Art, Designing, DIY

Up-Cycled Bunnies

One thing I have always enjoyed about decorative painting is the variety of surfaces. I love all the different shapes. Many times for me, just looking at a shape gives me an idea of what to put on it. This happened to me when I was looking into the recycle bin at these two different shaped bottles. I immediately saw bunny bodies.

mouthwash bottles

I envisioned using Styrofoam balls for their heads and QuikWood (QW) to create the details. I applied pieces of newspaper with DecouPage to the bottles. Once it dried, I covered the bottles with a coat of Gesso.

Then began the process of adding the head and sculpting the details. I chose a Styrofoam ball that is in proportion to the size of the bottle. For the rectangular bottle I used a 2 1/2″ ball and for the larger bottle I used a 3″ ball. Since this was my first attempt, I used the bottles the way they were made. If I did it again, I might cut off a part of the top of the large bottle with a hack saw to make the neck shorter.

The first thing I did was sculpt the ears and let them cure. Again, I made the ears in proportion to the size of the bunny. Of course, bunnies can have all different size ears so don’t over-think it. To make it easier you can download the pattern below. Lay a piece of parchment paper over the pattern and follow the instructions on the video. For the larger ears I used 1/2″ of QW and divided it in two. For the medium ears I used 3/8″ of QW and divided it in two.

Video for making ears:

Bunny Ears

If you want to make the bunnies a little heavier, you could add some sand or stones to the bottles before adding the heads. I did not add anything to mine.

Once the ears are cured, I pushed the Styrofoam ball down on top of the neck of the bottle. I then covered the head with clay and inserted the ears.

For the large head I used 3″ (2″ to start and then 1″ rolled into a 6″ coil to finish) of QW to cover it and for the medium head I used 2 1/4″ (1 1/2″ to start and then 3/4″ rolled into a 5″ coil to finish) of QW.

Making head and inserting ears

I then added the feet and the tail. For the larger bunny I used 1″ of QW for the tail and 1″ divided it in two for the feet. For the medium bunny I used 3/4″ of QW for the tail and 3/4″ divided it in two for the feet.

Bunny feet and tail

I them added a muzzle using 1/2″ of QW for the large bunny and 1/4″ of QW for the medium bunny.

Bunny muzzles

Once you have your sculpting done you will want to cover the QW with a coat of DecoArt Adhesion Medium mixed 1:1 with DecoArt paint. I usually use Oyster Beige because it is a little lighter than the QW and I can see where I painted. If you haven’t already done so, you will want to paint the paper with gesso.

I then sketched out how I was going to dress my bunnies.

Sketching out bunny clothes

At this point you could decide if you want any more sculpted details. I begin painting my bunnies and then decided to add a few more details. I used DecoArt paint for my bunnies. I recommend using your favorite colors.

I then decided to add a flower and carrots to the square bunnies and arms and a heart to the larger bunny.

Flower and Carrots
Arms and a heart

Once they were painted, I gave them a light coat of DecoArt matte varnish. I then added a few embellishments.

Once I finished these bunnies, I started seeing other containers that could be bunnies as well.

more containers, more bunnies
More bunnies, even if one is a duck pretending to be a bunny.
bunnies
bunnies

I hope you will have fun creating more up-cycled bunnies. If you create some, please send me pictures at alandjanie@msn.com and I will add them to the bottom of this post.

Happy Spring, Happy Easter!

Hugs,

Jane

Art, DIY

A Heart for Mom

I am loving spring with all the beautiful scents and colors.  I love seeing the trees budding and all the beautiful spring flowers popping out everywhere.

All the beautiful spring flowers have me playing with Quikwood again (see Flower Canvas).  I thought it would be fun to create these flower hearts.  They are a sweet little gift for mom and/or anyone special in your life.  They would also be fun to hang on someone’s door as a little surprise.

Continue reading “A Heart for Mom”

Art, DIY, Inspire

Creative Flower Challenge

I always enjoy spending time with creative friends.  These times usually involve food and catching up with what’s going on in our lives.  Some of the things I really about being with my creative friends is sharing ideas and creative brainstorming.  My creative friends help fill my well when it is dry, they encourage, and they get/keep me excited about my art.  Sometimes we have so many ideas I think my head will explode…and I love it!

The other day I was with my creative friend Glenda Payne and she suggested each of us do a large floral canvas.  One thing lead to another and we decided to do 10 floral canvases and hold each other accountable.

Continue reading “Creative Flower Challenge”

Art, DIY

Egg Snowies

This year at Christmas we created Nativity characters made from paper mache eggs and Quikwood.  If you want to see them you can go here – Egg Nativity.   They were fun to create and we added a hook at the top that could be used as a hanger or a place card holder. On that post I also had step-by-step videos.

As I was packing them up I thought this same concept could make some great snow people…and so I started playing.

Continue reading “Egg Snowies”

Art, DIY

Egg Nativity

I was talking to my cousin about her Christmas dinner and how she would like to have the “Reason for the Season” somehow on her table.  As we were brainstorming, the idea popped into my head to make nativity characters out of papier mache eggs and Quikwood.  The characters could be place card holders for dinner and then be taken home and hung on the Christmas tree.  Each year that ornament would stir the memory that was made with it.

Continue reading “Egg Nativity”

Art, DIY, Inspire

Froggy Pins Fun-raiser

“Isn’t it funny how you can start something and it just keeps growing.  That is what happened for me with these frog pins.

2frogs

One year my chapter was having a pin exchange and I came up with the idea to make these frog pins.  I called them my Jump 4 Joy frogs, because my frogs were so happy that they wanted to jump for joy. As I thought about them I thought it would be fun to give them names.  Fun names like “Cute Carol”, “Awesome Al”, “Sweet Sarah”, etc.  Every one loved them and selected them because of their names. Continue reading “Froggy Pins Fun-raiser”

Art, Decorating, DIY

Hello Spring “Nest” Canvas

Spring is my favorite season of the year. I love how the days get warmer and longer.  There is something magical about seeing everything starting to bud and bloom.  You can tell by my painting palette that these are also some of my favorite colors….the soft pastels, and vibrant clear colors of spring. I also love the smells of the season from the smell of the earth thawing and coming to life, to the sweet smell of the blossoms. And then there are the birds….I love seeing them make their nest, lay their eggs, and then their little families learning to fly.

img_5162

Continue reading “Hello Spring “Nest” Canvas”

Art, DIY

Glass Glitter Houses

Last year I did a post on creating glitter houses which turned out to be very popular.  Many of my friends and family were inspired to create their own houses or have me teach them.

This year I am up to my eyeballs in glitter. 🙂  Our family made glitter houses after thanksgiving dinner, I am teaching two full classes at a local shop, and I have made houses to sell in the shop which after a week are almost sold out.

Continue reading “Glass Glitter Houses”

Decorating, DIY

Paper Mache Pumpkins

Last Year I tried a new DecoArt Media product call Crackle Glaze. I had used it on a Christmas Tree and also some coordinating ornaments. (See Them Here)  It was so easy to use and I loved the results so I thought I would make some pumpkins with it.  I started with paper mache pumpkins from my local craft store and painted them Buttermilk, Spiced Pumpkin, and Mint Julep Green and the stems Khaki Tan.

crackle1

crackle1paint

Continue reading “Paper Mache Pumpkins”

Art, DIY

Spring Houses

When I was out shopping at Micheals I saw these cute houses.  I immediately had an idea of what I would like to paint on them.  When I got home I keep thinking about the cute flower cut outs they had and how they would make fun rooves on the houses.  So back to Michaels and then I started working on my updated idea.  If you don’t have a Michaels available to you, the houses could be cut from 2×4’s and the roof could be made out of scrape book paper glued to a heavier paper and cut out.

image

Continue reading “Spring Houses”

Art, Baking, Cooking, Decorating, DIY

My Best Posts so far…

One of the blogs that I follow is Jennifer Rizzo and she is looking for monthly contributors for recipes, crafting and home decorating.  To find out more about the contest go to her blog post Jennifer Rizzo Contributor Call-Out

jenrizzocontrigraphic

To enter you have to do a post showing your three best posts.  Since I do all three, I will show my three best post for each.

Continue reading “My Best Posts so far…”

Art, DIY

Clothespin Snowies

I was moving some things around in my basement when I found the starts to these clothes pin snow people and thought you might enjoy creating them. You will need a few clothes pins, toothpicks, doll stands, some twigs for arms, butterfly stickers for wings, paint, glitter, glue, ribbon and tulle and any other embellishments you would like.  If you don’t have them already, you can get most of these supplies at your local craft store.

image

Continue reading “Clothespin Snowies”

Art, Designing, DIY

Making a Birthday Canvas

Our family was celebrating my nieces 50th birthday on New Year’s day.  I wanted to do something special for her so I decided to make a mixed media Birthday canvas.  I had a general idea of what I wanted to do and was able to find the needed supplies at my local crafts store.  I started with a 5x7x2 wooden canvas (you could use a regular canvas), I wanted to put her age on the canvas, her initial, a crown, and possibly feet on the project so she could sit it on a table.

image

Continue reading “Making a Birthday Canvas”

Art, Decorating, DIY

Making Glitter Houses

I posted a picture on Facebook of me and a young friend making glitter houses, a number of people seemed interested in how they were made so I thought I would show you.  You are probably thinking this is too close to Christmas is she crazy…..but this could really be a fun project/ memory with your children, grandchildren or a special friend over vacation break.  In fact in would be fun to do every year and watch how their art changes as they grow.  When they leave home they will have their own Christmas village, much more valuable than any they could buy.

Continue reading “Making Glitter Houses”

Art, Decorating, DIY

Playing with Glitter

My friend Amy Mogish (visit her blog at http://classicamyjoanne.com/) and I went to a glitter class with Miss Mustard Seed aka Marian Parsons.  We used MMS’s German Glass Glitter which has an extra sparkle, you can find it on her web site.  It was such a fun relaxing class and the process is pretty simple:

  1. Place white glue were you want glitter.
  2. Sprinkle on glue with glitter.
  3. Shake off excess glitter.
  4. Repeat.

It is amazing how many things you can glitter in 2 hours. I had painted a small house and put clear glitter all over it, plus letters for two banners, snowflakes and pine cones.  These few projects added a lot of glitz to my holiday decorating.

mystuff

Marian had given me some old music pages which I wanted to put my one set of letters on.  Since the paper was fragile I glue it to some heavier banners that I bought at Michaels.  I then glued the letters to them.

Continue reading “Playing with Glitter”

Art, DIY

Festive Fall Pedestal – DIY

I love to display things on pedestals.  When I was at Micheal’s (You can see by now that I go there too often) I found the little wooden pedestal and thought it would work with a cake pan on top.  You could use any type pan.  I wanted something with straight sides so it would be a little easier to cover with scrapbook paper.  The pan I used is the 8″ tray available from Della and Company

pedgettingstarted Continue reading “Festive Fall Pedestal – DIY”

Art, DIY

Say It With Pumpkins – DIY

I found this metal heart at Micheal’s and thought it would be fun to spell out some words with the heart symbolizing “love” or “heart”.  For example you could spell out GRATEFUL “heart”, THANKFUL “heart”, FALL “love” or WHO “loves” YOU.  I am sure you can also think of other combinations to spell out.  So first I had to figure out what I was going to spell out so I would know how many pumpkin blocks I would need. I had my husband cut out 8 sections of 2×4,  4 1/2″ long and sand them with a hand sander.  He then drilled a hole in the center top for the stems.  I cut tree branches 3″ long for the stems trying to keep them all about the same diameter.

Step1supplies Continue reading “Say It With Pumpkins – DIY”

Art, DIY

Fall Owl Painting – DIY

As you saw on my fall decorating blog post I have an “owl” thing going this year.  I didn’t plan it, it just happen.  I guess that means owls are big this year.  See Fall house tour – the Beginning and Fall house tour- The rest.

I wanted a painting of an owl, but wanted to keep is simple so I sketched out an owl and sized it to my canvas. I used a square canvas 24″x24″ and painted it Lamp Black (I used DecoArt paints). You could scale it to any size canvas.  I then positioned my owl and traced it on.  I outlined him in chalk so that you could see him better.  I decided I wanted him to sit on a tree branch and have a moon showing through the branches.  I cut a circle out of white paper for the moon and laid it in place.  Them using a piece of chalk I traced around the moon and freehand the trees and branches.

owlgetting started Continue reading “Fall Owl Painting – DIY”

Art, DIY

Chalk Paint and Gold Leaf Pumpkins – DIY

This year I have been seeing a lot of really wonderful looking pumpkins painted with chalk paint so I thought I would give it a try.  I went to my local craft store and bought some of the craft pumpkins and some bottles of chalk paint in the colors I thought I would like them.  I wanted my pumpkins to be a little funky and glitzy so I also purchase gold leafing and adhesive.  I bought as many as I could in white so that the coverage would be easy.

getting started

Continue reading “Chalk Paint and Gold Leaf Pumpkins – DIY”