DCC Blog Hop - AUGUST

Welcome to the Designer Connection

BLOG HOP for August!!

This month's theme is ... ScHoOl SuPpLiEs!!!

Oh, I am certain that under different circumstances

I could have been incredibly genius with my

design ideas for School Supplies,

but considering all that's going on in my life,

I'm secretly happy that I could incorporate two crafts

that I was working on for the kids into my

August post!!!

Okay, maybe it's not so secret.

First of all ... I LOVE shopping for school supplies!

Seriously, just the smell of crayons, pencils,

and fresh paper makes my endorphins do curly cues.

I. Am. In. Love.

So ... I shop early.  That way,

I have the longest possible time to spend

shuffling, separating, and organizing all the wonderful

school supplies; and, there's a twist!

I like to personalize my kids' stuff.

I've painted folders, notebooks, scissors ...

you name it, I've either painted it or personalized it

in some creatively crafty manner.

This year, I've been working on rulers.

Because I love rulers.  And paint sticks.

I especially love painting on paint sticks,

but no one had those on their back-to-school

list this year.  Weird.

So, it was rulers.

I have a second grader, a fourth grader,

a sixth grader, and an eighth grader this year.

EVERYONE needed a ruler.

But, oddly, only one person needed a

three-ring binder.

(Hey - they make those with clear sleeves

now, which makes it super simple to personalize!!

So I'll show you what I've done with that, too).

 Ahh ... the ruler.

So simple ... yet, so inviting!!!

I mean,

who doesn't want to just, PAINT one of these??

Anyway.

I used a sanding block to lightly sand

the clear varnish off the back.

(I left the front side alone ...

they need to USE this ruler!!!)

Then I painted it RED!

Because that's our school color.

 I also painted one cream.

(I'm going to have two ruler designs here).

For the red ruler, I divided it into sections

and marked them lightly with a pencil.

I gave each "section" a yellow

triangle beak, and six yellow claws.

 I shaded around each beak

and underneath each claw with

thinned chocolate brown paint.

Then I dipped a stylus into black paint

and dotted two eyes above

each triangle-shaped beak.

To finish the "mascot totem" I used

the stylus to dot smaller white

dots on the eyes,

and once the paint was completely dry,

I brushed a clear sealer over the ruler.

Mascot Totem.

I like that term!!  Wonder if

it'll catch on??

Now, back to the cream colored ruler:

I used my 1/4" flat brush and red paint

to "write" the name on the ruler.

Then, I used a liner brush

and thinned chocolate brown paint

to shade the left and lower sides

of each letter.

I used a darker shade of red

to shade the bottom half of each letter.

Once the paint dried completely,

I used my sanding block to lightly remove

some of the paint.

I used a liner brush and thinned black

paint to outline each letter.

Then I used white acrylic paint to

accent the right side of each letter.

After the paint dried completely,

I brushed a clear acrylic sealer over

the back of the ruler.

Repeat: three times!!

 

Now my second idea was to personalize

the three-ring binder for Ayden.

First, I chose a black binder,

because the school colors are red and black,

and I was painting the cardinal red.

I used a sheet of acrylic paper and

acrylic craft paints for this idea.

Acrylic paper is a heavier stock, and

has a delicious texture to it.

It is perfect for watercolor and acrylic.

After transferring my cardinal pattern

to the center of the acrylic paper,

and adding his name across the bottom,

I painted the main colors.

I used red for the cardinal and the

letters in his name, and I painted the

beak with a dark shade of yellow.

I used a darker shade of red

on the bottom half of each letter,

to add a little character.

I used the darker red to shade the

cardinal, as well.

Then I used the white paint to base coat

 the "teeth" and the eye, and

to give each letter a thin highlight line.

I thinned black paint to ink-like consistency,

and used a liner brush to outline

each letter, as well as the cardinal and his

features.

If you're not comfortable using

the liner brush to outline your design,

you could seal your painting first with a

clear acrylic sealer, and then use a permanent

black marker to outline your design. 

I shaded around the mascot with

a honey brown acrylic paint.

Here's my KEEPIN' IT REAL pic ...

I messed up on the "D" in Ayden.

See how the black line on the curve of the "D"

is ... sloppy??

A little white acrylic paint fixed that.

Here is the final design!

Just needed to slip it into the binder ...

Ta Dah!!!

Bet he's the only second grader

with a binder like this one!!

Peace and Back-to-School Supplies!!!