Tag: craft (page 6 of 10)

DIY Rusty Lantern

Hello Everyone!

I seem to really love making everything all rusty and old, lol

I have another item that I made look rusty and worn, using the same techniques that I did earlier.

Here are the other posts about the rust technique:

For this project I used a lantern that I got at the dollar store (these are super cute just like this, but I just had to add my own touch to the lantern)

rust lantern

Then you just start dabbing on your paints with a make up sponge. I used the Finnabair Rust Pastes and I do like them! They add the right colors and texture to make it look like something rusted naturally.

rust lantern

Dab all around until you are happy with the the end look.

rust lantern

rust lantern

Here is the final product. I love this technique and I can’t wait to make something else rusty!
rust lantern

Also, I made a video of the process of making a rusty lantern if you want to check that out.

The post DIY Rusty Lantern appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Product Review-Finnabair Sparks Acrylic Paint

Hello Everyone!

Today I have something a bit different, a product review. This will be a new feature on my blog and You Tube Channel. I think it is fun to review new products and see what is out there and how it compares to the current products.

FYI I did buy all of these paints with my own money and this is not a sponsored post.

Recently I saw this really sparkly, beautiful paints from Prima Marketing. They are called Sparks Acrylic paints from Finnabair. I love anything that sparkles so I figured this was right up my alley.

Sparks Paint

I did a swatch of all 9 colors on a black gessoed canvas board and a white gessoed canvas board just to see how they looked on each background. I have to say they are very pretty, but some looked better on the white and some looked better on the black.

Acrylic Sparks

The paint is a little thinner than a regular acrylic, but a little goes a long way. It is great for dry brushing and adding details and emphasis to certain areas. And it does live up to its name, it does sparkle. They are beautiful paints!

So I had to try them out on a project. I found this dragon at Goodwill (sorry I don’t have a before picture, but believe me it was ugly. It was almost every color of the rainbow, and the paint was chipping) So I added a layer of black gesso and then added the sparks paint on top. Much better, lol. The pictures don’t show all the beautiful sparkly nature of the paint, but it is there.

Painted Dragon

painted Dragon

I think I am in love with the paint, I am glad I did purchase them and I can see using them a lot in the future.

I did a video review on them as well and you can check that out here:

What would you like me to review next? I love trying new products, it seems like there is always something new coming out

The post Product Review- Finnabair Sparks Paint appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Decorate Your Flip Flops

Hello Everyone!

This post contains affiliate links

Don’t you just love summer?  Long days, swimming, and flip flops. And you all know how much I love to decorate things and make them my own.

Today’s tutorial is on decorating your flip flops!

You can check out the You Tube video here:

This is an easy diy that you can do with friends or kids, or you can make them all for your self, lol

Materials

  • Flip Flops (here is a link to get them from the Dollar Store) but you can get them almost anywhere
  • Glue (I used this Loctite plastic glue. You can get it here: Glue)
  • Flowers, pom poms, stickles, feathers, or anything else you want to attach to your flip flops.

Instructions

As you can see in this pic I have the flip flops numbered. I did a terrible job of taking pics while was filming, lol, but I think you can get the idea of what I did from the pic. I used the loctite plastic glue on all the flip flops.

diy flip flops

Flip Flop #1

I did want to take away from the pretty design, just enhance it. So for his pair I just glued on some pom-pom trim.

Flip Flop #2

Feathers! This is such a cute, boho idea. Just glue one a pile of feathers, I got mine from the dollar store, but you can get them from almost any craft store.

Flip Flop #3

This is a fun free form design using stickles. Just draw your design and let it dry and you have a fantastic pair of flip flops

Flip Flop #4

Take a large flower and glue it to the top of the shoe. To help keep the flower in place while it was drying I used some clothes pins to keep it in place.

Flip Flop #5

For this pair I disassembled an old statement necklace and glued the pieces on to the flip flop. Just make sure you rough up the metal so it sticks to the plastic.

There you go, 5 different ideas on decorating your flip flops.

What other things do you used to decorate your flip flops?

diy flip flops

The post Decorate Your Flip Flops appeared first on Take Time To Create.

 

Sea Shell Altered Mason Jar

Hello Everyone!

If you are like me then you probably have about 800 million mason jars in your home.  And all those wonderful crafts on Pinterest have inspired me to start using them!

So I decided to use one of those mason jars in this tutorial. It looks organic and beachy with the sea shells and sand texture. Perfect to store your souvenirs from the beach.

Altered sea shell mason jar

Materials

  • Mason Jar
  • Gesso
  • Acrylic paint and brushes
  • Hot Glue
  • Zipper
  • Sea Shells

Instructions

Find a mason jar, I am sure almost everyone has at least one mason jar in their homes, lol. You will need to prime it with white gesso. Paint a smooth layer all over the glass.

Please excuse my messy craft table, I have way too many projects going on and I am just a messy crafter, haha.

sea shell altered mason jar

The next layer is made to look like sand. I added some sand from the dollar store to some heavy gel and sponged it on with a foam brush. Let this layer completely dry before adding paint. If you have textured paste you can use that, but I didn’t have any so I decided to make some.

sea shell altered mason jar

sea shell altered mason jar

After the jar is dry you can add some acrylic paints. I sponged on 3 tan/sand colors to add detail and interest. Any browish colors should work.

sea shell altered mason jar

sea shell altered mason jar

Once it is all dry you can  add the sea shells, this is the fun part! Waiting until everything is dry will help with the glue adhering to the jar. I just used hot glue and that seemed to work for this project. Add a few shells and keep testing with the zipper to make sure your shells will fit.

Wrap the top with twine or raffia.

sea shell altered mason jar

After I added a bunch of shells I added the zipper. Glue it all down and then fill in the blank spaces with more shells.  I am a fan of adding more stuff until it isbursting. When you add shells to the lid lightly sand the metal to help the glue adhere.

Once it was complete I thought it needed some sparkle so I dry brushed on some beautiful gold acrylic paint.

sea shell altered mason jar

All done! I am loving this technique, and I think it would look great with rhinestones or buttons, or any other small item! So pretty!

sea shell altered mason jar

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How to Create Faux Sea Glass (Tumbled Glass)

Hello Everyone!

This post contains affiliate links

My happy place is the ocean, I love watching the water, soaking up the sun, and collecting sea glass. But since I live near the mountains,  no where near the ocean, I have to make my own sea glass, haha.

This is an easy project to do with just a few items. I know that there are a lot of other tutorial for faux sea glass, but I thought I would share with you my process that may be a little different from what other people do.

Materials:

  • Rock Tumbler- You can find a similar one here: Tumbler
  • Broken Glass
  • Sand and Rocks

Instructions:

Safety first! Wear safety goggles and gloves when breaking the glass. I put the glass in a plastic bag and then wrap it with a towel that way everything stays contained. When you have the sizes you want then carefully remove it and place it in your tumbler.

faux sea glass tumbled glass

Add  you glass to the tumbler, but don’t overfill it! ( I have over filled it and it started leaking when tumbling and made a big mess). Anyway, add some sand (I just had some white play sand that I had on hand) and I added a few rocks to add something for the glass to rub on. (The whole idea is for the glass to tumble around and smooth out the edges without breaking any glass)

faux sea glass tumbled glass

Then I added some fine grit that came with the tumbler. I am not sure what it is, but I thought it would help make things smooth, lol. So I threw it in because I had some.

Then cover it all with water, make sure it is less than half full, I know that doesn’t seem like a lot but it doesn’t work with more than that.

faux sea glass tumbled glass

Seal your tumbler and plug it in. As always follow the instructions on your tumbler because yours might be different than mine. Let is tumble for about a week or so.  I leave it in the basement so it isn’t too loud or annoying.

faux sea glass tumbled glass

And there you have it faux sea glass! After a week I am thrilled with how they turned out! faux sea glass tumbled glassI decided that I needed to wrap them with wire and add beads and old pieces of jewelry to make window dangles. (I will post a tutorial on how I made these)
faux sea glass tumbled glass

Aren’t they pretty hanging from my window above my front door.  Time to make more to fill the window with pretty window dangles.

faux sea glass tumbled glass

 

The post How to Create Faux Sea Glass appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Stenciled Wall Arch

Hello Everyone!

Did you see my new logo? I am loving the watercolor logo, so pretty.

It has been a while since I did a home diy, so today is the day, lol.

I am sorry that the lighting in the pics is not great, there is not great lighting in my kitchen and office so they are not the best pics, but oh well, sometimes that’s the way it goes, lol

So let’s get started! Here is my arch way (please excuse the mess, haha) This separates the kitchen from the office (it is actually the formal dining room, but who uses those any more? We don’t, so it is the office) The arch is cute and just fine the way it is, but it needed a little bit more.

stenciled wall

I used a swirl stencil to start and the accents were applied with gold paint and an oil based white Sharpie.

stenciled wall

Start with a swirl stencil and some black acrylic paint. Go around the arch and it is ok if it isn’t perfect, that is what makes it great.

stenciled wall

stenciled wall

After you stencil the entire area go back over everything with the white Sharpie and then go over with a gold paint pen. This is the fun part, don’t try to be perfect, just go around things and add extra swirls and dots and details. stenciled wall

This is a quick and fun way to add detail and texture to your home and it looks so fantastic when it is completed.

stenciled wall

 

I did take a short video of the finished arch, and I have to say I really love how it turned out! I think it is the perfect accent for the wall and a great way to divide the two rooms. And the best part of the video, you get to meet my cat, Starlight at the end of the video, lol.

The post Stenciled Wall Arch appeared first on Take Time To Create.

 

Imagine Embroidered Garland

Hello Everyone!

Do you feel like your creative space is always neglected, like it is a just a cluttered room that has no real style? I do, all the time. I go and work in my craft room and then leave. There is constant disorganization and no real style in my room.

So, I decided to make this embroidered garland to hang over my window. (I am not showing you my window because I don’t even have a window treatment covering it, just a Transformers sheet that was my son’s. Pretty sad, right?) I am putting the skills I learned in my embroidery class to good use.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

 

The first thing I did was cut out my word out of felted wool. (I found a font I liked and printed the word I wanted to embroider). Then I did a different embroidery stitch on each letter. I really liked how it was all a little different, yet unified.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Then I started adding ribbon and lace and bits and bobs to a piece of burlap. I was going for a shabby chic look, that was monochromatic, and I think I came pretty close. Hot glue is your friend in this step, everything is hot glued down.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Next I added all the words to a string, leaving space between each letter. In the space I added ribbon, and charms and anything else I could find. I think it turned out really cute, perfect for the blank, boring spot above my window.

 

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

Here is a close up of all the letters. Each letter is a little different, but similar enough to belong together.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

I am in love with this embroidered garland, and it is the perfect start to decorating my craft room. I am looking forward to creating not only a creative, crafty space, but a welcoming one as well.

Imagine embroidery garland bunting

The post Imagine Embroidered Garland appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Mixed Media Class with Tara Pappas

Hello Everyone!

If you ever get the chance to take a class from a professional artist, you should jump at the chance! You will learn so many new tips, tricks, and techniques.

BTW This is not a paid or sponsored post, all opinions are my own. I paid for the class with my own money.

During my weekend at Mojito Creek (you can see my post about the retreat here: Mojito Creek) I was able to take a class from Tara Pappas! If you don’t know of her work you should check her out on her website: Tara Pappas. She is an amazing mixed media artist that creates these beautiful, whimsical, fun paintings.  I have admired her for a while and when I found out that she was teaching at Mojito Creek I had to jump at the chance to learn from her!

I purchased this print and I love it! Penguins playing with the Narwal, it is fantastic! I think I need a few more prints for all my walls!

The first step is prepping the canvas board. She uses ripped up old books or magazines and Mod Podges them to the canvas.  I love how this creates texture and interest in the first layer.

Mixed media art

For the rocky cliff that my lighthouse is standing on I ripped up old magazines and attached them with Mod Podge.   The ripping of magazines and books is awesome. I love how it enhances the paintings. This is something that I don’t in my paintings.

But before I added the rocks I first painted the sky blue. I didn’t want to cover all the book pages so I lightly swirled on a couple of colors in acrylic paint and wiped off some with a paper towel.  Then I added the rocks.

I drew the lighthouse! I am actually pretty excited about that. It isn’t perfect, but it was my first time drawing one! Tara was very encouraging and supportive when I told her I was going to draw the lighthouse!

Then I painted the lighthouse and then added the light coming from the lighthouse. That is just cut up magazines. The swirls were added with a paint marker. The bear the boat is one of Tara’s characters. She had some fantastic characters that we were able to use in our paintings, I love how generous she is with her work and time. After painted the bear he was the perfect addition.  I really love how this turned out.

Mixed media art

Ahh the ship, let me tell you a little story about this painting, haha. This was actually my first painting. She taught us about the ripping of book pages, then she mentioned that we can make texture and water, then I was off, haha. I just went to town making this ship. This is the only in progress pic I took, sorry about that.

The water is made from the tissue paper in old patterns, and I just painted over it. The sky is painted with acrylic paint and blended. The ship is drawn on old books (my first time drawing a ship!) and painted with metallic paints. In fact the whole drawing is done with metallic paints.

Even though it looks nothing like what Tara was teaching us, she was so supportive and encouraging for me to just keep on doing my thing! 

I added the quote and I am very happy with how it turned out. Such a great class and I love how all the paintings (not just my paintings, but all the students) turned out a little different.

So if you get a chance to take a class from Tara I highly encourage it! I learned a lot and I can’t wait to incorporate some of the new techniques into my art. 

The post Mixed Media Class With Tara Pappas appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Travel Journal- Mojito Creek, Blackhawk, CO

Hello Everyone!

Every once in a while you just need to get away, and that is exactly what I did last weekend. If you follow me on Instagram (@taketimetocreate) you will have noticed that I was at my happy place, Mojito Creek. I went up for the weekend to take a class from Tara Pappas and to craft my heart out!

Just for the record, this is not a paid or sponsored post, I just love the place so much that I wanted to tell you all about it.

Mojito Creek is an awesome retreat in Blackhawk, CO. It is a little ways from the casinos (about 20 minutes), and in my opinion that is perfect! If we wanted to go do some fun activities then we could, or we could just stay in the beautiful mountains and relax. That is what I chose to do.

I know you can rent the house for the weekend for a private party or you can come to one of the open weekends. I was there to learn from the artist Tara Pappas (www.tarapappasart.com) and to work on some of my own projects. Tara is an amazing mixed media artist and I will tell you all about the class we took with her in my next post. (I just don’t want this one to get too long, lol)

Anyway, this is my second time visiting Mojito Creek and I loved it just as much the second time as I did the first time I was there.

I drove up there last Friday morning and the weather was perfect! Bright blue skies, sunny, and not too hot. Weather can change pretty quickly in Colorado, and it does get cooler the higher you go in the mountains, but that day it was perfect. The house is at about 9000 ft so the wireless was not as fast as I was  used to, but that just encouraged me to but my phone down and get to crafting!

The kitchen and dining room are nice and big. We had 14 people up there that weekend and I didn’t feel like it was crowded at all. 

Look at all this space for crafting! I mean, it is fantastic how much room we had! Everyone had a huge table with a lamp, there was plenty of room to do just about any craft! I loved seeing all the various crafts that people were doing, some were making cards, other people were scrapbooking, while I was working on some mixed media projects. 

So much space! It can be configured differently when different groups are up there, but having the crafting tables up is my favorite configuration, lol.

When you need a break from crafting there is a nice little sun room tucked off to the side. This is my favorite place to grab my book and read for a while. I didn’t take pictures of the bedrooms but the beds are nice to sleep in, and my room mates were very nice.

The mountains are always beautiful and the flowers were just starting to come out. This was the perfect way for me to regroup and relax and when I got home Sunday afternoon I was ready to tackle my week.


The post Travel Journal- Mojito Creek, Blackhawk, CO appeared first on Take Time To Create.

Metallic Mixed Media Box

Metallic Mixed Media Box

A mixed media box is great for storage and display. Using basic mixed media techniques you can have a beautiful and useful box.

Hello Everyone!

In case you missed my class at my local creative reuse center, Who Gives a Scrap, I thought I would share with you one of the project I did. It was a beginning mixed media class that was tons of fun to teach and the participants were awesome! I loved seeing the creativity and individually of all the projects.

mixed media box

One of the challenges of teaching at a creative reuse center is trying to use items that you can find, which makes a mixed media project perfect. I prepped my box ahead of the class, but I used items that I found there. The sky is the limit with a box like this.

mixed media box

The first thing I did is find a small canvas for everyone to work with. I found these boxes that had old film canisters in it, these came from a university that was just going to throw them away. I am glad that that they didn’t pitch them. The box is about 6×6 and is a perfect size for beginners to work on, not to big to be intimidating, but not too small to be frustrating.

For the background I took tissue paper from old patters (I must really love old patterns I seem to use them all the time, lol. You can see the rose I made for my mom here: Tissue Paper Rose). I used Mod Podge and crinkled everything up and glued it down. Once it is all dry cover the background with black gesso.
mixed media box

Then I found buttons, and beads, and a knob that I really liked. So I hot glued it all the the box. You could use a gel to glue it down, but I wanted it to dry fast so I used hot glue.  Once I got it all down I painted clear gesso over everything so I could paint the smooth surfaces.
mixed media box

I love metallic paints! I used them all the time. For this project I just dry brushed the metallic paints on, highlighting the peaks and the valleys stayed black. If you don’t gesso then the paint won’t stick to the smooth buttons and beads. mixed media box

After dry brushing the paints i was done. The project was easy enough for beginners, but more advanced crafters could really go to town. I had a great time and I can’t wait to teach my next class!
mixed media box
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