Tutorial Thursday: Snowman Nodder

I have had these little round "heads" falling off my table for 2 or 3 years, so I decided to do something with, well, at least one.

I had bought them from a fellow team member on Etsy.

I gathered my old rusty bed spring that is really cool and 

different from most--bought on, of course, ETSY.

I gathered some supplies.

Oh, who am I kidding.  The supplies were already sitting on my paint table from another two or three or four projects!!

This project was mostly about waiting for paint to dry!

Story of my Life!

I covered the cloth head with DecoArt Dimensional Effects Paintable Texture Paste.

I spread it with my pallet knife.

I added the texture with an old brush by dabbing the brush into the Paste.

I sat it aside to dry.

When it was almost dry, I added the 

paste to the bottom of the head.

When dry, I dry brushed Titanium White all over.  I didn't worry about getting a good coverage, since I knew I would antique it.  This added another depth of color to the piece.

I made the nose, mouth and eyes out of QuikWood.

I spread the nose out at the base as much as possible to blend into the head.

I let this dry.

I added more of the Dimensional Paste around the bottom of the nose to blend it all together.

Again, I dry brushed more Titanium White over 

all of the QuikWood.

I made some ice cycles out of the QuikWood and 

added them to the bedspring.

More Drying.

I added the eyebrows with the Textured glass--I am determined to find a use for it that I can't live without! Lol

More drying...

Charcoal is bored by the whole process!

I added color to the cutie and these are the supplies I used.

After the painting was finished, I antiqued the entire head.

Snow was added with the Texture Glass and with Snow-Tex.

This is the little Nodder all finished.

You can use most anything for the head~~

a gourd, paper Mache, or a Styrofoam Ball.

Use the supplies you have on hand.

He would look adorable with a black hat or a stocking hat, 

or even a sculpted hat.

Have fun and get to creating!  

Christmas is coming. 

Think about making Christmas more about the MEMORIES this year...sometimes, that is all that is left.

Oh, and Santa Clause is Watching YOU!

Yes, I BELIEVE  in the magic.

Thank you for stopping by my little corner of the world.

I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡

Technique Thursday: Multi Surface Paint

Well, now, I guess I thought the elves would finish this post for me.

There they were, just sitting on the shelf above the laptop.

I did, after all, add all the pictures and then promptly 

went about my day doing...

hmmmmm...what was I doing?

I do remember there was some ice cream at one point.

Oh, well, WELCOME to my world! 

I thought I would share some tiles that I painted using 

DecoArt Multi-Surface Satin Acrylics

CLICK HERE to order from DecoArt 

I had a special order for 4 tiles.

I have a habit, not necessarily a bad habit, of painting more than needed so my customer can have a choice.

I want them to be happy.

So, these are the tiles that I painted.

She chose the first four.

This is a design by Betty Bowers that 

I painted using these paints.

Isn't he cute!!

I haven't used this paint for very many things.

It is very similar to using water-based Enamel Paint.

You can't add water to it, or it will ruin its adhesive quality.

I have no problems with not using water since I learned to paint using the "dirty brush" method, 

meaning that I added my highlights/shading by working them in with the base coat.

It was all I knew to do, and it is similar to 

how one would paint with oils, 

but I have never done that, either...LOL

These paints are very translucent, so I base my design with white.

You may add White to your paint to help make them more opaque,

 but I am ok with that; however, I DO wish the black were opaque, 

but I can live with it for a bit.

I free-hand many of my paintings.

The colors I used were:

Black Tie, Cottonball, Pumpkin Patch, Paprika, True Blue, leprechaun, coffee bean, muted Gold, eggplant, red barn

Shake the bottles really well.

I discovered that the paint seems to separate easily.

I thought I would share how to paint a very easy bird.

I showed you how to paint a pumpkin, so let's add to it.

Start by making a ZERO for the bird's body.

Add the two sides to the Pumpkin and add the tail to the bird, simply by making a rectangle.

Make the end of the tail jagged.

Base the colors.  

For the bird, I added White to the True Blue to make it lighter.

Notice on the bird, I left a little of his belly white.

I also added two little lines for his beak.

I added two coats of each color.

I thinned the Red Barn and added it to the belly.

 Add the beak with Muted Gold.
Use a flat brush and add Paprika to the edges of the pumpkin.
I added some Muted Gold to inside the pumpkin, too.
Add the eye to the bird with Black Tie, 
followed with a dot of cottonball.
Using the darker True Blue, add some lines to the tail 
and add a little to the top of the bird.
Outline with Black Tie.

Add a vine with Black Tie.

Use a White Charcoal pencil to make a line to 

write a message across the top,

Notice how icky the writing is?

Add "berries" with Eggplant.

Mix some cottonball with the eggplant 

and go over the "berries" again. 

The leaves are leprechaun.

Go over the writing again, and it looks fine.

I tried to use the very tip of the liner brush 

and kept a good amount of paint on the tip.

hmmm...not the best writing, but not too bad...

I think I will scratch off that "i" 

and try that again...LOL

Hey, it is JUST PAINT!

I hope this will inspire you to try some painting.

Really, anyone can do it IF they wish to!

Share with me if you try to paint this or something similar.

It never hurts to have a "birdie in your pocket" to paint!

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the world.

Leave me a comment, if you wish.

I love to get to know YOU.

 I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡

Tutorial Tuesday: White Pumpkin Domino

I wanted to see if I could translate my White Pumpkin 

from a couple of weeks ago to a small domino.

So I gathered a few dominoes.

I slung a mix of Winter Blue mixed with an equal amount of DecoArt Paint Adhesion onto some Dominoes.

I usually do a bunch at a time, so I have them available 

when I get in the mood to paint them.

It doesn't matter what color you base them.  

I just wanted to get the Paint Adhesion painted onto 

the surface for a good adhesion.

After this is done, I can paint them any color that I wish.

This is after a coat of Winter Blue/Paint Adhesion.

Add the color you wish your background to be.

But today, I didn't use these.

This is for another top secret project...

Well, not really, but it sounded very secretive!

These are the colors I used for the project.

Oh, plus Titanium White.

(She was being Shy and didn't want to be photographed.)

I added the above colors to the surface using 

Dry Wall Tape as a stencil.

See the YUMMY Texture!

This shows the steps I do to free-hand a pumpkin.

I start with an oval in the center.

I add a "hump" on one side.

Then one on the other side.

Ok, it is more like half of an oval, instead of a "hump"

This is after 3 quick coats of Titanium White.

With a small flat brush (#4)

Load Titanium White on the brush

Pick up some Raw Sienna on the edge.

Work the paint into the brush by stoking it in the 

SAME PLACE on your pallet to blend the Raw Sienna 

into your brush.  You do NOT want the Raw Sienna 

to go all the way across the brush.  You want it to 

remain in that same spot that you loaded it.

The edge with the Raw Sienna is placed on the 

edge of the piece where you want it to be shaded.

This shows the stages of shading, with the last pumpkin 

showing the shading as complete.

I added the stems with Raw Sienna.

I painted 3 different stems to show you that it 

doesn't matter how you paint them.

Stems are imperfect in nature, so reflect it in your painting.

It is hard to tell, but I added some Hauser Light Green 

to the middle sections of each pumpkin.

With a 10/0 liner, I added Burnt Umber around the edges 

of the stem.  If it got too fake looking, I just blended it 

back with some more of the Raw Sienna.

I added a bit of Titanium White to the Raw Sienna to 

add a highlight to the top of the stem.

Again, it is really tough to tell, But I added some of the amazing 

White Pearl Dazzling Metallics to the Pumpkins. 

 It is really cool in person.

Curling Stems were added to the bottom of the stem 

with the Burnt Umber and the 10/0 liner.

The STARS of the Show!

I dabbed (not brushed) a good deal of the Crackle Medium 

around the pumpkin.

I allowed it to air dry for an hour.

See the shimmer on the Pumpkin from the Dazzling Metallic.

I brushed Deep Midnight blue around the Pumpkin.

I wiped it off with a damp cloth.

Isn't this exciting.

Cheryl Jones--Where are YOU?!!

The domino on the left shows the Deep Midnight blue 

before it was wiped off.

Isn't this FUN!!
Now, should I write a word across the top?

I love playing!!

I wish you a happy week and hope you get to play, too!

I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡