Mini Canvas Ornament

Wordless Wednesday

~ Peace Out ~

Personalized Canvas

Now that I'm comfortable painting

Cardinals, it's time to switch it up and

leap outside my comfort zone ...

to Hornets!

I painted this personalized canvas for a

teenager - I wanted to make it big and bold

(since my last hornet was only 2" tall!)

 

 

 

Let's pretend I still have a photo

of the blank 12" x 24" canvas ... and that

I took pictures while I base coated it.

uh - hm.

Visualize a paper plate with a large puddle

of dark gray acrylic paint and a large

overlapping puddle of white acrylic paint on it.

Now visualize rolling a sponge paint

roller randomly through the paint and

applying it to the canvas.

 

Does your vision look something like this?

 

 

I made a pattern of the boy's name and

the oversized hornet and used

transfer paper and a stylus to get the

main pattern lines onto the canvas.

 

 

 

Then I took a flat brush and wet it,

blotted it on a paper towel, and dipped one

corner of the brush in a small puddle

of the dark gray paint.

 

 

 

 

 

Next I went around the left and lower

sides of each main pattern line,

reapplying paint to the brush as necessary

(usually after every long stroke).

 

 

You're just going for some quick dimension here,

don't focus too much on perfection.

I always shade again after the base-coating

has been completed.

 

 

Next, I added some short, quick highlights

on the top and right sides of the letters

with white acrylic paint loaded the

same way; on a clean blotted flat brush

with the paint only on one corner.

I base coated the main design.

(using school colors and more than

one coat for opaque coverage)

 

 

Yikes!  Scary eyes!

More fitting for a demon than an

aggressive little Hornet.  We'll fix 'em!

 

 

I added a basketball for this Hornet.

Grant is our basketball star, after all!

I used a darker shade of my base color

to go over the bottom third or so of each of

my letters.  This adds a bit of interest.

 

 

Now its time to repeat the shading around

the left and lower sides of the

letters and the hornet design.  Once the

shading has dried, I apply highlights in the same

manner, but to the top and right sides

of each design element.

 

I added some highlights to those scary eyes,

and to the parts of the hornet I

wanted to appear more dimensional.

 

 

I used a very thin liner brush dipped in black

paint to outline the hornet and the letters.

I used a 1/4" flat brush to add some

border lines around the edges of the canvas.

My paint supply at the house was limited,

so in order to paint the top third

of the letters with a lighter shade of blue,

I mixed a tiny bit of white in with my original

blue base coat color.

I thought the border outline was a little

boring, so I added a thin white

line to the top and right sides of the

main black border line, and a little gray

to the left and lower sides.

Still didn't pop, so I used the liner brush

dipped in black again and sort of

outlined each design element

(letters, border, and some of the hornet)

I added some highlight lines

with the liner brush and white paint.

Once the paint was completely dry,

I used an emery board (limited supplies here)

and sanded a bit off the basketball

and the right sides of the letters.

I brushed two coats of sealer onto the

top and edges of the canvas.

I used Mod Podge in matte finish as

my sealer.  I let it dry overnight and it looks

pretty great!  I hope Grant likes it!

~ Peace and Personalized Canvas ~

Sofa Pillow Make-Over

I bought these throw pillows when we moved into

this house four years ago.

They've come unstitched, and I've mended them.

Repeatedly.

They were looking p r e t t y sad when I

decided to make them over.

My pillows are constantly being folded, fluffed, tossed,

stuffed, and wadded up by at least six

(and sometimes more) people every day.

They prop feet, they prop elbows, they prop shoulders,

they're used as weapons, they're squished under tushies,

they're carried from room to room.

I wanted new covers that would

be rugged.  I wanted them to hold up to the beatings

and not burst at the seams with the slightest pressure.

I decided to use a canvas dropcloth.

After all, these drop cloths are used for years and years,

they're painted on, stepped on, dragged around,

folded up, shuffled around ... they must be tough.

Right??

Materials List:
Canvas Drop Cloth
Scissors
Sewing Machine
or Needle and Thread
Marker
Fabric Paint
Masking Tape
Paint Roller or Brush

So I washed and dried the dropcloth

with my favorite laundry soap and softener.

So they'd start out nice and fresh.

Then I measured my old pillows and cut

squares about 2" wider and longer than the pillows.

I ripped the seam running down the center
of the drop cloth so I'd have smooth fabric.

(I could have purchased a smaller drop cloth,

and maybe there wouldn't have been a seam,

but I purchased this nice big one instead).

I used a permanent marker to outline a square onto

each fabric piece, so I could sew nice straight seams.

I may not have cut perfectly straight edges, is what I'm saying.

I wanted to paint a quick and easy design on

the fabric.  I thought stripes would be fun.  

I used fabric paint and

masking tape with two different widths.

I taped off a striped design down the center of each

fabric square, and used a roller to apply paint.

I couldn't decide if I wanted a monogram on the

pillows, or another design element,

or just the stripes.  I decided to stencil a flourish

onto two of the pillow fronts.

Eh.  This didn't excite me.

But I forged on ... I can always make new ones.

With the right sides together, I pinned a painted

fabric square to an unpainted fabric square.

I sewed a straight stitch around the edges

of the fabric, leaving the center of one side

open for stuffing.

You know that saying, measure twice, cut once?

I probably didn't follow that ...

... which is why I outlined the square with

a permanent marker.  Then I just followed along

the black lines with my sewing machine.

I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants

kind of girl.  Especially when it comes to sewing.

I sort of have a brand new experience

every time I drag out my sewing machine.

I have to re-learn how to use it.

It's that short term memory thing I've got.

That's my story, anyway.

Hey!  It worked!  I probably had to rip out a 

few seams and restitch them.  I'm not admitting anything.

I turned the pillow cover inside out.

I'm sure there were several ways I could have

gone about stuffing my new pillows.

Here's what I did: I folded each pillow into

thirds and crammed it into my pillow cover.

then I stuck my whole arm inside to make sure

that the pillows went all the way down in the corners.

Then I folded the open seam inward,

pinned it, and sewed it closed.

 Badda. Bing.

I may have had to rip the seams out

and restitch them a couple of times.  I'm sure that

wouldn't have happened if I'd just used a 

needle and thread to close the seams.

But stitching, ripping, and re-stitching seemed

faster, somehow.  Heh heh.

There!

Times four.

My eight-year-old said I should make new pillow

covers and use really soft, fuzzy fabric.

Ha!  Like soft, fuzzy fabric will hold up to what

they put these pillows through!

Not happenin.

I told him he can use these pillows when he's

on the sofa, and he can use his soft, comfy pillow

when he's in his bed.

Here's the BEFORE pic again,

so you don't have to scroll to the top to see

how much better they look now.

BEFORE

AFTER

* Peace and Pillow Fights *

Blog Hop - Thank You Gifts

Welcome to the Designer Connection Blog Hop!

November's theme: Thank You Gifts

 

I think that Christmas is a great time to

share little Thank You gifts with

my friends and neighbors, and I am extremely

grateful to one particular neighbor

who helps drive my children to and from

Religious Ed classes.

Homemade gifts are so much more special

than something that I could

purchase or put together.  I decided to

paint one of these fun chunky canvases that

I've been "saving" for just the right

design idea.

I base coated the entire canvas with

a light green acrylic paint.

 

After the paint was completely dry,

I used a sanding block to rough up the

top and the edges of the canvas.

 

I made a pattern of my neighbor's

initial, and a few holly leaves.

By making the leaves on separate paper,

I was able to shift the leaves

around until I liked their placement.

 

I used white chaco paper to transfer

the pattern lines to the canvas.

It was a little hard to see,

but I managed ;)

You could use darker chaco paper.

 

I used dark chocolate acrylic paint

to shade around the design.

 

I shaded heavily on the left and lower

sides of each design element,

and used just a thin line of shading

for the rest of the design.

 

 Next, I base coated the leaves Holly Green

and the initial white.

It took two coats of paint to cover completely.

I used a ruler to lightly mark the

lower third of the initial,

and applied a Celery Green paint

to this area.

 I used the handle of a paint brush

to apply red holly berries.

 I shaded the holly leaves

with dark green acrylic paint.

I highlighted the holly leaves

with a very light shade of green.

I dipped the same paint brush handle

into a cranberry paint, and

dotted directly over the red paint.

Then I added a white highlight.

I used a detail brush dipped in

black paint to outline my

design ... keeping the line very thin.

 I brushed a sparkle glaze over

the initial and the leaves,

 and added some swirls with gold

metallic paint.  I also painted a thin

border with the gold metallic paint

and the dark chocolate paint.

I am not very good at tying bows,

but I used a glittery wired ribbon and

a narrower red polka dot ribbon

to wrap around the canvas

and tie into a bow on top.

This will look great on a bookshelf or

~ my personal favorite ~ smooshed into

the Christmas tree.  LOVE smooshing

large ornaments into the tree!!

Hope you found this Canvas Initial

inspiring!!  Use the DCC button at the top

of this post to hop on through the

loop and check out more Thank You gift ideas

by our talented group of artists!

~ Peace and Happy Canvas Painting ~