Otis says Happy Canada Day to all …
Stay healthy, stay safe, have fun!
Bumble Bees Rock!
June 22, 2020 at 9:00 pm (artwork, Creative arts, Learn something new)
Tags: acrylic paint on stones, bumble bee craft, paint a bumble bee on pebbles, rock art, rock painting
This was another easy painting-on-rocks project.
Materials: Black, gold and white acrylic paint and paint brushes; a bit of aluminum screening; a bit of thin wire for attaching the wings.
It was a simple task of painting each rock black with gold stripes, then painting on the little eyes and antennae. I also used an acrylic spray sealant in case I want to put them outside in the garden.
For each set of wings, I cut a rounded, oblong shape from the mesh screening, pinched it together in the middle, then wound a piece of wire through it and wound the wire around the centre of each rock to hold the wings securely in place. You could also use a glue gun, but I wanted to try the wire, and it worked just fine.
Voila! Little bumble bees for the garden.
Wait! Don’t throw out that tin can…
June 8, 2020 at 2:26 am (artwork, Creative arts, Learn something new)
Tags: acrylic paint, flower painting, paint a tin can, painting craft, recycled art, recycled crafts, tin can craft, tin can flower vase
Turn it into something useful with a bit of paint and your imagination.
What was once an empty soup can on its way to the recycling bin is now a cute vase for my outdoor patio table.
Here’s what I did.
After washing out the can and soaking off the label, I spray painted it with a mint green acrylic, and allowed it to dry overnight. Then I used a pencil to roughly transfer the sketch below onto it.
Next, I selected the different colours of acrylic paint that I wanted to use—olive green and tan brown for the branches, yellow for the tiny leaves (I had forsythia in mind), two shades of purple for the flowers and a mustard gold for the flower center—then I got to work.
Once the paint dried, I sprayed it with a clear acrylic finish.
Voila! From tin can to simple transformation.
Recycle your blue jeans with an easy patch job
June 2, 2020 at 5:23 pm (Crochet & Crafting, Learn something new)
Tags: patch a hole in blue jeans, patch your blue jeans, recycled denim, sewing diy
Big hole in your favourite pair of jeans? At my age, I’m not into the ripped, grunge look. I’d rather patch it up with a pretty piece of fabric.
It’s easy.
Just choose a fabric pattern that you like and use pinking shears to cut a square that’s big enough to cover the hole. I used pinking shears instead of regular scissors so that the fabric won’t fray. You could stitch a ¼” hem around the square to prevent fraying, but I’m too lazy to bother with that, thus the pinking shears.
Next, I pinned the square into place with straight pins.
Then I did a fine straight stitch around to secure them to the jeans.
For a bit of decoration and added security, I then sewed around the edges with a blanket stitch.
Voila! A new pair of jeans.
And, as always, here’s my supervisor and his baby, watching over me as I work.
Create-a-holic Writer 