Pointillism Vase

Iron Craft Challenge # 9 is 'Inspired by Art' So it got me thinking of some of my favorite art pieces. One of them is featured in Ferris Bueler's Day Off and Cameron has a serious stare down with a Surrat painting. Its one of my favorite scenes in movie history! 

This painting uses the pointillism technique so I used that as my jumping off point for this project. It involves using a series of dots of varying colors to create a pattern in which an image emerges. Since I wasn't setting out to make a grand masterpiece I applied the idea to a small scale project, a small vase. I used an ampersand design (&) because they are just so neat and visually interesting. After my little vase was done I put some rocks in it and suck a candle in there. 

Here is how you can make one yourself: 

Materials & Tools

• Glass jar or vase 
• Contact Paper Stencil 
• Q-tips 
• Paint (varying colors)

Instructions: 

1. Clean your jar/vase with some glass cleaner and dry it to remove any dust. 
2. Apply your stencil to the jar/vase and press out the air bubbles as best you can.
3. Take a q-tip and dip it in some paint and start dabbing your jar/vase over the stencil. Continue this step with different colors, until you like your color combination. 
4. Allow to dry for at least 20 minutes. 
5. Gently peel off stencil to reveal your wonderful design! 

Thankful Napkins

Day of the Doctor is over, so let me squeeze in some Thanksgiving themed stuff here! A few weeks ago was another Craft Night at Crazy Beans. We celebrated by decorating some napkins. I ordered the napkins from Save-on-Crafts and we painted them with some acrylic. To make them look really snazzy I made a bunch of stencils (with my trusty silhouette cameo) for all of our crafterinos to use. The stencil's varied from some birdies, leaves, 'give thanks' text and because it is no-shave november, I made a few mustaches.

Everyone had a lot of fun. I met some new people and enticed them with crafty wonderness! One guy just came in for coffee and looked around with a look on his face that said, "what the heck is going on in this coffee house?" And he left with a fabulous napkin. My friend Matt got a little creative and he made his own sayings. I'm proud of my friend Joe. He is not a big crafts person but he wanted to make one for his grandma so he soldiered on!

Would you like to make your own lovely napkin? Here is how! 

Materials & Tools

• Burlap napkin
• Acrylic paint
• Stencils (optional)  
• Foam brushes 
• Cardboard 
• Iron

Instructions

• Prepare the stencils and paint. Figure out what your design will be and what colors you want to use
• Before you begin painting, place a piece of cardboard underneath the napkin (this helps prevent paint from getting all over your table) 
• Place a stencil down and paint over your stencil gently! Then lift up the stencil. Repeat this step until you are satisfied with how your napkin looks! 
• The next day, after your napkin is completely dry, iron it a little bit. This heat sets the paint and really helps melt it into the fabric.