Tag Archives: Gesso

Beach beautiful is wild

Beach beautiful is wild
Beach beautiful is wild
Bonus: Learn a fabulously frugal trick for using 
spray inks when you don’t have masks or stencils! 

 

Without going into the gory details, last summer was a tough time for our family. Truth be told, all of 2013 pretty much sucked. A short respite from the dismal came when we visited a small zoo south of Milwaukee. Normally, a zoo isn’t all that exciting to me, but this one turned out to be pretty fun–probably more so because it was such a relief from the worries. It was literally a stone’s throw from Lake Michigan, so it wasn’t long before we headed down to the beach to watch my son climb rocks and my daughter do handstands in the sand.

Read the rest of this entry

Make a spring planter with this Target Dollar Spot hack

Make a spring planter with this Target Dollar Spot hack
Make a spring planter with this Target Dollar Spot hack

The moms in my life have had a tough winter. Advanced age, more than one life-threatening surgery and a far-below-sub- zero polar vortex have taken a toll on them.

Unfortunately, they won’t be enjoying the warm sun of spring anytime soon. Even though it’s April, that other maternal figure–Mother-insert-expletive-here-Nature–dumped more than a foot of snow on us last night. That’s why a walk by the Target Dollar Spot inspired me to create inexpensive springtime gifts for my mom and step-mom.

Pssst this would be a perfect Mother’s Day gift

Paper Calliope Spring Planter Box

Read the rest of this entry

Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)

Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)
Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)

In the last few months I’ve been fascinated with the up and coming trend of Artist Trading Blocks (ATBs). Basically, the ATB take the Artist Trading Card (ATC) into three dimensions. While I have always loved seeing the amazing ATCs that my instafriends created, I never jumped on the bandwagon. However, something about the added dimension of the ATB. has made this trend irresistable.

One night during a typical netflix-while-crafting-binge, I watched the 1996 Jane Austen movie Emma, starring Gywneth Paltrow. A delightful quote captured my heart so much so that I was compelled to use it for my first forray into the ATB world.

Read the rest of this entry

And by swimmingly, I meant

And by swimmingly, I meant
And by swimmingly, I meant

So my last post extolled how wonderfully my lastest project was going. That remains true. In fairness, swimmingly is a relative concept. For what I perceive as going swimmingly, others might consider a nightmare.

Really this all comes down to the fact that I need to title my next book*, “The Anal Artist.” I can’t seem to let anything go that I don’t consider perfect. A smudge of glue, a smear of paint–all must be fixed. Read the rest of this entry