St. Patrick's Day Craft Idea!

Top of the Mornin' to ya!

Erin go bragh!

Manly, yes, but I like it too.

'A' is for Awesome (Avalon and Autumn) DIY Framed Initial

(It's another AWESOME DIY Teen Craft Project from the AWESOME Ms. Avalon Potter!)

A is for Awesome (Avalon and Autumn) 
DIY Framed Initial

Avalon Potter foriLoveToCreate

'Teen Crafted, Mom Approved'

Autumn has always been my favorite season. The way the leaves form a masterpiece of color, and the crisp air rejuvenates the mind amazes me. Even though I have never been a large fan of Halloween (I don’t do scary), I still love the thick textures and shabby chic appeal that pops up during this time. I have a beach theme throughout my room the blends naturally with this style, so I am always finding new things I would love to hang up. I decided for this project I would make something that would go with the theme of my room and the theme of the season. I hope you enjoy it!

Mixed Media Canvases for Faber Castell and BuzzFeed Mason Jar Challenge

Yesterday I was feeling a little, well, defeated.  I have had a few big 'no's over the past few weeks.  We're working hard every day here to make ends meet and build new boats to set sail into new seas, but sometimes it just starts to all feel completely overwhelming.

Recently I received a package of the most delicious art supplies from the lovely team at Faber-Castell.  I have had five blank canvases sitting in the studio waiting for inspirado to hit for months.  It's been years since I painted anything, I'm always so busy making projects for my clients I don't have much time to just make art for fun.  I needed a break, so I unplugged, grabbed my Faber Castell goodies and two canvases, some brushes, old French magazine pages and some decoupage medium and played.

It was really hard to get out of my head and allow the art to unfold.  There are A LOT of layers here and at one point, I had pretty much given up on both canvases. 

While I was playing, two big opportunities were unfolding!  Yes, step away from the computer and suddenly it all shifts.  Sometimes you just have to shift your perspective a little!

I went back to the canvases with fresh eyes and started over.  I call this process intuitive design, it's the way I work with wire as well.  No rules, no preconceptions, no big plan.  I started with my Fiskars circle templates and a pencil.  The gelato medium is so color saturated, you just keep sweeping it across the canvas and hitting it with a wet brush to get a dense pigment rich watercolor effect.  They look like little chapsticks, love that they're so wide and easy to work into the canvas!  I used several different black markers including the Faber-Castell PITT artist pen big brush pen to frame the circle areas, again working totally intuitively.  There was one spot that really wasn't working, so I began layering paper and it all came together!  I am pleased as punch with these! They're not perfect, but let's face facts, neither am I.

I was invited by the lovely Pippa at BuzzFeed to participate in a Mason Jar Design Challenge!  You can get the 411, the tutorial and vote for my design (only if you really like it) on their blog.  Here is a link!

Love
Madge

We Do Stuff: How To Rehab Old Furniture

We are launching a new video series called: We Do Stuff!

We'll be moving beyond crafts into cooking, gardening, home decor...lifestyle! Woot! I wrote a dorky theme song for the videos, which we will eventually do in a variety of musical styles. It's one of those kinds of tunes that just stick in your head, even my daughter's friend started singing it this weekend! In fact, my daughter would really, really like us to stop singing it. She said she's been humming it at school. I think we're on to something here...

So here's the scoop on We Do Stuff: How To Rehab Old Furniture video!  It's embedded in this post below, and it's under four minutes, so take a moment to watch! Drew did a really nice job with edits. Plus there's a super funny cameo by our musically inclined terrier Sir Charles Barkly.  We know the sound is not up to par, but we're lacking in funds for fancy microphones and doing the best with what we've got.

We have been staring at these two tired furniture pieces and this boring lampshade for several years. The table is a dumpster find from behind our old store (it's amazing what people throw away) and the cabinet is from an estate sale. They have nice bones, nothing spectacular, but interesting simple shapes just begging for a new finish or some paint. I have been meaning to paint them since we got them. Yet, time slips away and good intentions fade.

After painting our new home with vibrant colors all grounded by the plethora of pine on floors and ceilings, the time came to tackle these pieces. I wanted bright and saturated color, but not neon or pastel, and we found four lovely Krylon colors that worked perfectly. Yellow needed several more coats than the rest, keep that in mind if you decide to make something similar.

Begin by taking the furniture apart, remove hardware, knobs and lay pieces out for sanding and painting. Sand them...with a belt sander...and really take your time here. If you don't remove the old finish, the new finish will not adhere.This is the number one thing that happens with old furniture rehabs. The one piece had a big oily stain on top, we sanded it down thoroughly and then used a Kilz primer and stain blocker. This did the trick. We sealed the cabinet with Minwax water based polycrylic sealer with light sanding in between coats, the top was coated with 3-4 coats for a really high sheen, the rest 2 coats. We intend to seal the table too.We used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor in bright idea, ivy leaf and watermelon and Krylon Short Cuts in turquoise for the knobs. 

I wouldn't paint really fine or antique furniture like this, but sturdy pieces you might find for a song at flea markets, yard sales, thrift stores or even discount stores like Ikea are great fun to paint and refinish. You can add stenciled or hand painted accents too. We went for high shine and bright color, but you could sand the edges lightly after painting, skip the sealer and have a more 'shabby' antiqued look if you prefer. I am a big fan of that look too.

The lamp was easy, just two coats of the yellow spray paint, acrylic paint in orange pounced with a round foam pouncer and Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue to attach the yellow pom pon trim.  I know they're a little ticky tacky, but they fit the folksy style we're going for here that I have dubbed Folk Art Chic.

We're slowly, but surely, decorating our rustic mountain home. As we progress, I'll share more projects and pics. We're thinking about tackling the porch with some flower boxes next!

Cheers,
Madge

iLoveToCreate Retrofabulous Crafts: Dazzling Dahlia Dimensional Canvas

Dazzling Dahlia Dimensional Canvas Copyright Margot Potter 2012

Pop Art Pillows from Christmas Helps 1966 Family Circle

Christmas Helps 1966 Family Circle

iLoveToCreate Retrofabulous Crafts
Dimensional Dahlia Canvas
Margot Potter
"These are your grandmother's crafts.  Ya gotta problem with that?  I didn't think so."

The idea for this canvas came from a fabulous pillow project featured in this 1966 Christmas Helps magazine from Family Circle. I LOVED these pop art pillows and plan to make some of my own, but these Anna Griffin vintage patterned papers were so yummy, I thought why not make a canvas using the same idea? I am a huge fan of Lilly Pulitzer’s vintage fabrics and these papers have a very similar appeal. Think about making a series of two or three of these using the same color scheme but slightly different patterns (maybe a full flower, half flower and butterfly.) Use recycled paper or fabric remants if you like; this could be stunning using say Coca Cola can boxes or old book pages. This was super simple to create using Fiskars ShapeTemplate™ tools and the new Aleene’s Dry Adhesives! For a final touch of whimsy, I added some dimension using Tulip Beads in a Bottle. I am knee deep in the winter blahs, so this is a cheerful reminder that spring is on the way! (If you want more precision, mark and measure placement with a ruler before layering petals.)

Materials
10x10 mini canvas
Anna Griffin Carmen Collection scrapbook paper pack
Saturated pink and yellow cardstock
Aleene’s Tacky Dot runner
Tulip Beads in a Bottle sparkly pink and pale yellow

Tools
Fiskars ShapeTemplate™ Circles
Fiskars ShapeCutter™ and Mat

1. Cut out 22 patterned yellow and pink floral paper 2” circles and 11 yellow and 12 pink 2.5” paper circles using the Fiskars template, cutter and mat. You could also use circle punches or trace and cut by hand. I am impatient, so anything that makes it easier works for me!

2. Layer the patterned circles in the center of the solid color circles and adhere using Aleene’s Tacky Glue dots runner.

3. Begin on the outside, I found it helped to lay this out first and then reassemble just to get a sense of the layout before I committed to it permanently. The flowers overlap slightly and work around in a circle and repeat on the inner layer overlapping slightly.

4. Tape just the right side of your petal and start making a circle overlapping on the outside. Continue this process until you reach the final circle, which will get full tape runner coverage. Repeat for the inside layer. There are 14 petals on the outside and 8 on the inside. Finish with a large pink petal in the center.

5. Use Beads in a Bottle on the solid color edges of the petals in a color that coordinates. I used sparkly pink and pale yellow and found that the sparkly beads were a skootch less puffy than the solid color, I like the slight variation. You can take great care and put the exactly same amount of dots on each petal, but as I mentioned earlier I am impatient and simply thrilled I made it around every petal without a craftastrophe. It’s the little things.

6. Allow to dry overnight before touching or hanging!

Mandala Flower Copyright Margot Potter 2012

(PS: I love this flower so much, I am going to use it on some other projects as an image! Too fun!)