About Me

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I LOVE to design and to paint whimsical items that will put a smile on your face. Each day I share my simple life with you as I try to encourage, to inspire and sometimes JUST to make you smile as I recount my life growing up on a dairy farm! I've never had many material items in my life, BUT I have been blessed beyond words with love and encouragement from WONDERFUL Parents who instilled in me WHAT was important. I have had EVERYTHING that I needed and WAY too much of what I wanted. I am slowly learning to be a better person each day through my interactions with my friends on Facebook. Some day I hope to be as good as people seem to THINK I am! I am BLESSED! Welcome to my little corner of the world...Please stop by and visit often!
Showing posts with label fun project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun project. Show all posts

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Mixed Media Fun



Aren't these colors fantastic?

I love whimsical...


I have been having fun with some small 3 inch canvases that I have always kept on hand.

You know, you have to be prepared for when inspiration hits you!




I put texture on these with Deco Art Media Paste.

Now, IF you are going to add glued items to the canvas, I recommend NOT adding the texture, so the items can be glued flat!! 

I added my texture with dry wall tape, punchinello and a stylus.

I will use them for another project.



I took an old dictionary page and painted it the colors I wanted to use. Since these are small, I thought this would be easier!



I cut out my shapes, being ok with imperfections! 😁😂😊


I attached my items with Deco Art Decou-Page.

This is the Deco Art Brand of Mod Podge.

Please, use what you have! 

I am a Deco Art girl, and have been for over 25 years!

I love the quality of Decoart products.



These are some of the colors I used. 

Again, use what you like.

Use what you have! 



This is before I added details.

You can see that even when you do simple, fast and easy projects, the small details bump up your project to another level.



I added my details with paint, because that is what I feel comfortable using.

You may use a pen.

Make certain it is waterproof! 

Also, test the reaction with sealer. Many will smear if you add a brush on varnish! 


And this is It!

I live the whimsical look of this.

I hope you will try it.

If you do, please share it with me!


I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡



Thursday, August 11, 2016

Tutorial Thursday: Textured Pumpkin

Hey...Hope everyone is having a great week.  My thoughts are with my friends who are causing GREAT PAIN to their checking accounts as they shop at HOOT! 
You know, you can NEVER have enough patterns or surfaces!



I also think of all the screams of delights as people get to meet each other in person.
Hugs are being thrown around like glitter.
Laughter is filling the hall.
Inspiration is wafting through the air.
Friendships are being made and renewed.
Words of encouragement are being offered.
Beautiful COLORS are everywhere.

AWESOME SAUCE!

I pray traveling mercies...


BUT, most of us are HERE, well, not here, but THERE, because it is just me and Charcoal here, doing what we always do and living vicariously through the photos we get to see on this wonderful thing called SOCIAL MEDIA!

I thought I would share what I did with the background I created on Tuesday.

For those who missed it, it is the post before this one, so you can read it to catch up.


Once again, I pulled out my favorite DecoArt Americana Acrylics



I traced the outline of the tag and the Pumpkin 
that I decided to Put on this surface.

I based the Pumpkin with 2 coats of Canyon Orange.

Honestly, one coat would have been fine and more of the background would have shown through, but I decided to use 2 coats...

Let the paint dry completely before going to the next step.



When I got the pumpkin basecoated, I have to admit that I was sad to have covered so much of my background, and then....a BRIGHT LIGHT BULB appeared over my head!

I will add the same technique to the pumpkin that I used on the background.

Some days, I really think I am Albert Einstein...
 
Most days, I wonder where my glasses are that are on top of my head... 

This time, I decided to thin my paint instead of putting the water on the surface as I did for the background.  
One reason for this, was because I wanted the color to be stronger.
If you do this, you REALLY have to work quickly or the paint with dry.  Being Wet is what causes the Plastic Wrap to LIFT the paint.  Once the paint is dry, it won't lift off.

I used Tangerine and some Sunny Day placed where I thought
 natural highlights would occur.

Do not work your paint into a smooth basecoat.  
Leave the lines choppy to add some more texture.

Again, work quickly before your paint dries.

Place the plastic wrap over the surface and gently push it down 
to get contact with the paint and then carefully 
remove the plastic wrap while the paint is still wet.

When I removed the plastic wrap, I decided to put the plastic wrap on it again, because I wanted more texture...
The second time was the charm!



Isn't that the coolest thing?


The stem and tag were painted with Honey Brown.



I wanted the tag to look old, so I had the bright idea to do a modification of the same background technique.

I painted the tag with thinned Camel and bunched the plastic wrap into a wad and dabbed the paint to remove most of it...

Sorry, I didn't take a picture of that, 
but you can see it in the finished picture.



For those who paint, quickly this is what I did to complete the design.
Shade the Pumpkin, right stem and tag with Burnt Umber
Highlight the Left of the stem with Camel.
Paint the Circle of the tag with Camel.
The inside circle of the tag is Burnt Umber.
Shade around the outside of the circle with Burnt Umber and also the bottom INSIDE of the circle.
Highlight the top INSIDE of the circle with Sunny Day.
The lettering and lines inside the tag are Lamp Black.
Paint the string of the tag with Honey Brown.
Add a highlight to the string with Camel~~simply thin the paint and line.
Finish the string with an outline of thinned Lamp Black to help it show better.


I would have stopped here, but since I already put 
Happy Halloween on my tag, I went a step further...

I absolutely LOVE this just as it is!!

If I had simply put 
HAPPY FALL
on the tag, I would have called this DONE.
That texture is yummy!!

Now, for those who do not paint, it is never too late to begin to paint.  I have shared LOTS of free line drawings on my blog that are a great place to start.

If you want to paint this, but don't understand (yet) how to float paint, then paint it and outline the piece with a permanent black marker (like a Sharpie).  It will look adorable.

BUT just because you do not paint, does not mean that you cannot take advantage of this free line drawing.

If you stitch, this would be so cute made into little pillows to be used as bowl fillers, or add a piece of jute or ribbon to the pillows to hang on a door knob, a peg, or a drawer pull.  OR hang them on the chairs of a Fall gathering and give them to your guests as a reminder of a time well spent.

IF you like paper crafts, use scrapbook paper to make this!

OR, what I think would be adorable, is to make a set of these on 2x4s cut into different heights (I would say, 4, 5, 6 inches tall) and use them on your Thanksgiving table as Place markers!  You could either paint the pumpkins or use paper to Decou-Page them onto the wood...Just think how amazing it would be for a family of 3 to have one of each size to use for years to come as decorations and as a reminder of a fun meal with those you love!  You could add Names to the tags, or put a special message on them.


Be creative...Use this to fit YOUR style...

Right click on your computer to save this and by all means, resize it to fit YOUR needs...have fun with it!

This is how I decided to finish my design...What fun is this!!


I am not sure why this is blurred , but click it and it is fine...weird, huh!

I hope that I have nudged you a bit to create!  I cannot tell you how important it is to do something for YOU.  
When you feel fulfilled, then you are able to give even more of yourself...funny how life is like that!  


I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Embrace Life, Thursday, November 5, 2015



I fear I will have to apologize in every post until I do better, for the poor pictures…Taking a picture without being able to SEE what you are photographing is quite adventurous, but it is what it is and it will do until I find a new camera…so Use your imagination that the colors are bright, vivid and have no glare!



It started on an unseasonably warm November Day in Middle Tennessee. 



Everything was going well when I decided that I wanted to give Tracy’s stamp that I had won a try.  I just had a simple project in my mind and knew it wouldn’t take too long.



I began to read the directions on the back of the stamps, and that is when I took a turn down the daisy hole (sorry, there were no rabbits in sight)…



The directions said to  “stamp on scrap paper the very first 2 or three times to prime the stamps”.  I had no scrap paper where I was sitting, so I just decided to try them on my 8x10 canvas that was in my lap and I would just paint over it~~no biggie.

  

I stamped and stamped and stamped, and then ONE MORE stamp for good measure…I got up to go wash off the stamps because I was not going to use them until I had, in my mind, covered the canvas in pretty bright colors and then I was going to STAMP on top of that for a hippie-style daisy…it was going well…



I came back and pulled out the white gesso and painted it in criss-cross patterns to give some texture….still going well as I pulled out ye olde hairdryer.



Things suddenly took a turn…not your normal style of painting…after all, I have been creating something since a little kid, and I am now OLD and know that all projects have a proper logical order and in painting, one should always paint the back ground FIRST and build from there…yeah, Momma said that since I was a baby, if she said the sky was BLUE, I would say, “No, it’s (insert color here)…”  I am saying that I knew my colors as a small child and THAT is the story I am sticking to (it had nothing to do with me being a disagreeable child who argued since she learned to speak…heavy sigh.)



I thought I would just pull out a color and paint the petals and the center and it would give me a direction to go to when I would place the flowers at their proper time~~LAST.



Diarylide Yellow filled the centers/leaves/stems and  Pyrrole Orange colored the petals (ok…I painted 38 pumpkins for an order yesterday and I needed to know that Orange could be used for more things than just a pumpkin!)





Ok…I kinda like that…so I pulled out some of my favorite colors and just started painting in the background  (careful and don’t get on my petals, the mind YELLED!) with Quinacridone Violet (what is wrong with just saying VIOLET??) and then Quinacridone Magenta (really?  I’m Southern…what do you think that is going to sound like when I attempt to say it???)





Next came some Cobalt Teal Hue and some Blue Green Light on the leaves/stems….OH YES…Pretty colors…see how they change colors as I add layers…I love playing with these paints!

 I roughly dry-brushed my favorite color, Phtalo Turquoise (again???...what is that word…ok…so, I am at least familiar with this word from my one watercolor class in college…see Mom, I did learn something other than to burp on command!)…Look how it changes colors with each color I paint over…isn’t that the coolest thing ever!  Can I tell you how much I love COLORS!






I thought I might as well go with it now, so I pulled out the Carbon Black and outlined the flowers…I really should have taken more time with this, but I was just playing…still learning how to do this style…






This experiment sure had taken a dark tone, so I pulled out the drywall tape and scruffed in some Titanium White and added the word to the top…added some curly q’s and I am calling it DONE and you know what…I LIKE IT!!  I did attach the “embrace Life” with Matte Medium.  I had stamped it on the envelop that my stamp came in…I need some more work on stamping the words…so I went over the words with my black pen…





OK, Tracy, I will absolutely understand that the next time you have your husband pick a number, that you will tell him to pick a number between 1-100, but stay as far away from 79 (or whatever my number happens to be) as possible…I’m sorry…I KNOW this isn’t how we are SUPPOSED to use stamps, and MAYBE one day I will do better, but I sure am not going to promise that!



Thank you, Tracy, for the inspiration that you give to me and to countless others…your caring heart shines in your creations and I am so glad that our paths have crossed…

If you don't, Please follow Tracy on her website/blog to learn the PROPER way to do things!  =)  This will take you to Tracy's website.  You can also join her on many Monday Nights to see her create a project in about 1 hour (find them on You Tube)...You can LIKE her also, on facebook...she is EVERYWHERE and of course, she is the DecoArt Education Coordinator...my FAVORITE products and I am so happy to be a Helping Artist with DecoArt!!  Yippie Skippie!



I know, Tracy is thinking “please, don’t let anybody see this, please, don’t let anybody see…OH HI, everybody!”  but you are far too kind to ever utter what is going on in your head out loud (well, most of the time.).  Thanks for letting me play with some of your toys.



Tonight, I embraced LIFE…I LOVE life and am so blessed to simply create…I wish Blessings to YOU…~charlotte






My supply list: I apologize for any misspelled words...

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics:

Diaryliade Yellow,

Pyrrole Orange

Quinacridone Violet

Quinacridone Magenta

Cobalt Tea Hue

Blue Green Light

Phthalo Turquoise

Carbon Black

Titanium White



Gesso White and Matte Medium