Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Tutorial-ish.

So, I thought I would share yesterday's creations, and give a small tutorial, just for fun.

First, we have this oh, so gorgeous HEAVY (remember when Anna used to say "wavy"?) mirror. It is about 2x3 feet, and OLD. The gold was a little dingy and I wasn't feeling it...looked like something that should be in a museum, so I did a little "Abby" to it and gave her some cul-luh. This is an antiquey blue/green/aqua color...the only way I know how to describe it is that my grandparents house used to be painted this color, and as hideous as it was, I was really upset when the day came that they painted it a plain taupe color. Isn't she pretty? She's way better in person.
This is a ceramic heart wreath, probably about a foot-ish in diameter. It was just plain cream, and I saw so many possibilities when I saw her, so I bought her. Upon inspection, there weren't just roses, but hydrangeas, and leaves....so I dry-brushed, watercolory looking, and painted each part its own color. I really like the turn-out. It really is amazing what a bit of paint and 5 minutes can do for something.Last, I thought I would share a little tutorial for with you on these letters. I started out with an "L" just because it was the piece of cardboard I had and that's the first letter that came to my mind to draw on it...it was tall and skinny. I was just going to do a random monogram for some special person whose name started with L, but then, I had cut the wreath form (o) and it was laying there, so I ended up using it for an O and then had to finish off the word. When the word was done....I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it as it is pretty huge, so when I went to check out my canvases, I thought this huge one would do nicely.....and it did! I like that it is 3-dimensional, and I like that the letters hang over the edges in some places. To make the letters, as I mentioned, I just used old boxes that were already broken down that I pilferred from work. Works like a charm. I drug out the ole mod podge, and some tissue paper, and went to town. I just overlapped the tissue to go onto the back side to cover up the fact that the letters were made out of cardboard. Working with the tissue paper and mod podge can be tedious, because as you create, you get the podge EVERYWHERE, and it gets sticky when it dries, so you end up with tissue and podge everywhere. The end result is well worth it, though, doncha think? I just layered and layered until I liked where it ended up, then let it dry. I added the lady bug magnet to the L and then thought the rest of the letters needed a lil something, so I added some blingy rhinestones to the "O", and then threw in some pattern on the "V"...and actually, I didn't do anything to the E, but I don't think it looks out of place. While in reality the steps to this one are simple, this is a very time-consuming thing to do....in all, I would figure this probably took me over 10 hours. No kidding. It was fun, and it needed to come out of my head and into reality, but I wouldn't decide I was going to get rich on these any time soon....and my prediction is it will be a while before I decide to tackle another, but I have ideas! To finish, I just painted my whole canvas black, and then glued the letters onto it in a helter-skelter fashion. Wah-lah....done!

Last, I wanted you to see this other paint wonder.....she was a terrible mauve color before I started with her, but I love her now:


Again, it's amazing what a little bit of paint can do!


Happy Tuesday......

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