Orange and Yellow Mums and Bunny Art Solar Garden Light

Be sure to visit my Etsy store, to see all my items available for sale. I try to get them all onto this blog, but it doesn't always work out that way.

 I only have one bottle left, for the garden solar lights. I think I will put a Sugar Skull on it with some Ancient Tangle Doodle Art. Stay tuned for that. Yesterday, per request of my daughter, I did a bunny sniffing some garden flowers. You can see the results below. The bottle will get a solar light in it and be added to my garden. The painting is available for purchase, in my Etsy store. I offer free USA shipping on all items. Free shipping for paintings only applies to the painting, not framing. Please read my listings carefully.

 I think I will be returning to my first love, soon, setting my gemstones in traditional settings. I will continue with resin, crochet and painting too. I just really miss making the gemstone jewelry.

Two Solar Powered Garden Fairy Houses From Wine Bottles

I love to paint on things, other than just painting paper, or canvas. Wood is my favorite. Glass is not one of my favorites, but it is a challenge every time. My mom had been saving a ton of wine bottles. She loves to paint on glass, and was planning on painting these. But, she got so many she just did not know what to do with them. Some have been sitting in my garage, for quite some time, then you brought more, lol. A few years ago, I painted a bunch of them, and they are garden watering bottles. You just fill them, invert them, and stick them into the ground near the plant. It works wonderful, and now I have so many plants, I need to make more.  The paint is all still there, even after three years, just not as bright from the harsh sun.   But, I got this other idea first. I bought one Solar powered light, that is small, for like garden use. Then I took two of the large bottles, made sure the solar light would slide down into the bottle, and then painted the bottles. Originally my intention was that they would look like a lighthouse. Which they do. But, then I remembered we live in a state where we get frequent harsh storms, with strong winds, so I figured I better put it into the ground just a little bit. So, I dug a small hole, and put it in there, and filled the dirt around it. Voila, now it doesn't look so much like a lighthouse, but more like a Fairy House. So, that is what I will call them. The red and white one, does not have a solar light yet, but I will get it this week. I am going to take a picture after it gets dark, to see what it looks like. I am going to put these all around my gardens, and maybe save some electricity too, when we have night get togethers. I will be listing these in my Etsy store, as made to order only. You can pick how you want them, but I have to say they take a full day from start to finish, and several layers of paint, and sealer. They would be great for a night wedding, or party. If you were real clever you could probably even hang them from a tree with sturdy wire or rope.

What Have I Been Up To?

My newest project is a tire garden. I had old tires donated to me, which is a bit tricky because they are all different sizes. I had to prop some up to make it more level. Now I just need three more cans of paint, one more board, and start filling with dirt. Three tires already have stuff planted in them. I will show the final result, when it is finished. I am still working on the crochet wall hanging for the fire dept, here where we live. I have not decided, yet, how I am going to do the logo. I have never crocheted a logo before, so it could be interesting. I took about 400 pictures yesterday, of my resin pieces, and jewelry. I got some really good shots. I did get to sand some of my pieces, to last night, and will have new pieces in my Etsy store soon. That is what I have been up to. How about you?

We Made Shrinky Dinks!

Caitlin and I decided to try and make our own Shrinky Dinks. Why? Well I want to paint on something that I can insert into resin with ease. So, I was browsing around the Bing search engine and found that you can make Shrinky Dinks using recycled plastic. You can find the full instructions both on Ehow and Instructables. One website said use #5 plastic and one said #6. Well I had no idea what they were talking about, but apparently all plastics have a triangle on them, and in the triangle is a number. I have no idea what a Pepsi bottle is because I could not read the number. We had no #6 at all, we had a lot of ones, a two and a bunch of fives. The #1's definitely seemed too flimsy. The 2 was a bit stiff, but was a nice green color. I was going to try it but I decided to recycle that bottle into a new watering can. So we had a Pepsi bottle with no recognizable number and some 5's. So, we removed the labels, cleaned and dried, and then cut off small oval pieces of plastic. The Pepsi bottle I carved out the whole center, leaving the top and bottom intact, and made it into a new bird feeder for the smaller birds. So, then using glitter, some permanent marker, and acrylic paint we painted on the pieces of plastic. Caitlin painted on the #5 a dog face. I painted on the Pepsi bottle plastic a heart and a bear holding a heart. Caitlin also painted on the Pepsi plastic, but she covered the whole piece of plastic with paint. She made an ocean and a horse on grass. Then we put them on aluminum foil and set them in the 200 degree oven. The Pepsi plastic shrunk immediately and I mean immediately. Caitlin's were towards the back and immediately folded into something unusable. My two were towards the front and I could salvage the bear, the heart I am still not sure if I can use it.  I trimmed up the Teddy Bear, image not shown, and I hope I can use it.   The #5, the one that was recommended did not shrink at all. We even left it in longer and it did absolutely nothing at all. So, if I can find #6 plastic I may try this again. Painting on plastic is smooth and nice, nicer than glass in the texture. But, I will also be trying translucent photo paper to paint on in small pieces. I can paint on my acrylic paper, but it is not translucent and I really want translucent. So, my experiments continue. I do not like painting on the resin itself, at all.

4 Upcycled Jars For Easter Baskets/Candles

These are four jars of varying sizes, that will have candles included with them, but could be used as a small Easter basket first. These are jars that I have cleaned and sterilized, then painted on with acrylic paints. There are four colors of bunnies, white, brown, sable, and lavender. The lavender one is not yet listed in my store, but it will be in the next day or so. The white bunnies have a basket of jelly beans, no cross. The others all have one bunny and then a cross adorned with flowers on the other side of the jar. Check them out in my Etsy store by clicking the widget above.

Upcycling Old Light Bulbs Into Christmas Ornaments

Today I took an old light bulb, that had blown, painted it white and then added the cute snowman face. This will become a Christmas ornament after I add craft wire to hang it with. I really want to do more of these. Unfortunately I don't go through a ton of light bulbs, LOL! What do you think? I am considering listing this one in my Etsy store, it is dated. I have begun to draw now, as well as learning to paint, my counted cross stitch and all my jewelry things. I am busy and loving it!

30 Days of Creativity: Day 8 Recycled Painted Puzzle Pieces

For Day 8 of the 30 Days of Creativity Challenge, I took old puzzle pieces and painted them on all sides with acrylic paints of different colors. Then I painted on the pieces. The two pieces with the rosebud and the M will be a pair of earrings when finished. The other two probably pendants. I love the one that says I love U around the rosebud. I am hoping to make more of these. I think a bracelet would be super cute. When these are finished I will share the new images, and they will be for sale in my Etsy store.

These can be preordered or made to order as well.  Please let me know what you would like painted on them, and if it is something I can do.