Continuation of rusty bells and.....Painting etc

This is going to be a lengthy post so you had better grab a java or something and hope that it ends soon.
I hope I am not boring you with all my pictures but since I need to do a bit of blogging catch up from days and weeks that I go silent this is what has been keeping me busy.
First of all I want to show you the results of the rust recipe that I posted last post and here are the bells to show you. Now I put them back in for the third time today because I wanted a tad bit more rust and well that was this morning and they are still sitting in the jar so I will get to them tomorrow. Today was busy with a preparation of some canvas and I won't be going into that in this post. So.....here are the bells. As you can see there is a rusty nail on top just to show you that I think it helps the process if you add a nail or two. If I find another rusty nail I will be throwing that in as well.

Next I just finished these two items in the last few days, another breadboard with a Painting with Friends chicken pattern that my blogger friend Lynn from Painting Thyme Needfuls painted  along with Terrye French. I chose one chicken then did a distressing background with a paint stain of John Sliney's over the Antique white background. Looks all runny and stained and turned out just the way I wanted it to. I still have to add the bow at the top.

And next is a wooden salad bowl my MIL found for me and I painted of course a Terrye French pattern  in the center. I just loved this pattern and it was a lot of fun to paint. I wonder if I should paint the edge of the bowl a different colour, I was thinking the same red as the Santa hat but I would appreciate any ideas from you. Just seems to need something else on that edge.

Next are some gardening photos to show you.

This year I decided I wanted to plant some gourds and dry them and paint them. I bought a pkg of bottleneck gourds as I have seen them painted up as snowmen and they look really cute. I guess I won't be doing any for this year as the gourds have to dry out before you can paint them so that will be something to look forward to next year.

My friend Becky over at Country Lane Folkart showed me a gourd she finished painting on Facebook and it is darn cute. Thanks for showing me Becky and the instructions on how and what to expect while the gourds dry.

This is one of the gourds I found and has been growing like mad the last couple of weeks and there are a lot more to come......

and along the rail fence is the gourds that have attached themselves to the fence with runners and oh my they have really spread, this is on one side of the fence and there are more on the other. I thought planting 5 plants would maybe be enough??? what was I thinking????I had no idea about gourds, I feel like I am Jack and the Beanstalk only horizontal.

And next a sunflower

I have these incredible almost burgundy and some are almost a light pink in colour, rusty ones and the standard yellow. Some are short, some are almost 8 and 9 feet tall . So as you can see I have been keeping very busy  especially this month as the garden is ready to harvest. Tomatoes have been beautiful, the beans are over now but have been delicious, then there is the beets, a continuing saga about the beets. I still have to do more pickling but that will probably be either Friday or the weekend.

And one more pic of my Rosie, she was on the porch today catching some rays. She isn't too keen on the camera so I caught her napping and relaxing outside in her sphynx position. She is my Rosiecats, orange and white, nice and fat, she's Rosiecats. =^..^=

Til next time, thanks for dropping by.

L

craft recipes- 1st one rusting metal objects

Today I was looking around for a recipe to rust some bells for some of my things I will be making for my fall craft show and found this easy simple recipe so thought I would post it here and if you ever need it I will have a " craft recipe" label on the sidebar in case you need it in the future. I seem to forget what or how to do things and it is easier if I just make note of it here. I am forever writing notes or lists and sometimes they get tossed after a while so here we go. This  is mainly for me but if you need a recipe for rusting bells, safety pins, etc well here it is......

First of all be careful with the bleach, and make sure you mix in a well ventilated area although it won't take long but I always like to express safety if there are any concerns as I will not be responsible should you not take caution.
In a mason jar mix 1/2 cup of bleach with 1/2 cup of cider vinegar but I have used regular vinegar, 1 tsp of salt and if you have a rusty nail to throw in then that is good, rust creates more rust. I bought a bag of cheap jingle bells and cheaper the better as some metal things have a coating on them but the cheaper ones don't usually. Toss in your bells or pins and make sure your items are completely covered with the mixture. Place the lid on the mix and allow to sit for a few hours and if you are not in a hurry a good day will do.
Be safe and if on septic system do not pour down your sink or toilet, you will have to dispose of it elsewhere.
Take the now wet bells and or pins and place on a cookie sheet or tin foil pan and place outdoors in the sun. As the bells dry they become rusty. Now one experiment I did try and you can do this if you like, I just happened to see what would happen if I sped up the process using my heat gun and well I didn't soak my bells the whole day but when I place them on my foil sheet I took a piece of paper towel and mopped up a lot of the drips that come out of the bells. Then I hit them with the heat gun and be careful the foil pie plate gets hot as well so use an oven mit to hold onto it and toss the bells around while you dry the bells. Well I noticed they were turning rusty but not rusty enough so I just threw them back in the mix til tomorrow and I will see how far they have advanced. If the sun is shining they will be outside and if not I will dry them with my heat gun. Just thought I would let you know the heat gun does work if you are in a hurry. I wasn't born with patience and have had to learn it over my 40+ years, but this heat gun method is great.
Now that being said, have fun rusting stuff and please come back tomorrow when I will be showing you a breadboard with a chicken on it and a bowl I just finished today and love how it turned out.
Take care all and be crafty.
L

Painting and I am BEET

What do these two topics have in common you ask???? Well nothing really, I have been very busy so far this month and I am very glad I took Paper crafting out of the mix. I have been getting a lot done painting and the garden is at it's peek right now and I have been getting beets put down as well. So far I have done 23 jars and out of 23 jars only 3 or 4 are the smaller jars, and the rest are 1 Liter size. I am not done yet but this weekend I will tackle some more. Just to do one batch of beets in my space challenged kitchen takes me 4 hoursThe mess of taking that outer skin off, I wear gloves to do this but somehow I still manage to get beet stain under my nails. I look like I haven't washed or cleaned my hands in ages. Anyways this is one of the things taking up my time this month and like I said there are more to do yet. I haven't even done a complete row and I have 2 rows of red beets and a partial row of the yellow. Hmmmm maybe I can trade beets for something else with someone close by......

This beet is the largest so far that I picked, it is 4 1/2 iches across and over 5 in length, some beets were close but this beet has topped them all. This beet sat on my kitchen counter as I pickled his buddies, Beetnik to me is like Mr. Potato Head but I didn't bother with the eyes and such. Beetnik will be cooked and preserved by the weekend and join his fellow beet friends in the jars. Maybe Beetnik will have his own jar since he is so large, I will let you know.

And this next pic doesn't really show the size of the pail but it is a 5 gal and we filled a 2nd one and probably will fill a few more.

Now the fun stuff, painting for my show this fall. First here are a couple of long breadboards that I antiqued and painted saltbox houses with a saying, to see the pics better just click on the pic and it will take you to another window. The breadboard I originally bought from a thrift store a couple years ago and like the shape of it I traced it out on wood and forgot about them til I went routing around and found 2, so hubs cut them out for me and this is what I did.

and the next one.....

And this past weekend I painted 16 coasters with a different Terrye French pattern on them. I did 4 of each design, now to figure should I put 4 of the same design together or pick one from each and sell them that way. I like variety but some like all the same. I still have more coasters to paint but I like to take a break from a surface so I will think on some more designs to paint on them.

And a new pattern I just purchased from my friend Marie (you can click on her button on my left hand sidebar and it will take you to her site). Marie recently embarked on designing e-pattern packets and this one I had to have. It is so cute, Marie painted a similar box to store her tea lites in. I found this smaller band box I had in my stash and painted the design on this. What a great idea Marie and such a cutie pattern.

So that's it for now. I have painted a few other things as well but they aren't really things you havne't seen   already and I try not to be too repetitive in my work.

Thanks for dropping by.

L

Thrift store finds and more painting

I had a chance to visit one of the Thrift stores in town the other day and to my surprise I found a few much sought after items. As you can see these all have a purpose to me and I will show you a before and when I get them complete you can refer back to this post to see the transformation of what I did to them.

It's nice to root around thrift stores, sometimes you can really find some neat things and of course one of a kind items are always a good sell at Craft shows. First, all items will be cleaned up and get that musty smell off of them, and, some of the surfaces will be prepped in order for my acrylic paints to adhere to them so they will get a spray of gray primer to start. So here are my goods that I found and guess what the price was? all for less than 5.00.

A wooden box with a handle, 2 pairs of baby shoes, can't wait to paint those, a tall tea pot with no lid, a glass square jar with cork stopper and a long narrow picuture frame in behind.

Next is another Terrye French and Karen Gilbert Painting with Friends design. This grouping of apples in a saltbox scene crock I thought would look nice on, yes you guessed, another splatter screen. I still have to add my homespun bow on to it so it doesn't look so plain.

And....back to snowmen. This is a Monika Brint pattern from a past issue of Quick and Easy painting. I love this magazine it has some really nice pattens and as it says they are quick and easy.

I for once actually read most of the instructions for this pattern as I have always loved the rough sort of way that Monika creates such dark shadings around her images, well as I READ I found out how she does it. You use a dry not a damp brush and apply your shading in this fashion. As you can see I think I did a pretty good job if I may say so. I really liked this pattern and have wanted to paint it for a long time but never got around to it. So....I painted 2 and if one doesn't sell guess where it is going this year???? in my house. LOL

I hope secretly one of them doesn't sell but if it does I probably will be so tired of painting I won't want to do one. Oh well always next year.

Well thanks for dropping by.

Today it rained most of the day so I did a couple more projets. Another splatter screen and 2 small little sieves with saltboxes on them. They will be viewed at another time.

Til next time, create and be happy.

L

A painted Splatter screen and another sled

This is a new pattern offered on the Painting with Friends blog that I ordered and received via e-pattern from Terrye French. A good friend of mine Marie was sent the line drawing from Terrye ,who then painted it, made any line drawing adjustments, then explained all the details on how to paint the design.Then Terrye makes up the e-pattern and they can be purchased either on Marie's site ( the designs she has painted)or over  at Painting with Friends where you can find other artists contributions.  When I saw this pattern I knew exactly what I wanted to paint it on. It really turned out better than I had planned. Although splatter screens are a little hard on the brushes I really enjoyed the surface. I bought 4 of these at the dollar store recently just to have in my stash and I think I may be painting up a few more designs. I added a bit of homespun at the top and it can be easily hung by the hole on your kitchen wall.

If you are interested in any patterns from Painting with Friends visit the NEW blog and you can find all the details over there.

Marie has painted a few patterns now  and you can see her and many of her own e-patterns and creations on her blog.

And next is a smaller sled that I finished up the other day and this is a Jamie Mills Price penguin. Her patters show a lot of expression on the faces of her characters, that is why I like them. They are so friendly and just make you smile. Sorry I don't have a link to show you at the moment but I can get it for you in case you would like to take a peek at her books and pattern packets. Jamie is a real contributor to decorative painting, she makes it fun and her detail is wonderful.

Well until next time we meet. I hope you had a nice long weekend. I know I sure did.

Create and be happy.

Thanks for dropping by.

L