking...but they already look pretty happy in their new colors!
While we were at Michaels we found some great ornaments. Clear glass balls, paper mach stars, and plain plaster ornaments. Everything as 40% off so we grabbed a few of each.
We had been wanting to give this next idea a try for a while. Just clear glass balls with craft paint dripped inside and shaken to coat the sides. So easy!
The opacity of the paint behind the shine of the glass is so so pretty! But before you give these a go I have a few tips for you. I painted 4 balls, two pink, and two aqua. I used Americana multi surface satin craft paint, which you can find in the craft paint aisle. Each ball took about 5-8 squirts of paint. When shaking up the ornies to get the paint to coat all of the inside surface you will be surprised by how tired your arm gets. I joked that I should be able to log my ornament shaking as exercise on the My Fitness Pal app! The whole process is a trial and error thing, so it's best to do one ball first so that you can gauge the kind of work you have to look forward to. I would do 3 squirts, and then shake shake shake and tilt...and then add a few more squirts. You may have tiny little areas that seem like they aren't getting any paint... but just keeeep shaking! The spots will fill in! Now here is where I will be honest. I had them all coated on the work table and then moved on to other projects. But before bed I put the caps/hangers back on the ornaments and hung them on our tree. No we do not "really" have our tree up. But the other day when it came in the mail we had to set it up and plug it in...you know..."just to make sure it works." ;) And since then it has been standing in the middle of the living room, and every now again I'll give an ornament a test run. Before truly decorating for Christmas we have to first paint the walls and get carpeting.
Ok, so back to the ornaments. I hung them on the tree to see them with the twinkle of the lights, and then went up to bed. So the next morning I walked into the living room the morning with a smile...but the smile soon turned into a gasp. One of the ornaments, most likely the one I painted last, had lost all of the paint from it's sides...not 100%, but at least 30% of the paint had run down the sides and pooled in the bottom of the ornament. I grabbed the ornament to shake the paint back up the sides, but of course by this time the paint had dried. But I was able to squeeze more paint in, shake it up, and cover the blank spots. It looks fine now...but there are a few "swirls" of darker pigment. So what I learned is this...give your balls plenty of time to dry before allowing gravity to pool the paint in the bottom. I suggest laying them back in the pkg they came in to dry, but turn them and flip them randomly throughout the day while they're drying.
They truly look BEAUTIFUL on the tree! And the sky is the limit with color! Great project to do as a family, with the kids. It's so cool to be able to pick out the exact paint colors you want for your ornaments and for them to come out looking so perfect!
Here are the plaster ornaments I grabbed at Michaels. Aren't they so cute?
I just painted them in with my "Jenny colors" and added an antiquing wash and some speckling. And then I added some of my favorite black and white bakers twine. I really like how they turned out. They are also hanging on my tree that isn't actually up. ;)
We were so excited to see this pic! Our book is now available at The Ink Pad in NYC. YAY! It's such a fantastic shop! If you haven't been there, you will be amazed at how much perfect crafty stuff they've got crammed into such a tiny space! Stamps galore and tons of paper goods. They also host classes with the very best in the mixed media industry! We are really looking forward to joining The Ink Pad's long list of faculty. We're honored to know these gals and thrilled to have them so close by. They are located at 37 Seventh Avenue, at the corner of 13th Street. A great neighborhood to shop and grab lunch in.
And I just had to share some of these adorable pics of our book out in the world!...There she is...out there among bunnies, babies, puppies, kitties! So fun!!
Just wanted to pop in and say hi, and share some tips on painting ornaments, since so many folks seemed excited about the idea when I posted on facebook and instagram. I wanted to follow up and let you know that although they are easy, they aren't completely fool proof.
Thanks for visiting! hope you are enjoying your Sunday!
(Walking Dead tonight!! YES!)
xo Jenny...and Aaron says hi!!