Hobby Lobby weekly coupon

I love a good coupon...in fact, there are certain items that I will only buy when I can use a coupon....like Liquitex Matte Medium, or Varnish. I am thrilled that a Hobby Lobby store just opened up yesterday, right down the road from me. I am headed there tomorrow morning, after having a nice large breakfast, and plan to spend as much time there as I want. It's my "pre-birthday" present to myself. My birthday is Saturday, but I didn't want to drag my poor husband along on another craft store shopping trip. He already was nice enough to wait on me this last weekend, when we went into a Hobby Lobby store in Orlando for the first time. I nearly fainted when we walked in! I had no idea what aisle to go down first. My creative brain went into hyper-overdrive. So, for all of you fellow coupon-ers, here is a link to a weekly Hobby Lobby coupon.
I also got an email from Blick.com today, announcing a sale, but I need to look into that first. I spent the day today in Miami, getting my MRI and nerve tests done. I left our house at 8:30, and didn't get back until 5:30. It was a very long day. I am turning in early, but will pop in tomorrow with some more clip art! Good night creative minds! Happy dreams!

My product review & mixed media paintings made with 7Gypsies tissue collage paper

As soon as I got an email from Stampington/The Shoppes at Somerset, I drooled over this tissue paper. I love using tissue paper for texture in my mixed media paintings and I immediately had two project ideas pop up in my head. I completed the first one, which is this set of four 12" X 12"mixed media paintings. I used the tissue paper as a background. One tip: when working with tissue paper, cut the size you will need ahead of time, and apply the matte medium (or whatever you used as a collage 'glue') to the base ahead of time. Do not try putting the matte medium onto your tissue paper. I suggest not using a lot of the medium or the paper gets soggy and easily tares and you are smoothing it onto your canvas/surface. I used a rubber brayer and gently smoothed areas with my fingers, allowing crinkles and light layering to occur. I waited until it had dried well before I put a topcoat of medium on it to seal it. After that, I was free to paint, draw, stamp, and collage on top of it.
Final conclusion: Try it! You'll love it! I have plenty left over for another project and am looking forward to playing with it again. However, since it is a bit pricey, practice with regular tissue paper first, if you have never used tissue paper in your collage pieces before. You will learn what mistakes to avoid, so you can move on to the fancy stuff without fear. The paper is available Here or you can look for it on Ebay, or other places where you buy your craft goodies.

An apology and a new honey bee clip art

I usually work on this blog in the evening, and yesterday, we had one heck of a lightening show. We had a storm that stuck with us for quite some time, and I didn't dare plug the computer in after hearing from someone else that their WASHING MACHINE, of all things, was fried by lightening the previous week. Florida definitely isn't fun this time of year. So, tonight I do have a new piece of clip art to add. I will also do another post on my product review of the new 7gypsies collage paper. I love it!

Monday clip art: hand marbled paper

Another week has arrived, and it is gearing up to be a busy one for me. I have another Dr. appointment in Miami this week, and will be getting an MRI and an EEG (to hopefully diagnose the cause of my nerve problems that I have had for about a year now). I will do my best to share something each day, but if I don't, you will at least know why. So far, one person has told me to think about food I would like to eat, another said to think of a song, yet another told me to just take a nap, and all have told me to KEEP MY EYES CLOSED before and during the MRI, so that I don't get freaked out by it. I may be tired from the stress of driving and being repeatedly shocked (EEG), and just take the advice of napping.
Today's clip art freebie is a piece of marbled paper that I made by using craft acrylic paints, swirled on waxed paper, and then laying down a piece of thick paper on top. It turns out really neat if you use some metallic paints along with some darker opaque colors. Hope you enjoy it!

Saturday's clip art: Dramatic Dancers

Thank goodness the weekend is here! I'll be hitting some more antique stores this weekend, and hopefully a few art galleries. Before I leave though, I wanted to send you into the weekend with some fancy dancers! This is a BIG full page size piece of clip art. Enjoy, and happy Saturday!
On tap for this coming week: two new product reviews, and join me as I make my own bird bath from repurposed items.

Thrifty artist money saving tip for leather crafters & today's clip art freebie!

Happy Friday! We've been hosting a small dog this week, and it has been a loooong week. We had hoped she would be fine with our cats, but it was hate at first bark. The cats were interested in befriending her, but she only wanted to chase them. So, tomorrow, she goes home, and things will be back to normal.
I wanted to share a tip with anyone who works with, or would like to work with leather to make jewelry, accessories, wallets, etc. I am a big fan of thrift store shopping and upcycling. My fluffy felted flowers are all made from repurposed felted sweaters. I also like to use leather for making jewelry and hair accessories though. My favorite treasure hunting tip for this is to check out the skirt, pants, and coat sections at my local thrift stores. Vintage 80's leather skirts are my favorite. I also got a fabulous pair of metallic silver leather pants on Ebay recently. You can get a lot of projects out of a cost of $3.99! If I find a leather purse that has seen better days, I may also use it for scrap. So, check out your local thrift store, and see what goodies you can find this week!
Finally, here is today's clip art....an old aged page from a Shakespeare tragedy.
Have a fabulous weekend!

Antique gold pointing hand clip art

Today's freebie is an odd looking golden pointing hand. Hope it comes in handy for your creating endeavors! ( ;

Crackle Black Bird clip art

Just doing a late night, drive-by clip art posting before heading to bed. Here is a bird silhouette that I made, cut out, painted black, and crackle finished. I played a bit with it in Photoshop, but my program is acting glitchy tonight. Tweet Tweet! (that's "bird" for "See ya tomorrow!")

Wooden House Plaque Tutorial

Our new home is a Key West "orange" kind of home, yet this 2 story house is done in a someone modern Victorian style. We have a wrap around porch, with white columns, and may of the houses in our neighborhood have lovely medallions on the front. We didn't, so I ordered one on Ebay. We had boring black house numbers stuck on with some kind of putty, and I wanted a more regal house number plaque. They were expensive at the local hardware stores, so I decided to custom make our own. Our front door is a darker terracotta orange, so I made it to match that. I got my plaque at JoAnn's with a 40% off coupon. It was about $8. I got the wood applique (that came in a set of 2) at Lowes. They were $11, so the single one was $6.50. The numbers are painted aluminum, which I then spray painted with an exterior cream colored paint. I painted the plaque with exterior house paint from Home Depot. I chose one that was a primer and a paint in one. I used a permanent, waterproof glue (there are many choices out there) to adhere the wood applique, and hammered the nails into the numbers to secure them. I actually took a bit of paint and painted the tops of the nails the same color as the numbers, so they would blend in. I am posting the pics in order of the steps. It's pretty simple, and shows what order I did things in.

My antique shopping treasures...

Here are the spoils from my girl's day out antiquing trip from last Saturday. We had it planned in advance and were so excited when the day finally arrived. I made treat bags filled with snacks and bottles of water, as I knew we would need the extra energy. I had to include some chocolate, of course! I plan to refinish the piano bench and add a padded fabric top. It will become a window seat for the cats, most likely. I also have plans to paint and "shabby up" the other pieces. I got some great old cookbooks for a grand total of $5, and one has awesome pages that would look great framed. The old glass mason jar is from Italy, and even though it is antique, it will become my "homemade refrigerator pickles" jar. I have been having the hardest time finding a glass container large enough to make them in. I have my new project pics ready to post tomorrow, along with a new piece of clip art. My eyes are starting to roll back into my head though, so I think it is time to head to bed. Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you tomorrow....