I love the look of mercury glass. It’s perfect in almost every style of decor or season. It can be simple, elegant, romantic or modern depending entirely on what you do with it. It has only one problem. It can be prohibitively expensive. But not anymore. Turn any old glass jar into dazzling faux mercury glass with two simple ingredients (hint, one of them is water!)

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Glass jars, vases or bowls
• Water
• Mirror spray paint

1. Lightly mist the inside of your glass. If you have a wide mouth jar or a bowl, you may want to tape off the outside.

2. Spray a thin coat of Mirror paint into the inside of the jar or bottle. Allow the paint to drip down and coat the inside, you want the coat to be uneven.

3. Allow the paint to dry and then repeat until you have the level of mirror finish that you desire (2-3 coats is usually sufficient).

You can also use this technique on the outside of a jar candle to create a Mercury Glass Candle.

My kids, particularly my youngest, love to paint with watercolors. While she’s happy to use traditional paints, what she really loves are those paint with water coloring pages, and with their lack of mess and take anywhere qualities, I love them too, especially now that we’re making them ourselves. Perfect for summer art on the go, these are simple, quick and super rewarding!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Liquid watercolors
• Small watercolor paper book (spiral bound is best)

1. On the first page of your book, dab a small amount of each color on one side of the page, leaving about an inch between colors. You want a thin layer of paint that will dry well but give you plenty of color when you paint.

2. Prop this page about halfway up and add a similar row of paint to the next page.

3. Allow these two pages to dry and then continue with the next two pages.

4. When you are ready to paint, simply dip your brush in water and wet the color to activate the paint.

I wonder if everyone has a stash of frames for which they’ve never found the perfect picture. I sure do. And as if my own bunch weren’t enough, I recently took part in a re-gifting swap and got another! My swap partner sent me a frame she’d gotten as a wedding gift and just “could not make [her]self love.” Well, me neither!

But it was perfect for Halloween!

The frame started like this:

Then I took black and purple paints, which my able assistant was happy to apply:

As you can see, this is a kid-friendly craft. The next step, finding images online to go in the frame’s ovals, was also kid friendly. We found two we liked, printed them out, and inserted them, and then tied a big bow with wire-edged coordinating ribbon.

Last step was to hang our charming couple on the front door. I think they like the view!

Do you ever miss happy mail? You know, going to the mailbox and pulling out something other than a bill or piece of advertising? I sure do, and I know for certain I’m not the only one, with email so dominant, this year I decided my treats for Halloween were going to be something that would bring a smile at the mailbox. I’m sending postcards!

As I was cleaning up my craft table the other day, I noticed that some foam letters had arranged themselves in a group that looked very like the beginning of a skeleton. Ooh, I thought. Could you make an entire skeleton using them? The answer was YES, and in a few minutes I’d created a skeleton stamp.

If you’d like to make one, too, you’ll need:

Foam alphabet stickers, all caps, about 3/4″-1″ tall:

• 1 Q
• 2 E’s
• 2 P’s
• 4 L’s                      
• 2 I’s
• The centers from 2 O’s

A backing/support for your skeleton. I used the lid from a whipped topping container, which was translucent.

Arrange your letters something like this:

The original thought was to add a hat, but I decided to leave it off.

As you can see, only two of the letters need to be reversed–one E, and one P–to form the left sides of the ribcage and hip bones. Those two you will glue to your support piece, rather than using the sticker’s adhesive.

Cut tiny triangles from the O centers to create fingers.

You can play with the positioning of the arms, legs, and head, until you find a pose you like. Keep in mind that if you’re arranging the stickers with the adhesive side down, your stamp will be a mirror image of what you see. If you want to see it as it will stamp, turn the letters face down. Once you’ve created the pose you want, peel off the protective papers and stick the letters to the support/base, starting with the head, and working down. For the two letters that you’ll glue, make sure they’re exactly where you want them before you remove the papers; otherwise, they’ll stick to your fingers when you try to move them and not let go! (And yes, that IS the voice of experience, lol.) Once the glue on those two letters is dry, you can pat a little talcum powder on them, which will take away the stickiness.

You now have a skeleton stamp to play with!

To make a postcard using my new stamp, I took some cardstock I thought had that “Halloween feeling”, and cut it to postcard size. (USPS allows a maximum size of 6″ X 4.25″, and a minimum size of 5″ X 3.5″, or 15.2cm X 10.8cm and 12.7cm X 8.9cm)

Then I stamped the skeleton on it, using three of my new word stamps to say “Happy Boo Day”. The first time, I used black ink for everything, but then decided I’d like the skeleton better white, after all. I took a stiff bristle brush and painted on white craft paint, and over-stamped the original skeleton. (You have to love a stamp base you can see through!)

Of course, after that, I had to see what it would look like if I just used the white, without the black underneath:

Personally, I like it better with the black under it, as the skeleton seems to show up better.

Last step: Turn your new postcard over and divide it in half so you have one side for the address, and the other for a brief message. You can simply draw a vertical line, or use another stamp:

For another easy card, cut a postcard-size piece of cardstock that pumpkins would look good against. I chose one that looked kind of “vine-y”. Now cut three or four circles of pumpkin-Design paper or cardstock. Arrange them on the card in a pleasing arrangement. Placing the larger disks near the bottom of the card, with the smaller ones nearer the top will give a sense of distance, as your mind interprets “smaller” as farther away, and “higher” as being the far horizon.

Once you’ve decided on your placement, you can pencil in jack o’ lantern faces on each of them, and then black in the features. Glue them in place on the card and write or stamp, “Oooooooooooh” in a curvy line across the card. Last step is to turn the card over and divide it in half as you did the other one.

I am a sucker for sparkly things, so you can imagine how much I LOVE glitter?  I think it adds such a pretty touch to everything.  Stamps are great as is…but adding some glitter makes them amazing to look at!  Of course it’s best when seen in person, so that might be an incentive to send off those glittered cards to loved ones.  Who can’t use a little sparkle in their day?

I chose a simple butterfly image to make a statement on my card.  Glitter was all that needed to make the image POP!

Gather some supplies and add glitter to those stamped images.  

Color a stamped image with a glue pen as if you were coloring the image with any pen.  The glue will be light blue to start but it will become clear when it’s dry.  Just sprinkle glitter over the image, tap off excess and you will reveal a gorgeous look!

Use multiple colors for added interest.  Just keep the layers separate so that the glitter doesn’t bleed into the others.  Make sure to allow the glitter to dry before mailing.

When designing my card, I chose to add some extra texture by tearing the bottom of my paper and adding a chunky bow.  In this case, less is definitly more.

Collage, in both “hard copy” and digital forms is very popular right now, and I’m a fan of both. It’s relaxing, almost zen-like to sit with my materials, arranging, re-arranging, and layering them. Digitally, I love the fact that you can create what are basically transparent layers, which is mostly not an option with “real” images and materials.

Except that it is, at least with printed items. You can make decals, and it’s really quite easy to do it. I’m familiar with two products you can use, Liquitex Gloss Medium, and Omni-Gel. The process is the same with both products.

You’ll need:

Omni-Gel OR Liquitex Gloss Medium
Soft paint brush
Printed images—almost any will work, except for inkjet or photographs
A dish that is larger than your print(s)
Water

So first decide what images you want to use. Cut them out, leaving a generous edge around any that you want to completely cover the collage surface. Protect your work surface with plastic wrap, which will let you peel the finished decals/transfers off when they’ve dried, and lay the images print side up on it. Paint each image with a coat of the medium, allowing the medium to extend beyond the paper just a bit, and let dry. I usually just squeeze a drop or two of medium on the image and spread it around.

When the medium is dry, spread on another layer. If you’ve painted with up-and-down strokes on the first layer, make the second layer’s strokes go side-to-side. Let that layer dry, and paint on a third layer, again with brush strokes that go in a different direction than the layer before.

Three layers of medium is generally enough; I sometimes do four, but it probably isn’t necessary.  You’ll now have what looks and feels like a picture coated with a plastic sheet.

When the last layer is thoroughly dry, peel your images off the plastic and soak them in the dish of water. (If an image resists being peeled off, you can cut right at the edge of the paper, and slip your finger between the picture and the plastic.) Don’t worry if the transfer medium turns a little milky while soaking.

Soak the pictures until the paper is good and wet, but not more than twenty minutes, then take each one out of the water and lay it face-down on a clean, smooth surface—a plate works well.

Rub the paper with your fingers, and it will roll up and come away from the transfer.

Rub until ALL the paper is gone. You’ll know you’re finished when you don’t feel any fuzziness at all, and the transfer is completely transparent.

You now have a decal!

To use it, just paint the back with more of the transfer medium, and apply it wherever you like on your project. Make sure your fingers are absolutely clean—any little bit of anything will imbed itself and show later!

One of the things I love about the finished decal is that it’s stretchy. You can cover uneven surfaces, or pull the image around the edges of a plaque, and smooth it out completely, as you can see from the little project below:

To make it, I used three images I’d turned into decals—the background trees (scrapbooking paper), the blue bird (cut from a magazine), and the bit of music (from an old music book). As you can see, the plaque I used had a crenellated edge, and a raised circle about 1/2″. The transfer stretched over every irregularity and clung there. On the back, I just squished the gathered edge down and used a bit more medium to glue them in place.

You can also use the transfer medium to create pendants. The first image in this post doesn’t give you scale, but each piece is a half-globe in shape, with a transfer stretched over it. The half-globes were molded in measuring spoons—1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, and 1 teaspoon—so they’re quite a nice size to glue on a bail and put on a necklace or bracelet.

Scrapbooking, collage, decoupage, and paper crafts of all kinds are driving a lot of art these days, and I love it. There’s so much creativity and variety, I’m sometimes just awestruck by the wonderful things people are doing.

I got to thinking about it the other day, and it brought to mind a craft my mom, my aunties, and I had played around with years ago. It started with making our own decoupage plaques, so I will, too.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• An assortment of plastic lids
• Plaster of Paris
• Paper clips (optional)
• Mixing cups and spoons

If you’re like me, you have a drawer in the kitchen where you stash plastic containers and lids. This is where you start. Look through them and pick out the ones that seem interesting. Most lids are basically just a disk with a rim; if you use them as your molds you’ll end up with a simple disk. Some, however, have recessed areas, or bass relief designs. Those are the ones you want.

Protect your work surface, and mix enough Plaster of Paris and water to fill the lids you’ve selected. If you’re doing several, use cool water, as warm water makes the plaster set up faster, as does vigorous mixing.

Fill your lids, starting with the largest, and working your way down to the smallest.  You can even use spoons and have bases for jewelry:

If you want, when the plaster begins to set up you can bend a paper clip open and press it into the plaster for a hanger. We did that with some; with others we glued our finished pieces to lengths of ribbon or wooden plaques.

Set your molds on a level surface and let them dry thoroughly. I’d give them a day, just to be sure. When they’re dry, carefully flex the plastic lids and pop the plaques out. With the spoons, tapping them gently on a hard surface will do the trick.

If you’ve over-filled a lid, the outer rim might be a bit ragged. No worries—plaster of Paris carveable, so just take a knife and scrape the edge smooth.

Here are some of the plaques I made, ready to become the bases for art:

And here’s the piece my six-year-old granddaughter did the next day, using transfer medium:

Do I hear a question? What’s transfer medium? For now, I’ll just say it’s really cool stuff, and in a blog post coming soon I’ll show you the why’s and how’s of it!

I have a boatload of books and not enough bookshelves.  I also have a craft book selection that I like to have easy access to on my desk, but the stack wasn’t working out.  So I decided to make these bookends.

To make, you’ll need to gather these supplies:

Bookends – any will do.  I got these from a friend

K & Company scrapbook paper  – 1 sheet (you might need 2 if your bookends are larger)

FolkArt Acrylic Paint   (whatever coordinates with your paper).  I used:

•             Light Periwinkle  
•             Pumpkin  
•            Turner’s Yellow  
•             Wicker White  

Mod Podge Gloss  

Flat Paint Brush  

Scissors  or Craft Knife  and Mat  

Ruler  

Pencil

First trace your bookends onto the BACK of your sheet of paper.  Cut out.

Trim the sheets of paper down to fit your bookends exactly.

Paint your bookends using the orange paint.  For complete coverage, you’ll need about three or four coats.  Set aside to dry.

While you are waiting for the bookends to dry, put a coat of Mod Podge on your paper sheets.  Coat the front, allow to dry, coat the back.  Set aside.

Tip: If you don’t have a cutout in your bookends like I do, you can skip this step.

Coat the back of the bookend with a medium layer of Mod Podge.  Apply evenly.

Place your paper down on the back of the bookend and smooth thoroughly.  You’ll notice that I used a brayer, and then to get down into the crack I used an old Starbucks card.  These are my favorite tools for smoothing!  Make sure you get the air bubbles out and then set aside to dry for 15 – 20 minutes.

Once the bookends are dry, coat both of them with Mod Podge.  Cover the fronts, backs and bottoms.  Give a first coat, allow to dry and then apply at least two more coats.  Allow to dry.

Once your bookends are dry, use the end of a paintbrush and the other coordinating paint colors to create polka dots around the cutout.  Allow to dry.

Tip: If your bookends don’t have a cutout, add a decorative shape cut out of paper to the front of your bookends for an accent.  Then you can use the polka dot method just like I did!

Here they are, holding my books and magazines!  Aren’t they great?  Quick, easy and perfect for some fun home décor.

My favorite painting teachers include Priscilla Hauser and Donna Dewberry. I might be a little bias since I know both ladies, but each has brought their own magic to teaching and to painting. To me, Priscilla is the first lady of decorative painting and Donna opened the doors for people like me with average talent to excel in my brush strokes.

Jane Seymour paints her signature hearts at CHA Winter Show.

Take a visit to the Society of Decorative Painter’s website and download the group’s learn how to paint instructions. You’ll end up like me, you’ll just love to paint!

Belt Bracelets

Recycle thrift store or old belts into fun and funky bracelets.  You can make 3, 4 or even 5 bracelets from a single belt and give them all different personalities with earth friendly paints, chains and beads.  Why not make a batch of these for gifts or to coordinate with every outfit you own?

Materials:

Leather or leather like belt

Opaque Shimmers from Earth Safe Finishes in your choice of colors 

Toggle or hook clasp

1″ chain or 22 GA wire to match clasp

Jump Rings

Strong scissors or leather shears

Leather/belt hole punch

Paint brushes, liner for details

Jewelry making tools, pliers and wire cutters

Optional extras:

Additional chain

Beads

Metal tags

Kevlar thread or wire to attach the above

Instructions:

1. Cut your belt 1″-1 ½” shorter than your normal bracelet size depending on how loose or tight you like to wear them.  (Don’t worry about the existing belt holes you can either ignore them or bead through them later.)  Trim corners round, on a diagonal or leave straight.

2. Punch holes on both ends about 1/8″ inch.

3. Paint your belt using Shimmers with your choice of colors.  Some are a random splash of colors, some use the existing embossed pattern and some are freeform patterns. You may also choose to use a stencil or rubber stamp to create your image.  Allow the paint to dry.

4. Attach your closure with jump rings or a combination of chain, jump rings or wire. If you are using a toggle make sure to add in a small chain on the bar end to make it easier to attach the bracelet.

5. Embellish more if you like! Stitch on beads, charms, buttons or trinkets using Kevlar thread.  Knot on the back then dot each knot with a dab of glue when you are done.

More Fun: Wire on tags by using a flat bead with a head pin run through it on the underside.  Wrap the ends of the head pins around holes in the tag, secure with more wraps then trim the ends. Add sections of chain by attaching chain ends to jump rings on each end. There are a million and one ways to make this bracelet so try it out today!

Learn more about Earth Safe Finishes HERE.

Many companies boast about being green these days but few take it to the level of Earth Safe Finishes. Earth Safe Finishes not only has non-toxic, environmentally friendly products, recycled packaging but a total commitment to keeping artists healthy and the earth clean. For more info on the product line and company please go to Earth Safe Finishes.

As an artist I want to share my experience with the product line and what makes it unique. First the quality is amazing, true one coat coverage with Perfect Paint and the Shimmers are beyond any other metallic paint I have ever used. (I have used almost every paint line on the market over the years, good, bad, cheap and pricey.)
 

I love only needing one set of paints to use on all surfaces from metal and glass to fabric and paper. The only prepping I’ve had to do is make sure the surface was clean, dry and oil free and that includes my kitchen countertops. No heat setting is needed which saves power and allows more creative freedom.

All the products work together, mix and match. I can use the Colorants to custom mix any color paint, varnish, texture, glaze I want. With a few paints, Colorants, and mediums I am able to work on any surface using any technique and get great, durable results. Compared to my old ways of having well over 300 bottles of paint and countless mediums I now can do even more with 2 shoeboxes full of product!

LOVE the Colorants! I can instantly dye all sorts of materials with these gems, use it as an ink or tint any other medium. I was even able to match and fill a small tear in my car interior using Perfect Paint and 2 Colorants. The more I work with this stuff the more uses I find for it and the more money I save. No stinky smells, need I say more? I so enjoy not gagging to work on a project or worrying about preserving my brain cells.

Recently at the CHA show in Anaheim I had the pleasure of spending some time in the Earth Safe Finishes booth with Nancy and Jessica, mom and daughter owners of ESF. Yes, the booth itself was recycled and everything in it including sample projects and literature were repurposed, reused or recycled. Demos were done on dumpster dive, thrift store and had on hand items from old shoes, paper towels, glass and metal trays, to jackets. Now that is how to make art beautiful and green!

Barbara and fellow designers at CHA Winter 2009 trade show.

Check back soon and you’ll find the instructions to make these cool bracelets!

You can find the instructions for all these fun projects at Duncan’s Website!

1. Spotters- Fine detail work
2. Liners- Continuous curved or straight lines of same thickness
3. Scripts- Holds more liquid than Liners
4. Miracle Wedge- Can be loaded on three sides with different colors
5. Chisel Blenders- Thick, heavy color or fine precision blending
6. Angular Shaders- Fan, leaf, “S”, and “C” strokes
7. Filbert- Soft edges and blending colors
8. Rake- Texturing for fur, grasses, vines, or feathers
9. Fan- Dry texturing and smoothing, softening of brush strokes
10. Dagger Striper- Long flowing thick to thin line work
11. Deerfoot Stippler- Texturizing with pouncing motion for fur or foliage
12. Washes- Long, broad sweeping strokes · Shaders- Crisp edges, stroke work, and floating
13. One Stroke- Longer hair than Shader for lettering and borders

Natural or Synthetic?

Natural brushes are made of animal hair and are usually the most costly and time consuming to make. Most painters feel that a natural brush gives the finest chiseled edge or point. Synthetic brushes are manufactured with hairs made of polyester. The advantages of a synthetic brush include being less expensive to produce, easier to clean, less prone to damage from solvents and paint, and better suited for painting with acrylics.

Proper Care of Brushes

1. Use the proper solvent for the paint being used. Watercolors and acrylics use water. Oils use solvents.
2. Keep the water-based brushes and solvent brushes (oils) separate. Most solvents repel water.
3. Always clean the brush between brush changes and color changes. Never allow paint to dry on the brush. Acrylics dry very quickly, even when basecoating with an acrylic there is a need to clean the brush occasionally.
4. Avoid twisting and pushing down hard on the brush hairs. It leads to distortion of the natural direction of the hairs. The fine edge or point of the brush is permanently damaged.
5. The water level of your water container should not be above the ferrule (where brush hair is attached to handle) of the brush. Excessive moisture to the handle can cause the surface of the handle to chip and erode causing damage to the ferrule and brush handle. Excessive moisture will distort and loosen the ferrule.
6. Never let a brush sit in water. Clean or rinse brush and remove from water container. When the painting session is done completely clean the brush. First wipe brush on a paper towel. Rinse thoroughly in proper solvent. A brush cleaner or soap and water should be used. Then wipe brush over paper towel again to make sure there are no traces of color left in brush. Dry the brush including ferrule and handle. Reshape the brush with fingers.
7. Store brushes upright on their handles, suspended, or lying flat. Tips (brush hair) should not be bent or pressured.
8. Avoid storing wet brushes in an airtight container to prevent mildew problems.
9. Do not try to keep placing the little plastic tip protector back on the brush. More times than not, damage is done to the brush hairs. The plastic tip was meant to protect the brush from the manufacturer to the store shelf.
10. Avoid getting paint into the ferrule. It is better to have a light touch with the paints and have to apply a second coat, than to overload a brush with paint. It is a good idea to occasionally restore the natural oils in natural hair brushes with a paintbrush conditioner or clean with conditioning brush soap.
11. Use damaged brushes for basecoating, strippling, antiquing, or donate to a children’s craft class.

Brushes do the main work when painting and take advantage of the specialty brushes if you want to add some texture or highlight to your projects. Stenciling is seeing a big interest especially in home décor and paper arts. Who would have thought that scrapbookers would be grabbing paint and brush? Well, they are and they are loving it. Cardmakers are including more paint in designs too.