Black Friday FREE ornament

I decided to make a "black friday" run when I saw that World Market was giving away a FREE ornament with a FREE movie ticket pass! It was a promo for the up and coming The Adventures of Tintin movie. On Sunday, they were giving out the cute dog (Snowy is his name) ornament (which reminded me of my own Bentley pup) so I just HAD to get it! My brother and I raced over to World Market bright and early, and scored two ornaments and two movies tickets! yay!

Being the tricky craft-er I am... I decided to MAKE The Adventures of Tintin pup into my very own Bentley pup! And I think it was appropriate since this year has been a rough year for Bentley; it would be a good memento of the miracles he has been given from healing his 80% scratched cornea to getting rid of Cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) and 3 infections.


Here's how it turned out!
It went from this:



to... this!

Dog Feeding Chart

Last year I was living with my parents (and waiting anxiously to marry Tommy!!!) and my parents have an English Springer Spaniel as well!

Hershey (who just turned 15!!!) is my parent's dog.

Well, since Bentley is my dog, we would always get confused if the dogs were fed or not. I would feed Bentley, thinking mom would feed Hershey... she would do the opposite... and we would try to be nice and feed the other... so the dogs got fed about three times for breakfast... oh it was a mess! So! here was my solution, and I was sooo proud to see it STILL in my mom's laundry room! (we used it when Bentley and I came to visit last week!)




I just took a piece of construction paper and made the chart. (we call our dogs, when they are together, "the brown and whites") Then I took two wooden pins and painted their doggy faces on each (see how Hershey has many freckles and Bentley only has one? True to their faces!!!) and Labeled them with their names. When they are fed, the chart lets you know! Now, no more overfeeding (Sorry Bentley!).

Modern Forest Wall Art

I have become addicted to this site called pinterest.com (follow me!) where you can find SOOOOO many crafts and meals and ideas galore! My mind always swirls with creativity when I find a dozen new things I want to do! The problem can be that there are so many things to do, that you do nothing but save them all for a later day! Well, not me! I have already begun a couple projects inspired by pinterest! Some of which include... a Christmas tree skirt, an autumn yarn wreath, a couple pillows... and THIS! A modern looking forest painting using painters tape. Here it is, hanging in our living room!


Our Living room!

Here's how I did it:

Supplies:
acrylic paints (creme, brown, green)
canvas
painters tape
newspaper (to cover the table!)
paint brushes

Directions:

Paint a creme base coat. While still wet, paint small horizontal brown lines, then use a thicker brush with horizontal brush strokes, to blend in the brown slightly. You are going for a wood look.


Next, use the painters tape to make overlapping trees. Remember, where you put the tape, is where a tree will be. so make the tape as tree like as possible :) Also, make sure it is as tightly on and sticking completely. You dont want paint bleeding!


Then, paint green ALL over. You will have to do several layers. Use a blow dryer to help speed up the process! Also, be careful not to put too much paint on the edges, because that makes more bleeding too.


Then the reveal! So fun! Make sure all paint is dry! and peel off carefully!

Here is the "paint bleeding" I have been so obsessively talking about. When I pulled the tape off, I got some paint bleeding... yuck. BUT IT IS CURE-ABLE!
Before

But with a small paint brush, some creme paint, and some patience... I was able to go over those green blobs and touch up the trees, making them clear and clean!

After

The finished product:

Jar Jack-o-lanterns

I LOVE carving pumpkins, but so far... I haven't gotten around to carving one. I really want to proudly display my pumpkin outside our front door (but that's not allow in our apartment complex) so I could possibly display it on our porch, but I will have to remember no real fire is allowed. Oh rules and regulations...

Well, to get the home into the Halloween scene, I decided to repurpose some sauce glass jars, and create my own apartment friendly jack-o-lanterns!

Supplies:
clean Glass jars (with no paper on them)
acryllic paints (orange, colors to mix with orange (for variations), and black)
a thick paint brush
a small thin paint brush

Directions:
Cover your work space with paper.
Mix your oranges on a surface. I choose a red/orange combo, a brown/orange combo, and a yellow/orange combo.

Paint each clean jar with one color of orange combo. Don't paint too heavy because you want light to shine through, but I think two light coats will do perfectly :)
Make sure to use same direction brush strokes to keep them uniform.
Let dry (or use a blow dryer!).

Paint a "jack-o-lantern" face on each jar using the small paint brush and the black. Make sure the features are completely black (no need for light to shine through the black!).
Let dry (or use a blow dryer!).

Next, get creative! I used some floral tape for the tops (because I threw away the jar lids! ooops!) and then I tied some twine around the tops, using a curling iron to make them curly!






Place a Flameless Flickering tea light candle in each jar and ENJOY!
(I will post a shot of them lite up, once I buy some flameless tea lights!)

Inspired by Fabric

Vera Bradley knows how to pick a good pattern. They are fun and different and colorful! Hanging in my kitchen is a Vera Bradley "Hope Garden" apron with a matching recipe box by the stove and I really wanted to bring out that pattern around the kitchen more!

So I took this pattern:

Picture from: http://merelymeredith.blogspot.com/2010/10/color-me-beautiful.html

And created my version on canvas:


I first did a rough sketch in pencil. I started painting one color at a time, across the whole canvas. I had to do layer upon layer of paints till it was what I wanted the piece to look like. It took several days, because some times the paint had to dry before I could paint the next color. But I think it turned out well! and now is proudly displayed in our kitchen :)