A Gift for My Neighbor - Saving Memories

 

Over the weekend, I talked with my neighbor over our shared backyard fence. He was power washing his driveway so he could patch the cement work. I noticed that a piece of it displayed paw prints from one of their dogs who passed away last year. In fact, I held and comforted Barney while his wife got ready to take him to the vet. He didn't come back.

I knew that she would have wanted to keep the part of the driveway that held his pawprints, but her hubby had already started chipping away at it. I asked for the remaining pieces of concrete and just finished putting the pieces together and decorating the finished product.

My neighbor has a lovely garden in her backyard and I made her a garden plaque to remember Barney. After using E6000 adhesive, I used gold acrylic paint and gold glitter glue around the top edges and in the grooves that spelled his name and the date. I threw on a few sequins before the varnish dried.

I'm waiting overnight before I place it in her garden so that the E6000 can dry completely. I'm surprised it worked on concrete! It should be a nice surprise for her. She thinks her husband got rid of this treasured memento of her Schnauser, Barney. It looks rough, but I'm glad I could repair it for her...

Upcycling a Thrift Store Find - Garden Decor

 

I started watching a series on Netflix that shows how a person can decorate/furnish their home for practically pennies. This inspired me to go out to my garage and find something to upcycle for my home. I discovered a rusted metal watering can that I had purchased at Savers for $2 last year.

After washing and sanding (and sanding and sanding), I had a canvas for my paints. I first sprayed the whole can with orange spray paint. Then I added dark Turquoise chalk paint on top of that. Then I took another square of sandpaper and roughed up the edges, letting the orange color come though. It looked like...hmm, a rusted old watering can?! Well, let's just say my can was "artfully antiqued".

I used a stencil and some copper paint, along with a botanical border, to give it some style. I tried to re-bend the handle but it was stronger than I am! When the can was dry, I used gloss varnish, thereby cancelling the "artistically-antiqued" look. But I wanted the look to last throughout the Chicago weather, so it's okay. Breathe...

Once dry (again), I pulled out a few strings of tiny twinkle lights and threaded them through the can's spout. I hung the can over my tiny garden in front of my  house. I left the lights on, and I can't wait to see it lit up!! Updated photo below:

Challenges I am Entering:

Morgan's Art World - A/G

Arty Divas - A/G

the Creative Crafters - A/G

Fast & Furious Cardmaking

 

This morning I tried to declutter my card supplies stash. I gathered quite a few ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) and remembered a fast and furious method to create cards - Use ATCs as the centerpiece on the front of cards! So the declutter stopped and the card making began...

These eight cards were created in twenty minutes (after gathering some cardstock, tape, etc). About half of them were ATCs made by me, and there's one created with one of my water colors. Now I have cards to donate to the VA Hospital for patients or guests to use. 

I'll have to declutter more often! I know I have at least another year's worth of stash to swim through and use...

I am Entering:

the Corrosive Challenge blog - Anything Goes

Your Scrapbook Place - anything Goes

A Beautiful Day

 

Today was a beautiful day...to paint, to walk the dog, to enjoy the breeze, smell the blooming flowers, pick strawberries from my garden, to just be alive. 

I have stacks of canvas, pieces of wood, shelves of paint, thrift store items to be upcycles, and clean brushes in hand. Today I'm going to my happy place. I'm going to paint!

And paint I did. I created an acrylic paint pour canvas, and after it was dry, I stenciled this awesome quote onto it. A couple layers of gloss varnish and just took a photo of my canvas. And I like it! LOL

If you haven't tried pour painting, it's messy, it's tricky, but it's worth the effort. Just make sure EVERYTHING is covered. I might have a couple drops of paint on my ceramic tile. And watch what you wear. I now have a pile of (paint-stained) shirts to take to the trailer for when I'm working on my 1987 model RV. Some things are worth the price...

This canvas is going to my trailer. I have an RV near several state parks and the quote is perfect!

Challenges I am Entering:

613 Avenue Create - A/G optl. summertime

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - A/G

We Love to Create - A/G mixed media

Perfect for a Fairy Garden

 My daughter's best friend (and my daughter-by-another-mother) is getting married this year! I'm so happy for her. Besides planning for a wedding, she's designing her garden. She asked me if I could make a few mushrooms for it. Well,  I can't "make" mushrooms, but I dug into my stash and found some from  Hobby Lobby on clearance last winter. There were six plaster mushrooms, so of course I bought them all! LOL

Once home, I put a base coat of white on each. I used acrylic paint and ended up with these five. Don't ask about the sixth one (Taps playing softly). Besides, unless you're arranging them in a specific pattern, an odd number is best, don't you think?

I also have a small gnome figure from Dollar Store that has been gathering dust. I was going to paint him, too, but does anyone know if gnomes and fairies even like each other, let alone share their living space? Please leave a comment and let me know...I don't want a turf war! LOL

Challenges I am Entering:

the Crafty Addicts - Anything Goes (A/G)

A Place to Start - A/G

Crafting from the Heart - A/G (no cards)

Use Your Stuff - Anything Goes using your stash

Using Nature to Paint a Canvas

 

I finally broke out of the "painters' Block" I was stuck in. I pulled out a circular piece if wood for my canvas. I had seen on Pinterest this technique of using a leaf to paint on and transferring it over to my canvas. I sanded and coated it with chalk paint and then stated the tedious process of "stamping" with my leaves, waiting for that to dry, then going over the whole area with watered down paint. While impatiently waiting for the opportunity to paint another layer, I had to admit that the time was well worth it.

There are about six layers of acrylic paint on my project. I can either hang it on a wall, sell it or make a plant stand or patio table out of it.I seem to remember having a couple of these round pieces of wood. Hmm...

What do you think I should do with this? Do you have other ideas I can use for it? Let me know in the comments section please!

Patterns Are Fun!

The optional twist at the Path of Positivity challenge blog is to use pattern. I pulled a digi paper from my collection of Decosse's Digital Doodles. This is paper you can print out and/or create a digital card. I printed mine out.

Using dimensional tape, I gave my Scribbles Image some pop. The image is called F185 Wooly Wink and can be found HERE. I created the sentiment on Photoshop Elements (I finally upgraded to the 2022 version). The font is called Postino Std Italic.

The paper's polka dots really sang to me, so I wanted to continue the dots with the five adhesive re d pearls. The card seemed very simplistic to me, so I added a paper doily behind the dotted aper and added a strip of cording.

The Path of Positivity offers monthly challenges and the twists are always optional. I hope to see you at the challenge blog!