Plaster Paint Co. Projects

Good morning! A few Saturdays ago my friend Christi W. and I took an all-day furniture painting workshop at The Plaster Paint Company in Catoosa, OK. (You can click HERE to read about the mother-daughter team that started this company, as well as check out their fantastic products and projects.)

Christi and I started out with old pieces of furniture that we picked up at local thrift shops...I brought a chair:

Christi brought a side table:

We began by selecting the Plaster Paint colors for our projects. I chose the color "Jewel" for my chair, and Christi chose the color "Dahlia" for her table. The beauty of Plaster Paint is that there is no prep work on the piece you are painting...so we were able to dive right in to painting our projects:

I debated on whether to paint the cane work on the seat of my chair. The cane was in great condition, which is kinda rare when you find an old chair, but I decided that I wanted to paint and age/distress the whole chair, so away I went with painting the cane:

Here are our projects with the first of two coats of paint. You can see how nicely the Plaster Paint covers the previous finishes. While our paint dried, we enjoyed a catered lunch from The Olive Garden - yummy!!

After lunch we added a second coat of paint, and once it had dried we lightly sanded/distressed our pieces, added dark glazes to antique the pieces, and then applied a couple of coats of liquid wax. Here's how our finished projects came out looking:

I LOVE how these pieces look now!! Christi put the side table in her guest room where her colors are grey and yellow-gold. I put my chair next to the whirlpool tub in my master bathroom to hold a basket of bath goodies:

I purchased some additional colors of Plaster Paint, and I am currently working on turning an old drawer into a cute and comfy dog bed for my sweet little Tony:

I know!! He's such a cutie, right?!?!?! Anyhoo...stay tuned for the upcoming post of the drawer dog bed that I am making for him!

Have a FANTASTIC week!!

Girl's Night Out and a Pumpkin Painting...

Hello! I hope that you are having a terrific week! I stayed home from work today with a little stomach bug, but I am finally feeling better.

Last night my pal Tracy S. and I met up for dinner and to go paint at Pinot's Palette. We tried out a new restaurant, Andolini's, which recently opened up just a couple of doors down from Pinot's. After dinner, we each ordered a different dessert to share, and they were not only delicious, but ridiculously HUGE! (They make the whipped cream in-house for the topping...I would have just loved to have eaten a large bowl of their home-made whipped cream with strawberries!)

We then walked down to Pinot's to paint a fall pumpkin canvas...here's my finished painting:

Painter's had the option of adding personalization to their canvas with their family name, but I decided to hold off on adding that element. Tracy personalized her canvas with "The Storck Family", and it turned out so cute! Here's a photo of the two of us in our painting aprons with our finished masterpieces:

We had so much fun hanging out, visiting and laughing all evening long!! I am truly blessed to have wonderful friends like Tracy in my life!

Thanks for dropping by my blog!

Blessings,

Painting With My Little Pal Heather...

Hi, friends! I hope that you had a great Labor Day weekend! I moved the furniture around in my guest room and cleaned out/organized a closet. I took a bunch of stuff to consign at Uptown Resale in Broken Arrow, and I dropped off several bags of goodies at our local Goodwill store for donation. Needless to say, it was a very productive weekend! In the near future I plan on pulling everything out of our master bedroom closet and organize/sort/donate clothes, shoes, etc. that we no longer wear/use. I LOVE it when everything in orderly, organized and in it's place! :)

On Monday morning my little crafting pal Heather, who is the youngest daughter of my friend Megan F., came over to paint a canvas with me. She is such a sweetie and loves to craft! Here is a photo of her adding the base coat to the canvas that she painted:

Here she is with her completed masterpiece, all ready for her room! She created the pink petals of the flower buds with the bottom of a small, plastic pop bottle; the tiny pink petal details with the end of a plastic coffee stirrer and the yellow flower centers were made by dipping the end of a cork into yellow paint. I love the pretty colors...so girly! :)

Well, tomorrow it's back to work, so have a wonderful and productive week! Thanks for dropping by to check out my blog...

Blessings,

"Barn in the Meadow" Painting...

Good evening! This week has just flown by for me...I can hardly believe that tomorrow is Friday! A couple of weeks ago I attended another painting class with my sweet friend Sharon S., her daughter Sara, and Sara's boyfriend Ryan, so I thought I'd share a couple of photos with you of our class:

We had a great time and the instructor was really funny. The painting that we did was called "Barn in the Meadow", and here is my finished painting:

My son Justin has called "dibs" on it, so I'm going to have it framed in a barnwood frame and give it to him to hang in his home.

Thanks for dropping by today...enjoy your Friday!

Our Fun and Restful Labor Day Weekend...

Hi, friends! On Saturday I went to the new Pinot's Palette that recently opened in Broken Arrow. If you aren't familiar with Pinot's Palette, it is a franchise where you can go to paint a picture on a canvas while being guided by an instructor. Each class that they offer is different, and it's so much fun!! Here's my finished painting; I just need to have it framed...

Along with painting and hanging out at home, today brought the opening morning of dove season, which borders on being a religious holiday for my hubby and son - ha! ha! Here is a photo of them after their hunt this morning:

Lastly, here's a photo of Justin and his faithful hunting buddy, Scout. Scout turned 1 in July, and Justin has been working with him for months to prepare him for hunting season. Scout did a great job of retrieving birds for the guys this morning, and Justin was so proud!

Well, it's my bedtime, and I return to work tomorrow, so I'm going to say goodnight! Have a SUPER week!!

Blessings,

Letter Tile Wall Art and Crackle Finish Frame Tutorial

A while back, when I was cleaning out my craft room to make room for my new/old Hoosier cabinet, I came across a little plastic container full of alpha-tiles that I had completely forgotten about. I decided to put them to good use on a fun wall hanging project for my pal Megan F. Here's what I came up with:

Here's how I made this project...including a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a crackle paint finish using Elmer's glue:

I started out with a black, wood frame that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. I only paid $1.99 for the frame because it was missing the glass and had a small chip in one of the corners. Using some Apple Barrel paint that I had in my stash, I painted the frame a beige color. (Yes, I know, I end up painting the frame black again, but I wanted the crackle under the top finish to be beige...see, there really is a method to my madness - ha! ha!)

The beige paint job didn't need to be perfect...just needed it to mostly cover the frame. Once the beige paint dried, I then painted over the frame with basic Elmer's glue:

When the glue has almost dried, but is still tacky to the touch, paint the top coat in the color of your choice. Don't paint over any area more than once, or it won't crackle properly:

Now the magic begins!! As you can see in the above photo and the next photo, the dark paint begins to separate and crack from the glue covered beige paint, giving your frame a really cool, antique look:

While the frame is drying, cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside of it. Cover the cardboard with a piece of scrapbook paper or fabric of your choice:

Lay out your letter tiles in the pattern that you like. Once you've decided on the layout, take a picture of it so you don't forget what you've done when you have to move all of the tiles to start the gluing process. Using a ruler and some E6000 glue, line up your longest word with the tiles and begin to glue them down:

Keep building on your main word to create a cross-word puzzle of sorts:

Once all of the letter tiles are glued down, you can decorate any open spaces as desired. I chose a little grapevine heart that I picked up for $.59 in the miniatures department at Hobby Lobby. I tied a simple bow out of a scrap piece of lace and tied a wooden button to it using hemp twine:

Once everything has dried you can place your work of art into the frame and hang it up for all to admire:

Wouldn't this be a cute gift for grandparents using the names of their grandchildren?

Thanks for dropping by today to see what's going on in my little world. Have a GREAT week!

Blessings,

Girl's Night Out and Americana Artwork

Last week I enjoyed a girl's night out with my pal Jamie and her daughter Kennedie. We had dinner at Mi Cocina, a nice Mexican restaurant in the Cherry Street district of Tulsa, and then attended a painting class at Pinot's Palette where the instructor taught us how to paint an antiqued/rustic American flag canvas. (You can check out the Pinot's Palette website HERE.) Oh! Jamie and I tried a new kind of wine while we were there, Cupcake Moscato, which was sooooo delicious! I am not a big drinker, and have never cared much for wine, but I LOVED this one! We had a TERRIFIC time, and plan on making this a regular activity!!

Here are a few photos from our fun evening...first is a pic of Jamie and me before we started painting:

The next two photos are of us, and the other folks in the class, working on our paintings...

TADAH!! Here is a photo of Jamie, me and Kennedie with our completed canvases:

Here's a close-up shot of my painting...but I decided that it needed a little something more...

...so I added buttons, stitch marks, outlining and the Pledge of Allegiance to it! I am really pleased at how it turned out, and I think that I may get a barn wood frame to put it in to hang in my office at work. (Note: It was hard to get a good, clear photograph without a glare...you can click on the photo and zoom in to see the detail work that I added, if you like.)

Thanks for dropping by today to see my artwork! Have a WONDERFUL week!