Beach Dreaming Mixed Media Art

About this time of year I think about how much I miss summer already. To push away the September blues, I decided to do a series of three beach themed mixed media art canvas pictures. Its great when you have a storage box filled with all these supplies from other mixed media / paper craft projects because you don't have to go to the store and spend more money. At least this is how I justify it to my husband.

One thing for sure that I keep in my craft box is spray ink. Mixing blue firecracker and pearls mist provides a dreamy sky look. After it dries I stamp it up by painting acrylic paint on my stamps.

I use tan acrylic paint and actual sand to create the beach. I looked a little strange dumping my canvas in the sand at the beach, but not any stranger than the 80 year old man in the tight red Speedo, smoking a pipe while staring at me.  

Curly Stencil

The water is painted with acrylic paint and the idea of waves are created by using a curly stencil with white and blue acrylic paint.

Scrap Book Paper

It was so easy to cut out houses and sailboats since they are simply triangles and rectangles. The umbrella was a little bit trickier, but whats great about using paper is that you can easily toss your mistakes.

Oil Pastel and Paper

To add a little more texture to the houses, I went around the edges of my squares with a darker color oil pastel and blended it in.

I always glue together my paper creations together, outline with sharpie, then Modge Podge them before I glue them to the canvas, with the exception of the really tiny pieces that are too difficult to work with.

   Make sure the final product is sprayed with clear coat to keep the sand from falling off.

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Minimal
Difficulty Level: Low to Moderate 
Frustration Level: Low
Cost: $$

Letter Art Photography

I found a frame at home goods with 5 slots for 4x6 pictures and decided to use my own B+W photos. The kids and I searched around for things around the beach that looked like letters. My kids were very creative, and were very helpful; my son saw the umbrella as a 'T' and my daughter cold see the lamp post looked like an 'r'.


It is easy to change color photos to black and white because it is an option on the photo site after you upload them. We used CVS photo and the pictures cost around 2 dollars.

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Low
Frustration Level: Low
Price: $-$$ 

Lucy the Elephant Art

I have teacher friend who finally saved up enough money to retire to a beach house in Margate NJ. To ensure that I could visit her frequently, I made her a house warming gift for her kitchen.  She told me that she wanted something with a beach/wine/elephant theme with the colors yellow, blue and silver. 

The canvas is basically watercolors, acrylics, stamps and sand. Yes sand. I painted the bottom with tan acrylic paint and then dipped it in the sandbox.

Below are the directions to the Wine bottle and glass.

Materials:

     Sculpy Clay

     Stamps

     Sliver Acrylic Paint

     Black Acrylic Paint

     Paper 

     Rhinestones

    

1) I cut out shapes for a wine bottle and a cup as a template. Basically I folded it in half and cut the paper so that it was exactly the same on both sides.

2) Its important to soften up Sculpy (Polymer) clay before you bake it. You can use your hands but its a lot of work, I prefer the clay machine, you roll the clay through there a few times and it becomes soft. Also, it makes a nice, even flat clay piece much more easily than you could do with a rolling pin. My wine bottle was really large so I had to to it in two pieces and blend it together.

3) The clay is bumpy, so to take away from that uneven look, I used some stamps and some embellishments to add interest and make the imperfections less noticeable. Oddly enough, I had some rhinestones that fell off my old bling flip-flops that I re-used for this craft. I save everything shiny, I never know when I can glue it to something.   

5)Before painting, bake the clay in the oven as per the directions.

6)To add an antiqued look, I pained on black acrylic paint and wiped it off with a paper towel.

7) I added a Lucy The Elephant label by taking a picture of Lucy and editing it in word shop then printing it out on yellow paper.I used the Gelatos to add some flair to the label. The Lucy printable is included below. 

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Advanced (working with clay takes a little bit of experience)
Difficulty Level: Moderate 
Frustration Level: Low
Cost: $$

I

Print Me

Sun Catchers for Dad Part II

Last year for fathers day, my kids made Superhero sun catchers. They turned out to be a hit, this year we decided to go with Plaid Gallery Glass,a more expensive way to make a sun catcher/ window cling.


Gallery glass is a product that I used years ago before I had children. I used it to add privacy to my bathroom windows so that I didn't have to add blinds or curtains. Plaid makes all kinds of patterns for you to chose from.  

This time, I decided to make my own. The kids and I made 2 window clings for daddy and o-pop (my dad)! You can buy Plaid Gallery Glass at any craft store, they come in kits and you can purchase separately. 

1) Print out the image you want to use.

2)  Place a Plaid plastic blank OVER your printout before you start

3) Squeeze out the black liquid leading to outline the image (I did this part myself, I assumed that the kids did not have the strength or the precision to do the outline)

4) Let it dry overnight before putting in the color

5) Let the kids squeeze different Gallery Glass colors in-between the leading. If you want to get fancy, you can add two colors in one spot and swirl them around with a toothpick, giving a interesting look to your fake glass

6) Try to pop as many bubbles as you can with a toothpick or bamboo skewer

7) Let it dry for 2 days, just to be safe

8) Peel it off an stick on a window

Instead of doing a window cling, you can also create your art directly on plastic. Plaid sells flat plastic sheets or you can go through your trash can or recycle bin and get the plastic out yourself. Just make sure that your trash is thoroughly clean and dry before you try to decorate it.

Print Me

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate (needs parental assistance)
Frustration Level: Moderate (kids always make a mess)
Cost: $$

Creeper Cupcakes

 My son is absolutely in love with the Mindcraft Creeper, so it was no surprise that he wanted creeper cupcakes for his birthday party at Pre-K. 

1) I made square cupcakes, from a box mix, with an individual brownie pan that I found in the local grocery store. The pans run around 9 dollars. You can also just use a regular square pan and cut the cake into squares.

2) Its important to cut the top of the cupcake off to make the cupcake flat because the creeper does not have a round head. This gives you an opportunity to eat all the discarded pieces and pretend that you are still on your diet.

3) You can color store bought icing with jello mix to give it the green color. I used just enough jello to make the icing green.  Ice the cupcakes and add green sprinkles. The sprinkles give it a pixelated look, at least that is how my daughter convinced me to add the sprinkles. Before you move onto the next step, you have to wait about an hour for the icing to harden.

4) Print out the creeper printable below and place wax paper over it. You can use a razor blade to cut out the eyes and mouth. Make a few of these as they do get soggy and unusable after about 4 cupcakes.

5) Place the wax paper over the cupcake and smear chocolate icing on top of your wax paper stencil (use an unused, washed, small craft paint brush or finger), then instantly take it off and it will reveal your creeper face.   



See printable below.


Grade: B  
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Easy
Frustration Level: Easy





Note: Lime and chocolate are not a great paring in flavor, but the kids ate them anyway. You could use food  coloring instead if lime cupcake icing grosses you out. On second thought, you should still use the lime icing if you don't like it, you just ate all those cupcake discards so you've really had enough cupcakes until next birthday.

Print Me

Mini Barn Raising

Junior Carpenter

Tragedy struck our house when a rabid raccoon massacred our chickens. I'm going to spare you the details, but it was a scene straight out of the movie Saw. I kid you not. Raccoons are mean. 

I wasn't going to let that nasty beast stop me from having fresh eggs and I decided to invest in a new red barn style coop from the tractor supply store and some new chicks from the local garden center. The coop came in a lot of pieces but my 5 year old and I had our power drill and we were ready to build.

Rain Gutters

The first four pieces went up like magic. My little helper even was able to get time on the drill. Everything fit reasonably well, though the side door does have quite a gap in it, but I can fix that at a later date by drilling in an extra piece of wood. We were chugging along like Bob the Builder but then hit a complete stop when it was time to put on the rain gutters, boy was that complicated. The picture wasn't clear and I had no idea what the heck was up with these things. It took me quite a while to figure out how to put it together. After that was done, the roof went up quickly. 

The next part that had me stumped was putting together the nest box. However, I think the directions were clear and if I wasn't interrupted with some important news bulletin from my children that needed my immediate attention every three minutes, it probably wouldn't have taken as long to put together. 
 
The quality of the coop matches up with the price. It isn't as sturdy as those 1000 dollar coops that mimic sheds, but it isn't 1000 dollars either. It does not have a floor on the inside and there is no door between the run and the inside of the coop and those are things I plan to add in the future.

   

Big enough to fit 6 pullets and a human 5 year old

Grade: B  
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate 
Frustration Level: Moderate 
Price: $$$ 

Yes, he did fit himself through that tiny door

Mosaic Birdhouse with Broken Tiles

Every time I see a wooden birdhouse go on sale at a crafty store I MUST purchase it. I usually just paint them, recently I experimented with doing a marble birdhouse, which turned out fabulous.  For mothers day I decided to step up my game and try broken tiles mixed with floral marbles. 

I get my creative/art side from my mom so I know that she would appreciate the effort that I put in on this gift, no matter how it turned out. I know this is the perfect Mother's day gift for her.

Materials
Unfinished wooden birdhouse
Broken Tiles
Floral marbles
Ceramic NipperMastic
Sanded grout (tinting optional)
Spatula (just for crafting, not food)
Sponge
Water

1) I had saved a bag of cracked pieces from my butterfly meadow dish collection for future tiling projects. So I just smashed the bag against the sidewalk. In hindsight, I should have used the ceramic nippers instead, it was time consuming finding all of the broken pieces and placing them together. If I didn't have the heart to break dishes and teacups, there is an estate store in my town that actually sells the broken ceramics and glass for 2 dollars a bag.  I picked up some of those too in order to give my piece some additional colors.

2)I laid out the tile pieces in a pattern on a towel to get a feel for what it should look like on the birdhouse. I used the ceramic nippers on the edge of the tile to break off pieces for a better over all shape to fit. Just don't stick ill fitting tiles next to each other, make sure they generally fit, almost like a puzzle, but you don't have to be neurotic about it.

3) I smoothed the mastic all over the birdhouse with my craft spatula (not my food one, that is gross). then placed the tiles on the mastic. Let the mastic cure overnight so that the tiles are snug on the birdhouse. DO NOT use the grout to attach the tiles to the house, they WILL fall off.

4)Mixing together sanded grout with water is like making mud pies; it reminds me of my childhood. I also applied the grout with my craft spatula to the house. I have found many uses for this 'craft' spatula. I tried using my fingers to smooth on the grout... BIG mistake with the broken tiles because now I have a nice gash in my hand. Resist the urge to rub your hands over the tile, you are asking for trouble. I used colored grout that I had left over from my kitchen floor. I think the colored grout looks so much better than the white on tile projects. It somehow gives it a more professional look.

5) When sponging off the grout, make sure the sponge is damp because a sopping wet sponge makes such a mess. I kept on rinsing and wiping, rinsing and wiping until the tiles showed through the grout.


I think my mom will love it.

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate 
Frustration Level: Moderate (this makes a huge mess)
Price: $ - $$