Journey Art Supplies Blog
Tips, Tricks, Thoughts, and inspiration from across the art spectrum.
Group Art Ideas to Inspire and Challenge
Sometimes at Cheap Joe's, we love tackling unique group art ideas. We also understand that coming up with those group art ideas can be challenging whether you are an art teacher, student, or simply encouraging creativity around you. You might have noticed that I've been absent lately, and I apologize for that! We've been busy working hard here at Cheap Joes, but now that I have a moment, I have something exciting to share that might inspire you! For the past month, we've also been working on a group art idea centered around the beautiful painting, A Wheatfield with Cypresses, by Vincent Van Gogh. Our group art idea was to re-imagine this gorgeous classic painting into a collaborative project done between 36 different artists, and it's finally finished! So how did we do it, and how can you do something similar? 1. PlanningFirst, we chose a famous painting. In this case, A Wheatfield with Cypresses, by Vincent Van Gogh. Next, one of our talented Graphic Designers, Erin, collected the names of all the artists interested in participating and divided the painting into equivalent sections. You can see the divided section of the artwork that I chose, circled below. 2. SectioningOnce every artist was assigned a section, we sent each of them an 11"x14" Joe's Prime Cradled Painting Panel along with a printout of their section, and then the painting as a whole for further reference. We chose to-scale printouts of each section to help us ensure that our edges would line up as seamlessly as possible without a mess of crooked designs. Here's Erin, hard at work, distributing panels and printouts for all the artists. And below, here's one of our fantastic Marketing Assistants, Lori, providing much-needed group art support and unique flare. 3. Create!This part of the process is, in my opinion, the most fun. Each artist is free to recreate their painting section in their style or medium of choice. In my case, I decided that I wanted to make sure my panel lined up with its neighbors as much as possible, so I grabbed a piece of Saral Wax-Free Transfer Paper. Next, I placed the transfer paper between the panel and my printout to trace the major lines to get a good basic shape, paying attention to the bars along the edges the most. Though you can't really see it well in the image above due to the angle, the lines came out perfectly crisp, which is excellent. I've got a solid base down and am ready to choose paints. I decided to go with acrylic paints and grabbed an assortment of our Joe's Prime Really Good Lightfast Acrylic colors that mostly matched the colors I saw in my panel. (I say mostly because I knew to match better, I needed to mix colors for the perfect shades I wanted.) I mixed a combination of Bright Aqua Green, Light Blue Violent, and Titanium white to create the shades I felt matched best. I began with an even layer of a mixture of teal, and while it was wet, I quickly added a few dollops of Titanium White for blending. I chose to add white within the teal so that I could mimic the almost chunky, 3D, and heavy strokes found in the painting, something that Van Gough is most famous for, and I wanted to emulate that as closely as I could. I mixed up some purple clouds for my finishing touches and added the very top corner of the cypress tree that I had in my section. I wanted to give my panel a bit more of a personal touch, something in my own style, so I considered doodling over the basic outlines of my panel. I wasn't sure yet, so I decided to test my idea without ruining the panel to prevent making a mistake I couldn't return from. I decided to tape a sheet of 11"x14" Polyester Film over my panel and began doodling on that instead. I began by just lining the major shapes of my brush stroke texture, and I really enjoyed that effect on its own. But I decided to try and take it a step further and began to doodle lines in some of the corner sections. I eventually realized that I felt as if the little circles were so close together that they began blocking out entire sections of the painting underneath. I tried a second attempt at circles on a larger scale with a different shape, and I thought it looked much better. I was still experimenting, so I continued this process until I mainly had one corner covered where I could take a break, stand back, and gauge my feelings on what I had done so far. I ultimately decided that the doodling of shapes made it far too busy and scrapped my polyester sheet. I did, however, learn that I really loved the way everything looked by being lined in a simple black. So I took my black brush-tip Pitt Artist Pen and decided to go over my lines, but this time directly on my painting. Above is the finished, lined image of my section of the painting and all that was left was to wait to see what the other artists in our group did with their pieces before putting it all together. Here's how it turned out! As you can see, everything lined up so well! I am really impressed with the talent and different interpretations and artist styles on each of our separate panels having turned into a cohesive and natural-looking finished group art piece. It's incredible to see one of our inspiring group art ideas being hung up and displayed as part of an exhibition in the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. If you get the chance, drop by the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum today to experience fantastic art!Collaborative art ideas are a great way to promote and foster community and learn new group art skills, so we highly encourage you to take a group art idea and run with it!
Group Art Ideas to Inspire and Challenge
Sometimes at Cheap Joe's, we love tackling unique group art ideas. We also understand that coming up with those group art ideas can be challenging whether you are an art...
Tie-Dye Batik with Glue!
Hey, everybody! The warm weather is finally upon us, which means we can start breaking out all the old outdoor activities! One of my personal favorites is tie-dyeing! Sure, you can tie-dye any time of the year, but I have fond memories of dying shirts at my best friend's house as a kid, and her mom yelling at us to take them outside and leaving them to dry by hanging them over a tree branch. Ah, the 90s... So I wanted to bring back that nostalgia--while also adding a little bit of artistry--with this week's project! I've done wax batiking before, but I wanted to go for a more accessible approach this time. And what's more accessible than Elmer's Glue? Everyone and their brother's got a bottle of Elmer's Glue sitting somewhere in their house, and that's literally all you need to create relief designs on dyed shirts! Whatever you cover in glue stays white (or the color of your fabric) while the dye stains around it, and then the glue just dissolves when you rinse it out! I prepped by taping sheets of wax paper to this piece of cardboard, and then slipped my shirt over it and secured it with clips. Obvious tie-dye reminder: 100% cotton shirts are the most absorbent and retain dye the best! And then I just went straight into it! I drew out this little glue flower and didn't take into consideration the way the glue would spread if it's in big globs... So I just filled in the petals and did an outline around it! No mistakes, just happy accidents. And I let my pattern grow from there. If drawing freehand makes you nervous or you'd rather use something like a stencil, you can draw out your design with a fabric pencil and it'll rinse off when you wash the shirt! But I didn't have any plans while making these designs, so I just let the glue go where my hand was taking it. I doodle a lot of swirls, anyway. This was pretty second-nature. Phew! 45 minutes and 2 hand cramps later, I was done! Well, with this part. To make sure the glue was totally dry, I let it sit overnight. When I came back, I had this! What appeared to be a wrinkly shirt actually had a crazy-intricate design spanning it. Next, I folded it up and used the rubberbands that came in the Jacquard Groovy Tie Dye Kit to tie it up like a regular tie-dye shirt. The glue crunched a little bit, but none of the pieces flaked off. Then I put on the gloves and mixed 2 of the 3 dyes per the instructions that came in the kit. I stuck with cyan and magenta because I knew darker colors would work best with showing my design. After dampening the shirt (to let the dye seep into the fabric more easily), it was time to take it outside! I went straight for the section that had the design on it and just doused the whole section in blue. Then I decided purple would look better, so I threw some red in there, too. Obvious tie-dye reminder: be sure to get the dye into all the nooks and crannies! It also helps to squeeze the section you're working on to get the dye worked all the way around. Woohoo! Thoroughly-dyed! Once I was finished, I gently placed it into a handy-dandy Cheap Joe's bag and set it on the windowsill by my desk. When I came back the next morning... I had this! Mildly disappointed by the way the dye I was washing out attached itself to the remaining white parts AND that some of the glue reactivated while the dye set and it created weird additions to my designs, but I still think it's very beautiful! Here are some close-ups: All in all, I'm calling this a successful batik! Can't wait to wear it!
Tie-Dye Batik with Glue!
Hey, everybody! The warm weather is finally upon us, which means we can start breaking out all the old outdoor activities! One of my personal favorites is tie-dyeing! Sure, you...
More Fun with Alcohol Inks!
Hi, everyone! More Fun with Alcohol Inks! This week's post goes out to all you alcohol ink artists out there! (OR folks considering getting into alcohol inks!) I'm sure you've used the felt stamps in your work before, but have you tried the PanPastel Sofft Tools? They're perfect for deliberately applying ink, making unique patterns, and even removing ink from paper! First, I jumped right in with making patterns! I began by masking off a leaf on a sheet of Mitz TerraSkin Multimedia Art Paper. Next, I squeezed a combination of Ranger Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Citrus, Clover, and Stream onto my rectangle-shaped Sofft Tool. Then I stamped a few sections of the leaf and dripped the same colors around it. When I pulled the masking fluid away, I was pleased with my result! Except there appeared to be a few places that I missed with masking fluid, and the inks got onto the paper...but no worries! The pointed Sofft Tool is the perfect shape for going back in with Claro Extender and cleaning up those stray marks! That's much better! I used a similar technique with a stencil I made: I cut this stencil out of a piece of polyester film and laid it onto another sheet of TerraSkin. Then I dropped some Wild Plum, Indigo,Watermelon, and Cool Peri onto my round Sofft Tool and Citrus, Clover, and Stream onto my rectangle again. I stamped my respective colors all over my stencil. And pulled the stencil away to reveal this! The greens are a bit dingy (I think because they got a little of the Indigo in them) and my flowers came out kind of sloppy, so I tried again--this time, with less ink on my Sofft Tools. Once again, stamped all over, making sure to keep my colors as contained as possible. And voila! A much nicer result this time! Though I do think both are nice, so I'll keep them for a future project, like putting an initial in the middle of some kind of quotes along the outside. The Sofft Tools give me so much control over these otherwise-wily inks, I love it! Next, I wanted to use my stencil as a relief while I used Claro Extender and a Sofft Tool to pull ink back up from the page. My first couple of attempts ended up looking something like this--too much extender! FINALLY, I found the perfect amount of extender to pull up the ink, without reactivating it and making it bleed. (It's about this much. And even then, I did some test stamps on a plain sheet of paper to get any excess off.) Next, I wanted to use the Sofft Tools as simply applicators for ink. I quickly threw together some light-ish colors (Wild Plum, Cool Peri, Shell Pink, and some Extender). Then I laid my stencil on the dried ink--dang, that looks pretty cool on its own! Inked all the way around with just a combo of Indigo and Cranberry. Tip: Indigo eats every other color you use, so apply it sparingly! Once again, my ink-to-sponge ratio was a bit off, so my flowers bled a little...BUT one portion was salvageable! Now I have a pretty little embellishment to add to a later work :) And if nothing else, you can use the tools to add dimension to the backgrounds of your works! Just squeezy-squeeze a bit onto your Sofft Tools... Apply in a random fashion... And then ink as normal! Since that layer dries before you apply your other inks, they still show through--even from under other inks! Tell me about your favorite alcohol ink techniques!
More Fun with Alcohol Inks!
Hi, everyone! More Fun with Alcohol Inks! This week's post goes out to all you alcohol ink artists out there! (OR folks considering getting into alcohol inks!) I'm sure you've...
Spring Art Swap!
Hi, everyone! It was a great week over here at Cheap Joe's headquarters! For a little over a month now, our employees have been working diligently to create a one-of-a-kind work of art to be swapped for another unique piece made by a fellow employee! Well, today was the day of the swap, and I am extremely excited to show you the products of some of the amazing artists we have here! The theme, of course, was "spring"--but we encouraged the participants to interpret that however they pleased OR go in a different direction entirely. After all, art knows no bounds! In alphabetical order: Artwork by Alex Skala, retail associate at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Alicia Orlando, a member of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Aly Perez, manager of our Asheville Retail Store. Artwork by Amanda Chapman, manager of our Boone Outlet Store. Artwork by Annabelle Prince, manager of our Charlotte Retail Store. Artwork by Becky Stines, part of our receiving gang. (This is the panel I got!) Artwork by Bri Stoehr, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Brian Dubberly, our Marketing Manager. Alicia Orlando also created this piece, on behalf of a new employee in the Distribution Center named Bryan Elrod. Artwork by Byron Cook, our Web Developer is in charge of the entire Cheap Joe's website! Artwork by Carlee Hudson (that's me!), marketing assistant/copywriter/blogger extraordinaire. Artwork by Christy Firk, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Danie Firth, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Dawn Hill, roommate to one of our Call Center gurus, Tammy Guilford. Artwork by Derrick Fowler, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Edwina May, our Workshop Coordinator. Artwork by Erin Guffey, one of our graphic designers, who works on our seasonal sale flyers and orchestrates these art swaps! Artwork by Jacob Woehler, one of the retail associates at our Asheville Location. And here's the back of Jacob's--we're a silly bunch :) Artwork by Jana Smith, another member of our receiving gang. Artwork by Janalee Burke, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Jane Laferla, one of the retail associates at our Asheville location. Artwork by Kevin Brown, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte Location. Artwork by Kevin Bryan, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Lauren Murrell, another retail associate at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Linda Greenup, a retail associate at our Asheville location. Artwork by Lori Inman, the other marketing assistant, in charge of finding awesome new products. Artwork by Luke Russell, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Megan Hart, Content/SEO Management Artwork by Meghann Miller Williams, in charge of promotional donations. Artwork by Michael White, part of the Distribution Center team. Artwork by Michelle Dineen, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Phillip Church, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Sally Garner, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Tammy Guilford, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Taylor Bowers, marketing. Artwork by Terry Henry, part of the graphics team. Artwork by Tippy Kleinman, one of the retail associates in our Boone Outlet Store. And last but certainly not least, Web Alexander, manager/guru supreme of the Call Center.
Spring Art Swap!
Hi, everyone! It was a great week over here at Cheap Joe's headquarters! For a little over a month now, our employees have been working diligently to create a one-of-a-kind...
Spring Succulent Sanctuary!
Hello, everyone! Who's ready for spring? I know I am. The weather has been gorgeous this week--but they say we're supposed to get snow on Sunday! In an effort to fight this Indian Winter, I bought myself a little jade plant to keep in the window by my desk. (Not a photo of mine, but this is a jade plant.) I've used some pretty creative things as planters over the years: Like these dinosaur toys that I gutted and painted! Can you tell I like succulents? So I knew I needed to give this new baby a nice home. I have this terracotta pot (that I believe I stole from my mom a few years ago), but I'm not a huge fan of the pattern on the middle of it. Since I knew anything I painted onto the pot would still show this pattern, I decided to cover it with paper instead! If you've read some of my other posts, you know that covering ugly stuff with gorgeous handmade paper is one of my favorite techniques; it's quick, usually inexpensive, and--most importantly--easy! I went next door and grabbed this pack of stunning monochromatic paper by Shizen. And the process was simple enough: I began by priming the whole pot (two layers on the rim and saucer) with Joe's Prime Really Good Gesso. When that dried insanely quickly, I could put down my paint layer. I painted the rim and saucer with my absolute favorite accent color, Golden's Iridescent Gold Deep (Fine). These are the parts I wasn't going to cover with paper. When that was good and dry, I used Golden Soft Gel Medium (Gloss) to adhere the paper to the pot. One sheet didn't quite wrap around it entirely, but because of how busy the pattern is, you'd hardly be able to tell I had to do any overlapping. When the paper-covered everything, I trimmed it down to the bottom of the pot with an X-Acto Knife and glued the edges down with more gel medium. With another coat of gel medium to seal the paper and paint, I was finished! What a happy little jade! And now it lives in the window, hopefully beckoning springtime and rebuking the snow! There is soo much you can do to create one-of-a-kind planters, especially on these cheap little terracotta pots.
Spring Succulent Sanctuary!
Hello, everyone! Who's ready for spring? I know I am. The weather has been gorgeous this week--but they say we're supposed to get snow on Sunday! In an effort to...
Bettering Your Lettering!
Hey, everybody! Typography has always been a passion of mine. As an artist with an English degree, it seems only natural that I'd be drawn to the creative ways you can present text. I've noticed that one of the popular fads right now is hand-lettering. Whether it's in advertisements or on wedding decorations, folks seem to be ditching the somewhat-cold feeling of perfectly straight fonts and are gravitating towards the uniqueness and personal touch that hand-lettering provides. This week, I'm going to go over some ways you can get into and practice hand-lettering for yourself! The easiest way to start is by taking your normal handwriting and just jazzing it up a bit: Here, I've penciled out "paintbrush" in both my regular print and regular cursive--taking care to make it cleaner-looking than it normally would. To make it fancy, all you need to do is thicken parts of your letters. Tip: A good rule of thumb is to widen on the down strokes and leave the horizontals their normal width. Then I went over it in my 08/.50mm Sakura Pigma Micron and erased any residual pencil marks. Not super exciting, but still nicer to look at than the regular old lines. I followed suit with the cursive example, again thickening the vertical lines, only a bit smoother this time. And that's how you fake calligraphy! (Just make sure you wait longer than 10 seconds to erase your pencil marks, or you'll smudge your ink as I did...) If you don't particularly care for your handwriting or are looking to go for something specific, you can draw inspiration from--or simply copy--a font that already exists! Fonts.com has thousands of fonts in a myriad of styles for you to look through and test with your own sentences. I've also found a lot of great, free fonts by browsing Pinterest boards. This one is called Cantoni and I found it through Pinterest. Just like I did with my own handwriting, I sketched it out in pencil first and then went over it in ink. I like this font a lot better than my regular cursive, and with a bit of practice, I could eventually get the motions of the letters memorized and it can become my own! Tip: Practicing your lettering by writing out each letter in order is boring and feels a bit like when you had to learn cursive in school. Instead, use pangrams (phrases that incorporate the entire alphabet), like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" or "When zombies arrive, quickly fax judge Pat." This will help you figure out ways to connect letters naturally and find a smooth rhythm in which to write. Something neat I found online is this 30-Day Lettering + Doodle Challenge. These 30-Day Challenges are an awesome and super-fun way to make a habit out of something you want to explore more--I've done writing and poetry challenges before but never doodling and lettering! I went ahead and drew out what I was feeling for Day #4's prompt, "Dreamer." In my head, I imagined a font that was all capitals but with somewhat-thin letters that had slight flourishes. So I took to Pinterest and found Lettersmith. With a few simple accent stars, I had already completed the day's challenge! (It always looks better in ink.) I fully intend to keep this 30-Day Challenge going--even though I skipped ahead a few days. And I can either doodle the odd days, as suggested, or use ALL of the words as prompts for lettering! This guy is another I found on Pinterest, and he's called Bellwethers. Some fonts, like Bellwethers, will come with optional letter flourishes (like how the P and H are swoopy-er than the other letters). Flourishes like this are a great way to draw attention to a single word or add a kind-of border to a short phrase. You can add flourishes around your letters or directly to them, depending on the type of font you're using--printed fonts usually look better with non-connected flourishes that echo the shapes of the letters, while cursive scripts are prettier and more complete with swirly accents either around the letters or connected to them. If you're lacking inspiration for flourishes, there are plenty of templates for those online as well! Here's a small section of a HUGE template I found also on Pinterest--an incredible resource, honestly. Eventually, all of these little tricks and cheats will become second nature and you won't have to rely on outside sources anymore! Once you get to that point and are feeling more confident with your lettering, you can try upping your game with thicker markers or full-blown calligraphy pens! Use the Pitt Big Brush Artist Pen for chunky lettering that you want to cover a large area with. For daintier fonts that still need to cover some space, try the smaller Brush Tip Pitt Artist Pen. If you wanna get REALLY nuts, bust out a bottle of India ink and your tiniest detail brush to fill in your sketches. It's a super quick way to fill in a lot of letters that have varying line widths. A happy medium between using a pen and a brush and ink is one of these Niji Waterbrushes! I filled this one with some water and (maybe not quite enough of) American Journey June Bug and wrote out my word without penciling first. And, of course, we have actual calligraphy pen sets for those of you who are already awesome at lettering. But even if you only master one font, there are still endless possibilities for mediums to use it with and flourishes to add to it. Plus, since to err is human, each instance will be a little bit different from the ones you've done before. And that's what hand-lettering is all about :)
Bettering Your Lettering!
Hey, everybody! Typography has always been a passion of mine. As an artist with an English degree, it seems only natural that I'd be drawn to the creative ways you...
6 Ways to Use Your Old Brushes!
Hello, everyone! And welcome to the new year! I hope you all had fabulous holidays full of brand new art supplies! If you got some new brushes for Christmas this year, you're probably considering tossing out your old ones. But don't! Old brushes may seem obsolete once you've replaced them, but you can always find a use! Here are some ways you can still get some mileage out of them: If your rounds/detail brushes have lost their point, give them a new job! Your round can now be used to make more bold, expressive strokes and continuous fat lines and that detail brush would be perfect for applying masking fluid! But maybe you've got a brush whose bristles are really spread out: Don't toss it! Brushes with crazy bristles can give you organic textures and help you create patterns you otherwise couldn't. Plus, when you stop caring about the quality of your brush, you can just throw caution to the wind and go nuts with it. Brushes that have been left sitting on their tips almost always come out looking something like this: There goes a perfectly good Flat... OR there goes a brand new Deerfoot Stippler! Experiment with the new shapes you can make with your new-shaped brush! If you've committed the cardinal sin of acrylic painting and accidentally let your paint dry onto your brush, it's not a lost cause! You can use your seemingly-hopeless brush to create interesting patterns and designs within the paint, just like you would with a color shaper! And when that fails, you can still use...the handle! Some brushes have this cool tapered tip to them, which can double as a color shaper, Paint Pusher, or palette knife! Since these handles are made to be used with art supplies, they can withstand the torment of mixing paint or varnish--and you don't have to ruin a perfectly good butter knife! If you have a brush with bristles that are just too far gone, consider just cutting it all the way down. The short hairs all packed together tightly will act similarly to a scrubber brush, and you can use it to pick up color you've already laid down! Of course, you can only do so much with some brushes, and then it's just time to let them go. The best way to keep your brushes from aging too quickly is to clean and condition them with a product I personally adore, The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver.
6 Ways to Use Your Old Brushes!
Hello, everyone! And welcome to the new year! I hope you all had fabulous holidays full of brand new art supplies! If you got some new brushes for Christmas this...
A New Jewel in the Cheap Joe's Crown!
Hey, everybody! Crazy things have been happening in the Cheap Joe's world: namely, we opened a brand new store in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina I was part of the team who worked diligently to get everything up and running ASAP for the townsfolk, who have badly wanted an art supplies store--so much so that they even started a Bring Cheap Joe's Art Stuff to Asheville page on Facebook! Well, we heard those pleas and made it happen! And I wanted to share some photos of the journey with you guys: Very early stages, just getting basic fixtures put in. And there's Aly and David, the managers of the Boone Outlet and the Asheville stores! Reduce, reuse, recycle: these planks of wood are actually pieces of pallets that we receive deliveries on, but we knew we could use them for something creative, like an accent wall! Soon, these will be covered in stacks of canvas and watercolor paper! Here's Brian, our Marketing Manager, building a big front desk for our new employees! Then he added a big, sturdy, concrete top and continued the pallets motif! Finally! We can start loading in merchandise! The very first product placed! Bunches and bunches of sketchbooks! Sorting and finding a place for everything! (Natasha, who works in inventory, doesn't like having her picture taken...) Look at all those easels! And the finished pallet wall! So...much...canvas! Coming along nicely! Our brush section! A few finishing touches...and we were ready to open! Come down and visit us! The address is: 829 Riverside Dr Ste 120 Asheville, NC 28804 And the local number is 828-232-8391 We can't wait to see you!
A New Jewel in the Cheap Joe's Crown!
Hey, everybody! Crazy things have been happening in the Cheap Joe's world: namely, we opened a brand new store in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina I was part of the team...
Trash to Treasure!
Hey, everyone! This week's blog post goes out to those who want to decorative-paint the mundane things in their life, but have trouble making it happen. Whether it's your skill level, lack of time to dedicate to a big project, or you just don't know how you want to paint something, there is an alternative: paper! The Cheap Joe's Outlet Store has a fantastic selection of handmade paper, and some of it is for sale on our website! Check out these that are made from bark or these packs that have their own color schemes (I used one pack in this post!) You can also get crazy with layering tissue paper--hmm...that might be a future blog post! This used to be a plain black bookshelf. But thanks to a few sheets of this gorgeous handmade paper I found in the Outlet Store, it's now a stunning work of art! I also used an assortment of papers to give a collage effect to this smaller shelf. The decorative paper method is one that I love and have had great success with--the best part? It's so easy! For my example this time, I used this totally bare trash can cover/holder that my dad (Hi, dad!) made me hide this ugly old bin--and also keep my cat from knocking it over again... I started by planning it out, of course, in my handy dandy Hand•Book Journal. I knew that I wanted to incorporate a solid accent color with the decorative paper I chose (an all-over pattern would take away from the print and make it harder to distinguish its shapeless is more sometimes!), but there were so many design possibilities! Once I figured out which look I wanted to go with (top middle), it was time to make it happen! The first step was priming all over. After two coats of Joe's Prime Really Good Gesso, I dragged this bad boy out into the yard for some spray painting! I used Montana Gold Professional Acrylic Spray Paint in Shock Red for the sides and back of my holder. I went with Montana Gold for a few reasons: the red matched my paper perfectly and the drying time and coverage for spray paint are insanely better than fluid or heavy-body acrylics. You're also much more likely to get an even coating--no brush strokes! Once the outsides dried, I painted the inside of the lid and a few inches down into the holder, that way you wouldn't just see bare wood when you opened it up. When those parts dried as well, I brought it back inside to apply my paper to the top and front with Golden Soft Gel Medium. I cut the sheets a little bit larger than what I needed, just to make sure I could cover everything completely, but then I only adhered to the parts that I wanted to cover. With everything good and stuck on, I used an X-Acto Knife to cut away the excess and glued any loose edges back down with my Gel Medium. To protect the outside and also give it a nice finish, I covered everything that was painted red with Golden Soft Gel Medium (Gloss)--in case you can't tell, I love using this stuff. It's so versatile! The final touch was to reattach my handle... And I was done! What a happy little trash can holder :) It is much better looking than a black piece of junk, and it only took part of my afternoon!
Trash to Treasure!
Hey, everyone! This week's blog post goes out to those who want to decorative-paint the mundane things in their life, but have trouble making it happen. Whether it's your skill...
