Hello everyone! So I didn't think I would be doing yet another blog about these box gifts, but I finally got the supplies I needed to finish them up and since you all have been along for the journey, I figured I would show you the finish line!

When I last left you, I had a few things ready for the final 8 boxes. I had some mini candles made for 4 boxes, but I had not yet decided the theme of those boxes. I decided to give those a spa night theme and purchased some bath soak and soap to finish those off. I put the soak in a small recycled jar that I fancied up with some stickers.

I boxed the candle, soak and soap up, made a little label, tied some yarn around the box and these spa night boxes were done!

So for the tea boxes, I had some coasters that I had made and some honey sticks, but that was all. Obviously I knew that there would be some tea bags in there, but wanted a little art piece to go into these as well. I found these tiny frames at the Dollar Tree which were the perfect size.

I then picked out some paper which matched the speckled effect I went for on the coasters. Using some black letter stickers, I made some cute tea related phrases on the paper to put into the frames.

The frames seemed a little plain and after I spoke with my creative consultant (my husband) we thought that some pom-pom yarn I had would be a good touch. Using hot glue, I attached the yarn to the front and wrapped it around to the back. I positioned the yarn so that the little pom-poms were on opposite sides of the frame.

I then used some of the same yarn to wrap up the honey stick and tea bags for each box. I printed out some labels as well and mounted them on the same paper I used for the frames. I used some purple yarn to wrap up the boxes once everything was inside.

And they were FINALLY done! I have loved making these box gifts, but I'm happy to be done with them for now!

If you're wondering why one of each is unwrapped, that is so I can open it up at craft fairs and show people exactly what is inside. I'm really proud of all of the box gifts I've made and am really excited to see what people think of them at craft fairs. What do you think of the final 8 boxes? Let me know in the comments below!

 - Rebecca

Quick interruption from Rebecca before the blog: my apologies that this week's pictures are a little blurry! They came from my mom's phone, to my phone, to my computer and something went a bit wonky in the process. Also, Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you are celebrating with a special someone or with friends or by yourself, stay safe and feel the love! Now that that's out of the way, enjoy!

Hello Friends – It’s Suzanne, Rebecca’s Momma, back with the second in a series of card making posts.  You might remember in Part 1 back in December (www.thepatternedpaperplate.com/blog/cardmaking-101) we talked about some basic concepts and essential supplies -- paper, adhesive, a paper trimmer and a paper scorer.  Before talking about more specific stamping items, I wanted to share what you can do with some additional pretty paper and stickers to make cards that you would be proud to send to friends and family.

First, are cut-apart sheets.  These sheets, typically 12 by 12 inches, are made up of several images that can be cut apart.  Each piece can then act on its own as the focal image of a card.  The one I am using today was bought as a stand-alone sheet, but these also often come as part of a paper collection, like the “Hot Buy” pads that are available at Michael’s.

For this set of cards, I started with six sheets of sturdy 8.5 by 11-inch paper.  For each sheet, I scored it at 4.25 inches, folded it in half, and then cut it in half across the fold at 5.5 inches, making twelve A2 sized card bases.  That’s a card base that measures 4.25 by 5.5 inches.  (Pro-tip:  Scoring and folding your 8.5 by 11-inch paper first saves time.)  Then I selected two 12 by 12-inch pieces that complimented the colors in the cut-apart sheet and got to cutting.

For the cut-apart, I made sure the line between each image was lined up perfectly on the groove in the paper cutter where the blade would travel.  Cutting this sheet resulted in twelve 3 by 4-inch images.  To give them a little frame, I cut some dark brown (for the lighter images) or tan (for the brown images) sized at 3.25 by 4.25 inches and glued the image to framing piece.  Then, I cut the coordinating 12 by 12 pieces into 4 by 5.25 inch pieces.  Each 12 by 12 sheet yields six of these pieces, with six additional small strips to use on the opposite color for contract (see the chart below).

I layered everything up on the bases and, boom, twelve really cute cards.  I did use some vintage lace from my stash (I believe it was a gift from my lovely sister-in-law, Dottie) as well as some enamel dots and glitter glue, because I have a hard time leaving well enough alone, but really, the cards would be nice without the extra stuff.

For the next set, it’s stickers stepping to the forefront.  If you still think stickers are just for kiddos, think again – there are so many available now, from cute all the way to elegant.  These pretty ones came from The Dollar Tree.

I again started with sturdy 8.5 by 11-inch paper, scored it at 4.25 inches, folded it in half, and then cut it in half across the fold at 5.5 inches to make my A2 sized card bases.  I chose kraft to pick up on the color of the leaves in the stickers. This time I flipped the bases to be top fold instead of side fold.  I again cut a 4 by 5.25-inch coordinating layer (lavender) then decided on a black layer (3.25 X 4.5 inches on two of them and 3.5 X 4.75 inches on the one with the banner sticker) so the outline of the stickers would blend into the background.  I stuck down the stickers, integrating the small ones in so they looked like they were part of the larger ones and the cards were done.  These were so easy, it felt like cheating!

Finally, we are going to use pretty paper and a little secret trick for the card sentiments. 

For these bases, I mixed things up by scoring my paper at 5.5 inches and after folding it in half, cut it at the 4.25 mark.  That gave me a tall, slim card with the fold at the top.  Then I took a sheet of 8.5 by 11-inch double sided paper and cut it into four 4 by 5.25-inch pieces.  I stacked two pieces, one of each side of the paper facing up, and sliced them in half, positioning the stack a little differently for each pair.  I matched one of each side of the paper to make a full by 5.25-inch card front and mounted that on the base.  I shaved a thin .25-inch slice of coordinating paper to cover the seam and give the card front a unified look.  This technique lets the paper do the work. 

The cards do need sentiments, though.  Perhaps you have prodigious calligraphy skills and can hand letter a sentiment, but I can’t.  What’s the alternative?  PRINT!  If you have a device (which you do, if you are reading this blog!) and a printer, you can print a page of sentiments to use on your cards.  I opened a Microsoft word document, selected a few different fonts and printed several sentiments to use on my cards.  Mine are printed in black because we don’t have a color printer, but if you do, the possibilities are endless.  Cut those babies up, mount them on a little coordinating cardstock to give them some prominence and you have an easy way to finish up a card.  I did use some little precut flowers to add embellishment to these cards (see my earlier comment about being unable to leave well enough alone) but again, this isn’t strictly necessary.

Next time it is my turn on the bloggo, we’ll delve into ink and stamps, but I hope today’s work shows you how much you can do with just some pretty paper.

As a parting gift, here is a chart that you may find help helpful for cutting layers for your cards.  These are the proportional measurements for an A2 card, from that first layer, down to a little piece in the center.

Especially right now, when so many of us are staying safely at home, a homemade card sent to family and friends could really brighten someone’s day.  Happy crafting!

Hello friends! So the past few weeks I've been doing some crafty things, but have been very bad about taking pictures. So please excuse this shorter blog with more words and less pictures! A few blogs ago I explained how I tie-dyed some socks and made "sock boxes" that were ready to sell gifts. Well I had more of the paper boxes I used to package up the socks and started to think about other things I could package up in boxes as ready to go gifts. I've found that having things already packaged is a big selling point for people and they like to be able to buy a gift they hand to someone as is.

The first idea I had was inspired by my friend Cara so please go check out her Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/SeptemberSunStudio?ref=shop_sugg

She recently made some wool wall hangings and I purchased one which now hangs on my wall next to my desk. She has more on her shop and they are gorgeous!! I was so in love with this wall hanging that I decided to try a mini version that is far less impressive than Cara's. I cut down some small wooden dowels to make sure they would fit in the boxes and then cut some strands of yarn to wrap around. I trimmed the bottom of the yarn on each hanging and added some string on the top for hanging. I also tied a knot around each yarn loop and added a tiny bit of Super Glue to the back to keep it from unraveling. I used a small comb to comb out some of the yarn and give it a fluffier look. Again, these are the simplest wall hangings known to womankind, but Cara inspired me to give it a try on a tiny scale!

I was in love with the idea of the mini art theme so I then broke open some tiny 3 inch by 3 inch canvases that I had bought and made some matching acrylic pour paintings. I've done a few blogs on acrylic pour painting so check those out if you would like to learn more about the process! You can search acrylic pour painting in the search bar at the top of the page to find those.

I'm going to package up the matching hangings and paintings together in a box and sell them as a mini desk art package. I think they are a cute bundle that you would buy someone to spice up their work space or craft desk! I also want to make a few boxes each with tea supplies and then a few that are a relaxation/spa bundle. For the tea boxes, I have some honey sticks to add and will also add a few tea bags to each box. I am working on coasters so that I can put a coaster in each box and also made some little tea time tags out of air dry clay that I stamped into. With the coasters, I am going to add some felt to the bottom and splatter some paint for a galaxy feel. I know galaxy and tea doesn't really go together, but I'll find a way to make it all work! I still feel like these boxes will need something else, but am trying to decide what that "something else" is.

And finally, I also want to make a relaxation/spa bundle box. I started out by using some jars to make mini candles using leftover wax I had from current candles I own which have burned to the end of the wick. So far these boxes only have little candles and matches. I'm trying to decide if I want these boxes to be more about relaxing smells and add some incense and a DIY incense stick holder or if I want to go towards the spa vibe and maybe add some DIY sugar scrub and things like that. If you guys have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!

Sorry that this blog is a little more informal, but I hope it gives some ideas of small gifts that you could make to give to someone or try to sell. Go be creative people! And please, please, please check out Cara's Etsy shop because she has amazing wall hangings, paintings and stickers!!

 - Rebecca

Hello friends! Today I am here to show you how you can upgrade a cheap IKEA clock and give it some new life. I was first introduced to this IKEA clock and the idea of DIYing it by a Youtuber I watch, Tina Le. Give her video a watch below:

After watching Tina's video, I was all extremely excited about this Tromma IKEA clock which is $2. TWO DOLLARS! As someone who had made clocks in the past, that is a very good price, even if you are just buying these clocks for the mechanical parts themselves. So naturally I went and bought 10 clocks . . .

With these clocks, it is very easy to gently pop the plastic cover off, remove the hands and HAVE FUN!

I'm going to share the process of one clock DIY I did and then give a quick overview of the others. For this first clock, I decided to use some baking soda paint on the plastic for better coverage. For those of you that don't know, baking soda paint is a hack to make chalk paint at home. Chalk paint is a thicker, matte paint that typically sticks to plastic and glass better then acrylic paint and provides better coverage. Chalk paint can get expensive so a hack is to mix acrylic paint with baking soda. I have seen so many different iterations of this hack with a wide array of ratios. I say add as much baking soda as you want. If your paint isn't thick enough, add more and if you've added too much, thin it out with some water. I went for a deep green color that would complement the dark green yarn I was going to use on the clock as well.

I applied about two coats of the paint, the second of which I thinned out with a bit of water to be smoother and thinner. I went for an abstract blob of sorts and did not bring the paint all the way to the edges of the clock.

The paint clogged the clock number holes a bit so I used a thin metal tool to clean them out. I then used the dark green yarn to weave throughout the holes. I used a gold Sharpie to outline my green blob and spray painted the clock handles gold as well.

As you may imagine, weaving left the back of the clock a bit unfinished. After a creative consultation with my mother, we decided that the back needed to be more finished. I cut a piece of felt the size of the clock back and attached it with hot glue.

I popped the cover back on and that clock was done! Please ignore the subtle reflection of my craft room/office in the clocks :). It is hard to get a well-lit photo of reflective plastic! My lovely husband took these clock pictures for me because he is wonderful!

As I mentioned above, I bought 10 clocks, we have 8 finished in all, including the green one above. I had one which I spray painted and the paint didn't adhere right and was altogether not good! I have another that is still in process and needs some paint touch-ups so I'm not including it here. So enjoy 7 more clocks!

This clock above has a background of a few shades of turquoise acrylic paint, some tan yarn weaved through the holes, clock handles painted with tan acrylic paint and some paper shell accents. I made sure that the clock hands could still move over the paper accents and would not get stuck on them.

This clock has a circle of paper attached to the center, some paper behind the clock holes and hands painted turquoise.

This clock features an adhesive vinyl cutout created with my mother's new Cricut that she got for Christmas, hands painted blue and blue paper behind the holes.

This clock has another baking soda paint blob outlined in grey Sharpie, variegated yarn in the number holes and the hands were left their original grey as there is grey in the yarn.

This clock was spray painted gold, with variegated yarn in the number holes and clock hands painted brown.

This clock features another vinyl cutout, some variegated yarn and some felt accents. I again made sure that the clock hands would not catch on them and left the hands grey.

Another vinyl cutout, some twine through the number holes and clock hands painted a deep tan color. Each clock that had something weaved through the holes was also finished with felt on the back.

There you have it! I have always loved making clocks and these cheap IKEA clocks provided a great base to start with. How do you feel about this IKEA hack? Let me know in the thoughts below!

 - Rebecca

Happy New Year everyone! 2021 just began, but I am already getting started on crafts for the summer/fall craft fair season. Today's blog is about tie-dye, as well as how to package something for selling.
I received a tie-dye kit for Christmas from my husband; this kit is merchandise of one of my favorite Youtubers. I picked up a 6-pack each of crew and low-cut socks from Target. The socks were both at least 65% cotton as dye will usually not be absorbed well by other materials.

I washed the socks once before dying them and left them damp from the washer. You can typically tie-dye with either wet or dry fabric. I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that using wet fabric typically means that the dye absorbs better, but the colors may end up being a bit softer after washing. I prepared my craft room floor and got to tying. I did the classic tie-dye spiral for the larger socks and just one small "dot" tie for the low socks. You'll notice that there are 6 pairs of each type of socks, but I only end up with 5 finished products. I kept one pair of each for myself. I'm wearing one pair as I type this!

The color combos I went with were yellow/pink, yellow/green/blue, blue/pink, pink/green/blue and two rainbow sets.

I wrapped up the socks in cling wrap and let them sit and then washed and dried them twice to remove extra dye. Now it was time for packaging. I had the idea of making boxes with the matching pairs of high and low socks. I found these boxes on amazon and thought they were a great price and size.

Then on to the labels. I printed out some labels explaining the contents of the boxes as well as what colors the socks were. I then took some watercolor and added some color which matched the contents of each socks box.

I also took a Polaroid picture of each set of socks so that people could easily see what they looked like without opening the boxes.

I put each set of socks in the boxes, nestled in a piece of tissue paper. I then used some tulle to tie up the boxes and tucked the labels and pictures under the tulle.

I did up the other 4 boxes in the same way and there you have it! I now have 5 sock boxes ready to go for the craft fair season! I think that packaging is often just as important as the product itself. I think many people would see a pair of socks and think they were cute, but not buy "just" a pair of socks. A nice box, bow and catchy title can often make the difference between making a sale or not. So take care to ensure that your packaging is as cute as the product itself!

 - Rebecca

Hello!  It’s Suzanne, Rebecca’s Momma, back on the blog today with my first Sunday edition.  Today’s post is a special request from Rebecca, who was chatting with a friend of hers (hello Julia!) about card making and adhesive.  From that convo, Rebecca thought a “Cardmaking 101” post, with some basic tips and tricks, would be a good thing.  Please note that while I might mention brand names, these are personal preferences curated from close to 30 years of paper crafting and that neither Rebecca nor I gain any profit from any you might choose to purchase.

Let’s start with sizes.  Most card makers make cards that are A2 sized – a 4 ¼ X 5 ½ inch finished size.  This is also called “invitation size”.  You get this size by slicing a regular 8.5 X 11 inch sheet of card stock in half either horizontally (to get an 8 ½ X 5 ½ inch piece) or vertically (to get a 4 ¼ X 11 inch piece) and folding the resulting piece in half.  Envelopes for this size card are widely available on Amazon as well as in craft and big box stores.

Another popular card size is 5 X 7, which requires a base size of 10 X 7 inches, folded in half.

Speaking of folding, it’s always a great idea to score your paper before folding it.  Scoring the paper makes an indentation where the fold will go, loosening the fibers of the paper so it will fold more neatly and doesn’t crack.  While you might think that you should fold the indentation to the inside of the card, you should actually fold that to the outside, as it’s the part of the paper that has been stretched and will lie flatter.  Many paper cutters come with a scoring blade (more on that later) or you can score your paper using a scoring board.  You can also just use a ruler with a stylus, a bone folder or a dull butter knife.

 What are you going to cut and score?  Paper, of course!  Or, more specifically, cardstock.  A good sturdy card stock is what you need for a card base.  If you are just starting out, white is the way to go.  My personal favorite is Neenah Paper 4456 110lb Classic Crest Cardstock.  This is a great, heavyweight stock that makes an impressive card that stands well on its own.  It stands up well to any embellishment that you add to it and you can stamp and color on it with no bleed through.  Other good options are the “heavyweight” Paper Studio paper at Hobby Lobby and Stampin’ Up’s Basic White. 

As you expand your stash, black, cream and kraft also make great neutral card bases. 

65lb paper is much lighter and a good option for adding layers to your card without adding additional weight.  This is the weight of paper that usually comes in multicolor paper packs or paper pads.  This is also a great weight for patterned paper to add interest to your cards.

You’re going to need something to cut this paper.  A good paper cutter is a life saver in paper crafting.  While you can use scissors, a paper cutter will ensure that you have clean, straight cuts and the built in measuring tools will make measuring your pieces so much easier.  There are three basic kinds of paper cutters.  A rotary trimmer has a round blade that slides along a rail.  These provide a very clean and accurate cut. They are large and take a good amount of space to store.  A guillotine cutter has an arm with a blade that is manually pulled down through a stack of paper.  You can generally cut more paper at a time with a guillotine trimmer and the blade is self-sharpening, but your paper may shift, providing a less accurate cut.  A bypass trimmer has a small blade that runs in a groove along a track.  This type of trimmer also often comes with an additional non-cutting scoring blade that you can use to in the same track.  The cutting blades tend to dull quickly and have to be changed often.  These cutters are small and easy to store.

Most paper trimmers will come in a regular and mini size.

If you are going to buy just one, I recommend the Fiskars Precision Rotary 12 inch Trimmer.  It’s a big boy, but it provides the best accuracy of any trimmer I’ve ever had and the blade will last a very very long time.

If space is an issue, I’ve been very satisfied with the Cricut Portable Trimmer.  You will have to change the blade frequently, but it’s a good little cutter.

Adhesive holds it all together.  You have two basic choices – wet or double sided adhesive.  Both have their place, but not all are created equal.  For wet glue, your Elmer’s school glue is just not going to cut it anymore.  You need something with less wet, more tack and shorter drying time.  You also need a light hand – less is definitely more.  For liquid, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue is the gold standard. 
It’s inexpensive and a little goes a long way.  Because it’s wet, you also have a few seconds of wiggle to straighten things out if they are not quite right.

For double sided adhesive, there are a couple of options.  A tape runner is the most common.  This type puts a line of double sided adhesive down on your paper so you can press it into place on your project.  Small disposable ones like the Tombow Mono are a good option for a now and then paper crafter.

I like this bad boy – the Scotch ATG 714.  It’s the same concept – just a larger, refillable roll, so there’s less waste and the roll lasts longer. The downside of double sided tape is that there is no wiggle room. Once that paper is down, it’s down, so you have to commit to placement.

To be honest, these are really the only ones you need for most card making.  Unless you get into lots of different kinds of embellishment where specialty glues are needed, these two types will get the job done.

From there, it’s all embellishment. In part two, I’ll talk more about stamps & stamp pads and paper punches & die cutting.

Rebecca here! Let me know if you guys enjoy these more basic tutorials on some standard crafty methods!

Whatever you celebrate this holiday season, I hope you have a safe and relaxing holiday filled with love. Don't forget to check out the shop tab too for all sorts of amazing gifts! See you in 2021!

 - Rebecca & Suzanne

Hello everyone! Happy December! So I'm going to make it clear right now, this blog is less of a tutorial and more of me walking you through a super labor-intensive DIY that I would only recommend if you are very brave and have a full day to spare. So my husband and I had collected a mismatched Christmas village. You know the little ones made of porcelain that you put lights in? We had some from family, some from the thrift store and some from who knows where and had a big set of not cohesive houses. I do love a Christmas village and got it in my head to make a simple, wooden village that more matched my style. My mother found these perfect little house shapes at the Dollar Tree and got 6 for me.

The first trial of this project was getting the felt flowers and leaves off of the houses. This was not easy. It was a two-person job that involved a heat gun and some scraping.

Once the leaves and flowers were scraped off, my lovely father cut these down for me. I wanted the houses to all look a bit different so he cut some to be shorter or squatter. Using the cutoffs, he was also able to cut me some little pieces that I was able to use as chimneys. I then sanded down all of the houses using a sander to make them easier for painting. Once the houses were prepped and ready, I picked the paper that I was going to use to decorate the houses. I went with 6 sheets of paper from the same farmhousey paper pad.

Once I picked the paper I was going to use for each house, I picked and mixed paint colors to match the paper. I painted the sides, back and a little bit of the front of the houses as I planned to cover most of the front of the houses with the paper.

I used some sandpaper to sand off some of the paint and give the houses a shabby chic look. If you want to make something look more worn and old, I would always recommend going at it with some sandpaper. I then traced the shape of the house out of paper with a knife. I cut the paper down slightly smaller than the house so that the painted edge showed. I also used some sandpaper to give the edge of the paper a worn look. Then using some Mod Podge, I glued the paper to the front of each house.

Once the Mod Podge was dry, I attached some chimneys  (which I had also painted) using some Super Glue. Now was time for the more intensive and time-consuming decorating part of the project. I knew I wanted one of the house to have a fence so I used some wooden stirrers and chipboard that I cut down and painted white which I attached with Super Glue.

I also wanted a roof on two of the houses. I can't begin to express how long this took. Using the same wooden stirrers which I painted, cut and Super Glued, I created a shingle-style roof on one house. I did a similar approach on another house, but don't have pictures of that roof attempt as I went wrong the first time and I was real grumpy about it.

I also found some smaller wooden pieces in my mother's wood drawer and painted these for additional decoration. Once the houses were finished, I sprayed them with a few coats of sealer to protect them.

To finish off the Christmas village feeling, I found some cute Christmas trees and fake tiny lights at Hobby Lobby. I wrapped the lights around the trees to add to the scene.

And then they were done! These were VERY MUCH a labor of love, but they came out so cute and I love how the entire village looks as part of some Christmas decor. Please ignore the radiator intruding on this adorable Christmas scene.

What do you guys think? Do you like this simpler approach to a Christmas village or do you prefer the traditional style?

Also, don't forget to check out my Shop page where I currently have some paintings listed. I will be trying to add some more products there over the next few months so please take a look!

Whatever you all celebrate, I hope you have a happy holiday season!

 - Rebecca

Hello everyone! Welcome back! Thank you for being patient while I took some time off. I'm excited to give Sundays a try for my posting day; sometimes I was feeling a bit rushed on Wednesdays and am hoping Sundays will be more relaxed as I have the whole weekend to prepare. Anyways, thanks for coming back! So when we last spoke about pour painting, I had shown you all a few of the pieces I had finished. I also mentioned that a few of the paintings I had tried didn't quite work out as planned so we will be talking about those today.

Last time I showed you all how I used a great technique with tape and I tried to do a similar effect with lettering. I used some wall stickers and sealed down the edges as I had with the painter's tape. For this painting, I also chose to use some bright, fun colors. I love how the pour part came out!

And here's where things started to go wrong. When I went to go pull the stickers away .... they didn't. After some reflection, I think it may be because the stickers were very papery while painter's tape has a more waxy finish, but I am not 100% sure. Sadly I was left with this!

I haven't decided yet how I'm going to "save" this painting but will keep doing some thinking! I might try to go back in and paint over the area where the words should have been or cover the area entirely with some paper or other decoration.

The other technique which didn't go quite as planned was an attempt at an "ocean" vibe. I had this idea that I could do some sand-colored paint at the bottom, let that dry, and then do blue paint over the top and spilling over to look like a wave coming in on a beach. I started off by sectioning a piece of each canvas with tape to keep the "sand" in one area.

Once the sand dried, I went in with the blue to create the water. Now let me just say that there is nothing wrong with how these came out, but they just ended up not really being my style or what I had in mind. If I was to do this technique again, I would probably use less color variation in the sand and more in the water.

Once again, these did not come out badly at all, but they are just not really my style. But everyone has a different style so I am hoping that these excite someone! I added some shell stickers to really hit home that these are beach-inspired. I was much happier after the stickers were added.

I gave all of my pour paintings a few coats of sealer, added some hanging hardware and they were done! I will admit that these paintings were quite a bit of work, but they really were a labor of love and I am so proud of how they came out. If you are interested in purchasing any you can now check out my Shop tab above! This page contains all of the info you need and I would love for you to give it a look.

Let me know if you have any questions about pour painting in the comments below!

 - Rebecca

Hello!  Its Suzanne, Rebecca’s Momma, and I am here to share a quick and cute kitchen decoration for Halloween.  For this project, I have a mason jar (actually, its recycled from pasta sauce), some wooden kitchen spoons, google eyes, paint and paint brushes, decorative paper, ribbon and some twine.

The first thing I did was cut a little off the end of two of the kitchen spoons, so they would sit at different heights once they were in the jar. 

Next, I painted the top and the bottom of the mason jar black.  I planned to cover the middle with the decorative paper, so there was no need to paint it.  If you use regular acrylic craft paint like I did, it will take many coats to cover the glass.  Chalk paint would be a much better choice, but I did not have any on hand and have committed to using only things that I have in my stash.

Between coats of paint on the mason jar, I painted the kitchen spoons – one orange, one green and one white.  I added the tiniest bit of brown paint around the edges to soften them up a little and decided what kind of faces I wanted on my spoons.  I went with quite simple ones, because I have little drawing talent, and penciled them in first to be sure I got them proportional.  The orange one got a pumpkin face (of course), the green one got Frankie’s and the white one got some big round ghostly eyes. After penciling the faces on, I used a black sharpie marker to fill in and darken everything up.  The sharpie marker is much easier to control than a paint brush in such small areas.

Finally, the mason jar was completely covered and dry, so I could move on to decorating it.  I started by adding a little twine around the top, over the threads, and tying a small bow.  I then used some hot glue to cover the center portion of the jar with the decorative paper, a strip of burlap ribbon and some orange ribbon.  Once I had the orange ribbon knotted on, I thought the bow was too much, so I just glued the ends of the jute to the back.

I added some rocks into the jar for stability and put my spoons in.  They looked a little lost in the neck of the jar, so I took some more burlap ribbon and made a ruffle to fill in the opening.  Since this was wire ended ribbon, all I had to do was pull out the wire on one side and gather the ribbon up on the wire on the other side.  I twisted the ends of the wire together and put the ruffle into the jar.  There was no need to even glue it into place.

I decided Frankie and the ghost needed some google eyes, so I glued those on and glued some on the outside of the jar as well.  To be honest, I am not sure I love the eyes all over the outside of the jar, but after I glued the first set on, I was committed to them and just kept going!  Finally, I found a little Happy Halloween sticker in my stash - I stuck it to a small piece of burlap and tied it on like a tag.

This little guy now sits on top of the microwave oven, adding a little festive Halloween touch to the kitchen!  Happy Halloween!

Hello friends! So I am back with another round of acrylic pour painting. This has become one of my absolute favorite techniques and I was excited to try it out again. This blog post will not cover all of the steps required to pour paint; if you would like to see a more step by step tutorial, please check out my first blog about this kind of painting: https://www.thepatternedpaperplate.com/blog/acrylic-pour-painting. Today I will focus more on some fun new techniques I tried out!

I was lucky enough to come across six 16 by 20 inch canvases for free. They were leftover from the fun, crafty bachelorette party my bridesmaids threw for me last month. I got all of the canvases covered in gesso and was then ready to go.

One technique I wanted to try was the use of painters tape to leave sharp lines on the canvases to cut through the paint. I also loved the idea of having two canvases go together as a matching set. With those ideas in mind, I got to taping. I had no set plan in mind, but just added lines across the canvases until I was happy. Once I was satisfied, I ensured that the tape was stuck down firmly and sealed down the edges of the tape with some pouring medium (this is what is mixed into the paint to make it more pourable). I read on the internet that sealing the edges of the tape with the clear medium would help keep the paint from seeping under the tape, so I decided to give it a try. I also decided to go with a purpley-red color scheme for these paintings.

With my tape sealed and my colors picked, I got to pouring. To reiterate, if you would like an explanation of the technical process that goes into pour painting, I would check out my previous blog! In my first blog on this, I suggested always doing this project outside as it was too messy for indoors. Well ... I'm stubborn so I got myself all set up inside and ended up not making too much of a mess!

Once poured, the paintings looked like this:

After they were mostly dry, I pulled the tape away. I will admit that I was slightly disappointed as there was still a lot of paint leakage that happened.

But I went to work with a tiny paintbrush and some white paint and got the lines cleaned up. I am SO happy with how these look now!

Another technique I wanted to try was a galaxy-looking painting. I did this on a single canvas and picked some fun solid colors as well as some sparkly ones. The small tubes are glitter paint.

I did the traditional pour approach on this canvas, but then had fun at the end by splattering some of the brighter colors on the canvas. My hope was that it would create a kind of constellation(ish) look. This one came out very cool as well and I love the subtle sparkle of it. The colors dried down a bit more muted and less vibrant than you see below, but she's still a beauty!

So these first two ideas of mine went swimmingly and I love the finished products. They need a few coats of sealer as well as some work to clean up the back of the canvases, but other than that, they are done! The other two pour techniques I decided to try did not go quite as I planned and we will get more into those when Part 2 rolls out. I think my mom will be back next time with a Halloween craft blog, so you can expect Part 2 of this pour painting journey sometime in November!

And drumroll please ..... because the hope is to have these paintings ready to sell when Part 2 rolls out! I have always been interested in selling some of my crafts outside of just the craft fair market and this seems like a good enough product to start with. I am still working out the logistics so I should have some more information about the who/what/when/where of purchasing some Rebecca originals in November :)

Let me know what you guys think in the comments below!

 - Rebecca