Time to Glitter!-Glitter Houses for you to make!

It is a shiny and sparkly time of year. 

Time to make it sparkle a little more, -who doesn't love a little Glitter?
This time I'm making this sweet little glitter house.

Click here to go to the Video instructions!

It only takes a little bit of time, card stock or thin cardboard like cereal boxes or face tissue boxes with pretty patterns, old Christmas cards just about anything that you like the look of or can be painted is fair game! Glue gun and glue sticks, craft knife, scissors, metal edged ruler, white glue or decoupage glue, and the glitter of your choice. I used ultra fine glitter on my examples.

Here is my template pattern to get you started.

Right Click on the image to save to your computer and then print!

There are many references on the internet for Glitter houses also known as Putz houses-

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Little Glitter Houses is an amazing resource!

Big Indoor Trains - This is a site that has loads of templates, patterns and instructions for building an entire village!

Remember to get out and do something creative!

Do you wann build...a Gnome? #lovewinterart

Hi there! Lots of creating going on right now, it is the season for it. :) this is video #2 of my #lovewinterart projects!

I just put up a sweet little project- it is a felt gnome. Made with just a couple pieces of felt a bit of stuffing, some pennies to put in the base and just a drop or two of glue.

First here't the pattern, just print, cut and trace the pieces on your felt.

And here's the link to the video to show you haw to put it together!

Felt Gnome DIY!

Please let me know what you think! Leave a comment be fore you go so I know you were here. :)

Remember to get out and Do Something Creative!

Do you #lovewinterart?

I sure do #lovewinterart! I'm playing with the great folks at the Creative Arts Collaboration this week from December 9-13. Anything winter art is the theme.

My project for this awesome event is a sweet little snowman..... Trapped in a Snowglobe! I have even created a traceable snowglobe pattern for you if you want to paint it too and it can even be a coloring page if you have little ones that want to do the same art as you!

Here's the Traceable/coloring sheet that you can download to your computer and print out so you can follow along!

To trace on to the canvas just print out on regular paper, rub the BACKSIDE of the paper with chalk or pencil then lay the chalk side down on the canvas and trace over the lines with a ball point pen to transfer the image to the canvas!

Here's the finished painting-

Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of this lesson! Head over to Youtube and subscribe to my channel too if you want to be notified when I have new videos go up. :)

Remember to get out and do something creative!

Felt Fortune Cookies Ornament or gift...?

Hey there! I just posted a new video perfect for ANY holiday or gift giving opportunity. :)

Fortune Cookies made from craft felt. Quick and Easy!


You only need some felt, needle and thread, a pair of scissors that will cut the felt and something to trace around to make your circle between 2-3 inches across.



Check it out and let me know what you think, please leave me a comment!

The Cutest Recycled 3D Cardboard Owl

Here's my newest video! I'm so excited and hope you are too.



These little guys are made with recycle cardboard, buttons and white glue! They take less than an hour to make and are really fun. Do you have an owl lover in your life? Want to make some decorations for your tree? Check out the video, Leave me a comment to let me know you were here and what you thought of the video.



Remember to get out and do something creative!

My first ever Youtube Craft Video!

 Please let me know if you have any suggestions for lessons. I'd also love to know any thing that you notice that would b helpful for me to improve.



Don't forget to click Like, Comment and Subscribe on my Youtube Channel.





Remember to get out and do something creative!SB

Over the River and Through the Woods...

It's Thanksgiving in just a week and I have a new painting to celebrate the coming of winter.

The painting is 16x20" painted in acrylic. I am so happy to be able to share my art with you.

I'm hoping this winter and the holidays that it brings will find you warm, with enough to eat and people you care about and who care about you. I know I"ll be saying this many more times as the coming weeks pass. :)

I hope you enjoy this painting - Over the River and Through the Woods...

Remember to get out and do something creative! (Yes, cooking a turkey can be something creative!)
Cheers!

Winter Robin

I love Robins! They are small, cute and a sweet reminder of the promise of spring to come. I did this painting based partly on a phot from Paint My Photo and free photography resource for artists.

This painting was done on a 10x10" canvas in acrylic paint.

It will probably end up as a holiday gift this year. :) Who knows who will end up with it? I don't even know yet!

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to get out and do something creative! If you have a chance please leave a comment and let me know that you were here. :)

Autumn Birch

My Newest painting inspired by Cinnamon Cooney the Art Sherpa on YouTube The Autumn Birch tree.

I love the colors and the angle that she chose to paint and that she shares the step by step on how to accomplish it.

This is my version of her tree. As an artist we can be inspired and we can follow directions when we have to, but gee, it's even more fun when you start finding your oven voice in the artistic choir!

I hope you have a glorious day and get out and do something creative!

Painting on Leaves

After viewing a live class by Cinnamon Cooney on painting Pumpkins on Leaves I wanted to try it out. I decided that I wanted to have leaves that would last longer so I grabbed a few real leaves and traced them on to brown kraft paper, cut them out. Then I coated them with a Fluid Mat Medium to seal the paper to make it ready for painting on with acrylic paints.

I have now finished 3 different ones. 2 were based on art from the online classes:








The 3 Pumpkins Leaf

The Cardinal and the Snowman.

The Third leaf was done from a photograph I found on Paint My Photo. A free photo resource for artists.

To say that I'm having a blast would be an understatement! I am totally enjoying myself and am looking forward to finding new subjects to paint on a leaf!

I hope you are getting out and doing something creative!
Please leave a comment and let me know you were here. I really do appreciate it. :)

Is it too early???

Catbat from a class by Cinnamon Cooney. My Catbat and soot sprites  are already getting out the holiday lights! This was a fun little acrylic painting done on a canvas panel board.

Getting ready for the holiday season seems to start earlier each year! But when you are making gifts for friends and family you have to start early!

I hope you are getting out and doing something creative every day. Please leave a comment and let me know you were here! I appreciate every comment. :)

The North Head Lighthouse

Fresh off the easel is my newest painting! I participated in a Live Class with Cinnamon Cooney and about 95 other folks! It was so much fun and exciting to get it done in just 3 hours! I did change the lighthouse to an actual lighthouse about 1.5 hours away from my home. :)

This was done on a 16x20 with acrylic paint.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you get out and do something creative today! Please leave me a comment, I'd love to know you were here!

Happy Autumn!

Joy and happy thoughts to you all! I just finished my newest painting and I'm pleased as punch about it now that it is done.

It was hard going for a while though. I went a bit wild and crazy with the leaves and covered up way too much of the dog. So I took the canvas to the sink and used a scrubby pad to remove the offending leaves.Then I had to repaint in the dog and the leaves.

The whole painting was so much better after washing it off and repainting, crazy I know! It is funny to realize that when things are not going the right direction that you can back up and start over! But the key is to never give up. It usually ends up as a learning experience even if the final painting isn't quite what you anticipated.

Remember to do something creative every day!
Cheers!
Stephanie

Pocket Squirrel?

Hi there! I thought I'd share my newest painting with a couple photos of the process.

Start with the basic blocking in and then work my way through the layers of the Ugly stage to the Finished painting.

I have been learning that every painting has an ugly stage at least with acrylic paintings.

After the initial blocking in and working in the dark and light tones you really start to see the form of the subject. Then you start working in more and more detail until it is finished to your liking.




One of the coolest things about Acrylic painting is that acrylic paint dries so fast! You can really have a completed painting in just a few hours of work.




If you paint in something that you don't like, you can dry the painting and paint right over that part of the painting over and over again. There was a lot of drying and doing over on this painting :) Getting little Chippy in with a bit of personality was a challenge but I think I got it pretty well in the end.

Getting more and more refined...

Finished!

I even put in the top stitching on all the seams. I'm pretty darned pleased with this painting too!

If you found this interesting please leave a comment and let me know!

The photo I worked from was taken by the Awesome Photographer Betsy Seeton--Painted with her permission!

Remember to get out and do something creative today!
Cheers-Stephanie

1945 Ford F1 Rusty Farm Truck...

I had the opportunity to do a Live class with Cinnamon Cooney on Youtube.

I actually finished the painting in less than 2.5 hours along with the live class!! 

This was a great class with loads of new to me techniques! I have been so excited by these classes the opportunities to learn about acrylic painting in a fun and supportive environment. If you have a chance check her out!

A rose by any other name...

I just realized that I hadn't posted this rose to my blog! What an oversight.

I  did something just for my self! 

I painted this 16"x20" Rose! It is based on a rose from Paint My Photo and an online class by Cinnamon Cooney. It took me about 3 hours to do  

I think there may be a bit more work to be done on it. But I can live with it this way so I'm calling it finished...for now. 

smile emoticon

On the Wild side!

Hello! It is time for another painting. This time it is one that I designed myself. I worked for several evenings on it and I think it is pretty much done. The School that I work at has the Wildcat as a mascot and we are celebrating our 20th school year. There are about 5 people still working at the building that have been there since the first day. and I'm proud to say that I'm one of them!

So here's the sketch based on a photo that I found on the internet - I painted the background (Phalo Blue and Yellow Oxide and Diazonine Purple making a neat greeny, blue purple) let it dry and then drew the sketch with a white watercolor pencil.

 The painting was then done over several days. Blocking in then working the details in  with just a few colors(Cadmium Yellow Medium, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Yellow Oxide, Burnt Umber and Mars Black) and lots of mixing to get the shades and tones. I really am happy with how the eyes turned out. I'm still working on making fur look furry but as with everything it's a learning curve!


Thanks for looking and remember to get out and do something creative everyday!

I'd love to hear what you think and if you are interested in starting to paint in acrylics I really recommend Cinnamon Cooney - The Art Sherpa. Her art is accessible to all ages and she is such a positive person who really helps you see what  you are capable of.

Don't Blink!

Okay I did it! I painted a Weeping Angel too. :)

Being inspired by my hubby and watching the online free class by Cinnamon Cooney.

Now, Cinnamon the #Artsherpa is an awesome instructor who shares her art and her heart freely on Youtube! Check out this class on the Weeping Angel .

The angel that Cinnamon did was a different pose than the one I did but I was so inspired by her that I had to do an angel!

The thing that I'm trying to figure out is if I want to do the glow in the dark paint on this so when the black light is turned on you will just see the face similar to the one in the online class. You won't see the hands in the dark just the glowing face. I need to see if I should varnish first then put the Glow paint on. It is a translucent paint that won't really show in daylight but will when the black light is turned on.

If I do add the glow paint I'll make a different post showing the finished painting in the glowing state.
:)
Remember to get out and do something creative!

Oh it is almost Dr Who!

Oh so creepy! Don't blink...

My Hubby drew this then painted it in acrylic on 9x12 inches.

Loving that he's finding his creative mojo!

My acrylic painting on a 9x12" canvas board was more the traditional fall/harvest/ halloween style--

House on haunted hill????

The lighting is a bit off on this photo but I hope you get that spooky vibe I was trying for. :)
I really like the glowing lights in the windows of the house. I got that by painting the background with a mix of Cad Red and Cad Yellow Medium then painting the house leaving the windows open. Then did the sky and then the hill and tree. Finishing it off with the pumpkins and the cat.

I may add a bit more of a misty fog to the painting I haven't decided yet.

I hope you are getting out and being creative every day!

Koi pond on a tiny canvas

Here we go! My husband sort of challenged me with asking about painting on a tiny canvas. I told him painting tiny is just as hard as painting big and will take almost the same amount of time if you are doing detail.

So I picked up a couple 4x4 inch canvases and I was inspired by Cinnamon Cooney a fantastic artist who has been so generous posting acrylic painting tutorials on Youtube for free!

One of the things I love about acrylic is that it drys really fast. But I also hate that it dries so fast! Especially when it is a tiny canvas and there isn't as much paint on it to stay wet any time at all. Didn't help that it was 93 degrees today.

Hope you have a great day and remember to do something creative!
SB

What did the Fox say?

Here's my newest painting- I'll even show you the 2 versions. Yeah two versions. So I was following along with  and her How to Paint an Fox  painting class on Youtube and be bopped along and got it done. 

The next morning I looked at it and decided that I had made the space above the eyes and below the ears too short and took action that evening. 

I could have stopped at the first one but I knew I'd never hang it on the wall. By reworking it and following my inner sense of what needed to be done for this painting I ended up with a painting that actually looks finished to my eye and  I'm pretty darn proud of it now. :) 

Thanks for looking!
Remember to Do Something Creative today!

He's looking at me.....

I just took time for myself and had a painting evening!

I found an awesome Youtube Artist - @artsherpa Cinnamon Cooney Hart Party. She has this great energy and loves life and creativity and is willing to share it all with us for free! How great is that?!

I'm looking forward to more creative fun with Cinnamon!\

So here's my Big Eye Owl--She did her's on a 16x20 inch canvas but I only had a 9x12 so I had to modify the proportions but I think mine came out pretty well. What do you think?

I just have to varnish it but I'm letting it cure for a few days first. Thanks for stopping by. Let me know you came by. remember to do something creative every day!

Well...I may just start this up again...

Hi there! Well...it has been a while since I last posted and even though I have been doing creative stuff the Blogging just wasn't top of my list as far a fun things go.

I'm starting to do more online creative play with other like minded individuals-- hey there #KraaftShaack folks!  Gelli Plate printmaking and Acrylic painting mixed media art have been the focus lately so here's a peek at what I have been doing!

The tomatoes are a heritage variety that I don't even know the name of. These are the first tomatoes of the season from my garden. They were painted on a background that I made using a Gelli Arts printing plate, acrylic paint and stencils for texture. To paint the actual tomatoes I used Uni Posca Acrylic paint pens and then did my final details and shadows with Liquitex Basics acrylic paints.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. The Uni Posca Pens are interesting. They are really acrylic paint in a pen that you can draw with. The colors do blend, but you have to clean the tips when you go from a dark color and switch to a lighter color.

I decided that after doing as much as I could with the pens (the top photo), I needed more smoothness in the colors and some shadows on the background that were more transparent(the bottom photo).

I need to work more on doing the reflected highlights but the perspective and general shapes were pretty good.

I'm so excited that my husband has decided to try out drawing and painting too. Some of his art may make it in to the blog from time to time too.

So this is still going to be a random project blog for now and I don't promise any regularity in the blogs but I hope that when I do post it will be either fun or educational or maybe even both!

Until later! Get out there and do something creative!