paint - I'm Topsy Turvy

Chalkboard Chargers

September 10, 2012 by Ashlee · 18 Comments

I was SOOO excited for this month’s Pinterest Challenge that I got it down a few weeks early! When I saw these chalkboard chargers Jen made from Tatertots and Jello they immediately went on my to make list! (pre-pinterest so I just pinned it last week)

I kept my eye out for cheap chargers and finally found some this summer.

I found these “gold” chargers and sanded them down so they’d be easier to paint.

I sprayed a really this layer of chalkboard spray paint. then another, then another and another… I’ve found that lots of thin layers works better than a few thick layers. since there will always be a plate on the chargers I didn’t bother spraying the center every time…

All stacked up and ready to go!

And onto my new favorite tool, chalk pens!!! I got 8 different colors, and I see collecting a few more colors in my future, like orange and purple for Halloween!!! Lego Boy took right to it- such a fun art project while I’m cooking, then enjoy them while eating!

I get my artistic talent from my mom, she is the original queen of pretty much everything in my family! She and my dad were over for dinner so I wrangled her into writing on the chargers for a special first day of school treat for everyone! (she has WAY better handwriting than I do!)

How cute is this kindergarten plate??? you can see that the center isn’t as thick, or as well done as the outer edge of the charger.

All the kids got into it, but the BOYS really loved it! They even started painting two colors together to create “new” colors! So inventive!

Mom did a great job on the grade chargers for the kids first day of school dinner! We used school terminology along the bottom, each of the kids favorite subjects!

Husband even got one… Yup, he’s working on his 4th degree in the evenings right now!

And I made this one for Stephanie… Thursgetti!!!! You could also do Taco Tuesday (for Emily).

And of course those special days, BIRTHDAYS!!! Or special WEEKS if you party like we do… Baby Boy turned 11 months old the day school started! It was a big day/night for our family!

Our special dinner was Sweet Strawberry Crepe’s with buttermilk syrup (recipe coming this week)

And yes my kids can’t seem to eat without TOUCHING their food- gross I know- we’re working on it…

So have you made anything pinterest inspired lately? Come over to The Pinterest Challenge round 12 and link up what you’ve been up to! Don’t forget there is an amazing prize package and don’t forget to check out what each of the other pinheads have created this month!

Filed Under: Craft Tutorial, Crafts, Family, kids, paint ·

Marriage and Birth certificate family wooden puzzle

August 24, 2012 by Ashlee · 18 Comments

The Theme for the Point of View this month is “Family”

I bought this wooden “Family” puzzle from Oh My Crafts at their warehouse sale last month. so when this month’s theme came up it was PERFECT! I debated painting it, or mod podging scrapbook paper on it, then I decided to try ink jet transfer using my marriage certificate and children’s birth certificates (inspired by this)!

I started by spray painting the letters white, you can see the Y unpainted here so you can see what color it was before.

Then I scanned in all the certificates and made them smaller, I sized them all at 6 inches across, flipped them horizontally (mirrored writing now) and printed them on my ink jet printer.

I decided where I wanted the letter to be, making sure that the first names (in this case BOTH mine and my husbands first names) were fitting on the letter, after I made sure I got the names on I also tried to get other important information, dates, times, weights (obviously the weight of the babies, not our marriage)

I found half a dozen different instructions for this technique out there. I decided to try the simplest one, just paint mod podge over the image

spread a smooth even layer of the mod podge over your image, in this case my wedding certificate. BTW this new wide brush from Mod Podge is AWESOME! I just bought mod podge the first time a year ago and I’m SOLD, their new products are AWESOME!

then place the letter down where you previously decided, get it as smooth as you can when you lay it down, once it’s touching the letter you don’t want to move it, you’ll just smudge the detail.

I debated just leaving it on the front, but decided to wrap the certificate around the letter, carrying parts of the image around the sides.

Repeate with ALL the letters. Because of the various sizes some certificates fit better than others, some have more information than others, but overall I was really happy with how they all fit!

I cut off the excess so it wouldn’t be in the way over night. You want it to dry COMPLETELY, so don’t touch it until the next day!

Okay it’s the next morning (you can see the difference in the lighting…). Now get the paper soaking wet. I did this by soaking the letters in a 9×13 glasss pan.

Once the paper is completely soaked, like seriously soaked, start peeling back the paper, once you’ve peeled what you can carefully RUB the paper off. But be careful cause if you rub too hard you’l start to rub up the mod podge, and that’s whats holding the ink from your image, so you’ll end up rubbing it right off (like in the center of my F)

Repeat on all the letters…

I made the mistake of sanding the edges after painting and they ended up soaking in some of the water and expanding, so I ended up sanding a bit more than I planned on once the paper was gone. But I ended up liking the way it looked. So sand as much or as little as you want for aging!

You can see I sanded some areas (the swollen wood) more than others, but the unevenness actually looks better (although the OCD side of me is driven nuts by it while I’m working on it!)

Now for distressing the edges. I used a distress ink stamp pad, but you can use chalk, wax, etc… anything you want.

I didn’t want it to be too dark, so I used a brush and did a little at a time, continuing to distress until I was happy with it. I not only did the edges, but also the top to age the overall look a bit.

Here’s a side by side of the distressed F and the un-distressed A

And once again the entire word distressed…

Now to finish it off by sealing it, again use anything you prefer, a spray, mod podge, paint… This new antique matte mod podge, PERFECT for this project I thought! I ended up just doing one layer, but I MIGHT go back next week and add a second one, each layer will “age” (yellow) the project a bit!

Let it dry (this silicone mat is seriously awesome, nothing sticks to it, the glue peels right up when it’s dry- I need one about 4 times the size to sit constantly on my table when crafting!)

And DONE! I LOVE it… I wish you could see the details better (but then you’d see my kids names, birth dates, etc… so you’ll have to just trust me, it’s lovely!) From far away it’s nicely textured and a fun pieces, it isn’t unless you look closely that you notice the personal details from their birth certificates.

The Marriage certificate on the F is the most detailed, and you can see it better here. the kids all love that they each have a letter, and that it all fits together. Even my husband (not the biggest decor fan) likes it! WIN!

disclosure- Last month I was sent a box of the some of the new Mod Podge line products to try, with no expectation of a blog post, or advertising, I’m linking back to them and talking about the ones I liked because I think you might like them too

Filed Under: Crafts, Family, paint, paper, photoshop ·

Full Sized Candy Land Yard Game

July 27, 2012 by Ashlee · 24 Comments

So do you remember back when I was on “so you think your crafty”? yeah, I barely remember it too, it was 18 months ago- the month I got pregnant with Baby Boy! I didn’t last long, and then got distracted by morning sickness, so I never did get around to posting everything I made!

One of my most favorite projects was actually this full sized Candy Land yard game! Since it was the winter when I made it we didn’t get to play it outside, and then I gave the game away without taking pictures of us playing it outside, so even though the Theme of the Point of View this month is Outdoors, there is not a single outdoor picture!

I actually came up with this game idea when we decided to rip up the carpet before remodeling our “master bedroom”. The carpet was ugly, but it was in pretty good shape, so I brainstormed what I could make with it! I decided to cut it up into squares and started debating what board game it would be fun to create!

Candy land won and I split up the carpets and painted them in rainbow colors!, I just used a few layers of normal spray paint! make sure to spray paint 6 pieces pink for the “special” candy locations!

Then I mixed them up- all ready to lay out, this way you can change the formation of your “game board” every time you play!

Instead of a stack of cards I decided to make a spinner to determine moves! I cut out an arrow with my jig saw, and primed both the arrow and the large circle! Then I taped off a section for paint- the same paint as the carpet pieces!

You can see my first color, and the pencil lines for the rest… It took a little math and a little time, but doing it right is worth it!

To make the spinner work I drilled holes in the center of both the circle and arrow. Then with a hex nut, bolt, 4 washers and a locking bolt! Place a washer on the back and stick the nut through! On the front add another washer and the bolt, tighten it good! And then add another washer!

Then the final washer and the locking bolt! Getting the right nut length is the key to all of this, the arrow should be slightly loose, but not too wiggly…

Mine was PERFECT! It spun just like I’d hoped it would! It’s actually my favorite part of the whole game!

In the real Candy Land game they have some cards with two color squares on it, so I used the last space, and a stencil I hand cut (before the Silhouette machine days) to add “go two times”.

The idea is if you spin and land on “go two times” spin again then go to two of that color… Make sense?

When you land on PINK you draw one of the 6 special space cards I made. I was going with the Candy Land of my childhood and grabbed real images of all the locations! So if you land on pink, draw a card (keep them upside down obviously!

I used those same images and glued them to foam core board, cut the shapes out and added them to dowels! You’ll stick the dowels into the ground by the pink carpet spots! You’ll have your starting and ending location, with 6 special locations and the colored board winding around your yard!

And finally I printed and laminated these cute figures for each player to wear!!!! Don’t they look amazing! We just stuck them to our shirts, but I think I’d add them to lanyards if I was doing it again!

The first time we played we set it up around the house- in the kitchen… (modeling the spinner- look how young they both look!)

Up the stairs….

And through the living room… (see Computer boy on a pink spot? The gumdrop dowel didn’t stay up on the carpet very well…)

The only problem is all the room the carpet squares take up… we put everything in a huge 12 gallon box, but this last year gave the game away… I’d love to make it again, just as full sized, but somehow smaller???

Don’t forget to link up your outdoor projects!

Filed Under: Craft Tutorial, Crafts, kids, paint ·

Mothers Day gift- Family Tree Canvas

May 4, 2012 by Ashlee · 12 Comments

Yesterday I shared the Family subway art pillowcase I made for my traveling Mom… Today is the family tree art I made for my Mother in law! She likes browns, golds, and metallic in her decorating so the metallic and pearl colors of the Plaid- Martha Stewart collection paint was PERFECT!

I actually used a lot more from the bag of goodies Plaid Crafts sent me for this project! I made a few mistakes and there are a few things I’d change if Iwas going to do it again….

I started with a large 18×25 canvas. Turns out vinyl, stencils and tape don’t stick to canvas very well, and these paints tended to bleed. If I was going to do it again I’d use a board instead!

See the blank medallion? My SIL is expecting a baby, and is most likely the last grandchild my in laws will get (funny how both my parents and my in laws are mostly getting their last grandbabies this year- esp considering they are 10 years apart in age, and have totally different numbers of children)

I first started using the tape to create the tree shape I wanted. But as I stepped back I noticed it was leaning to wards the left.

So I pulled it off and used vinyl instead… MISTAKE 1. It did NOT stick for some reason! LIKE AT ALL….

Since I didn’t want the paint to completely bleed through I decided to add some texture for the tree. I used the texture brush to create lines coming up the trunk and out to the branches! I used canvas specific texture paint as well. It held down the vinyl pretty good, but it did bleed under a bit.

Then mixing my primary colors, red, yellow and blue, in satin paint I created a pretty brown…

and rolled it right on top of the textured paint

Peel it off and you have your tree!

I decided to attempts vinyl again for my leaf shapes, and they worked OKAY. they did bleed a bit as I couldn’t get it to stick down completely, but for leaves it worked. Start with your lightest color first, this gold, then my pearl orange…

and finally a red/pink, also a part of the pearl/metallic collection. These foam pouncers are PERFECT for stenciling!

and done… I love fall, and these are the colors we get to see on our mountain every year!

So tree- DONE! So far a few issues but over all okay.

Now for the FAMILY part of the family tree. I used these great adhesive stencils. This medallion shape was perfect for what I wanted. and the tacky back stuck pretty good, not perfect- because of the stupid canvas, but better than the vinyl for SURE. AND you can use it over and over again and it stays tacky and re-sticks every time!

For this I used the darker metallic gold, and I did the whole family tree once, then one more time to get the color I wanted.

I worked from the bottom (mom and dad) up and out. The kids and spouses on the main branches then each of their children branching off from there.

I wasn’t a stickler for having every medallion on a branch, but tried to space it and make it look pretty and not too crowded in any one place!

I was going to use the alphabet stencil they sent me, but the letters were too big, so I tried vinyl ONE LAST TIME, thinking it might stick to the paint better.

I just used first initials (missing the upcoming baby) and added teal paint for the letters.

I had two problems, I waited too long to take the vinyl off, and the paint came up with it… AND these were SO small it was difficult to work with the details. The letters are 3/4 inch tall and 1/2 inch wide. Itty Bitty….

So I grabbed one of the amazing brushes and hand painted the letters over what was left from the stenciled initials!

I was thinking about adding our last name, but my husband thought it looked best simple like this… So for now I’m leaving it. I think the MAIN thing I can tell you is to find a tree shape that fits your family. I have a single sister in law with no children, a single sister in law with three kids and the couples haev 2, 4 and 5 (us) kids so it’s not like we were very well balanced. I love this tree, it fit our strange family sizes perfectly!

My Mother in law is in Israel right now, but I think she’ll really love it when she comes home!