It's so exciting to see my book making it's way to your homes. Thank you everyone that has posted, texted, and called me about it, I appreciate your support! My prayer is that this book will draw you closer to the Lord and break down any of those "I'm just not creative" ideas rolling around in a lot of our heads. (If you haven't got a copy yet you can pick one up here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2tNDDp0, Barnes and Nobel and other retailers.)
We've had such a busy week with Vacation Bible School and visiting with family that I was completely surprised by receiving an advanced copy of the book I wrote during November and December last year.
I was super excited to show my Grandma it when it arrived since I had dedicated the book to her. She was the person in my young life that was crafty and creative and she took the time to share that with me. -Thank you Grandma!
I'm so excited to share more about the book as the launch date draws closer, but in the meanwhile you can see more about it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2tNDDp0
Today I'm sharing how I transformed a boring old cigar box I found at Goodwill into a fun artsy box.
Supplies Used:
Below are the steps I took to create this, but you can also check out this video I made on the process to see it in action:
I started off by covering the outside of the box with Gesso and allowing it to dry.
Next, I lightly dry brushed on some blue-green acrylic paint over the lid and then covered it in Copper Texture Luxe. (If you've followed my artwork you know I'm obsessed with the Copper one! It gives such a fun metalic texture to my projects!)
After that dried I taped off the beveled edge of the lid and then placed one of my favorite stencils on top. I then covered it with Whipped Spackle using my spatula.
Before removing the stencil I picked up an alphabet stamp I had and stamped into the Whipped Spackle to give it a bit more texture.
I seriously LOVE how that looks!
After that dried I took out my acrylic paints and randomly painted in each of the fractured pieces from the stencil.
I also gave the sides of the bottom of the box an underpainting with the same colors of paint and then used the same stencil and paints to create a pattern. After that dried I outlined each of the fractures with a black PITT Artist Pen and then added copper dots using the end of my paintbrush and the Copper Texture Luxe.
While everything was drying I took my metal embellishment, which was originally silver, and covered it with...yep, you guessed it...more Copper Texture Luxe! After that dried I filled back in the lettering using a PITT Artist Pen and then went to work stringing beads onto the copper wire and then adhering all of the beadwork, metal piece, some feathers, and trim onto the lid of the box.
This was so fun to make!
Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received products from Faber-Castell to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony).
For this piece I started off by sketching out my word art and then erasing it a bit so I could trace over it using a PITT® Artist Pen with a fine nib. I made sure to let the pen work dry completely before erasing any visible pencil marks so I could add wet layers on top of it without it running since once the ink is dry it's waterproof. (Oh, and if you want instructions on how to create a fun pencil like this one, check out the instructions here.)
Next I painted over the block lettering with Gel Medium and allowed it to dry.
Then I rubbed some Gelatos® on my craft mat, added a spray of water and then used that to watercolor in my word art. After the watercoloring is dry I gently took a damp cotton swab over the Gel Medium since it resists the Gelatos® leaving the letters white.
Next I wanted to jazz up my clipboard so I took Glass Bead Glitter Gel and mixed it with the Red Cherry Gelato® and then painted it into a heart shape on the clipboard, I added a touch more glitter to it, and then let it dry.
I then jazzed it up a bit more by dotting the pearl colored Metallic Texture Gem™ around the heart and adding some ribbons and trims.
At that point I thought I might be done...but it was just missing something so I broke out a stencil from the 102 Stencil Collection and then mixed some Whipped Spackle and Gelatos® together to use with it.
I knew I wanted to add in a darker color as well so I mixed up some Gelatos® and Glaze and dripped it on and then allowed it to dry before attaching my watercolored word art to the clipboard.
Done and ready to put up in my studio!
Disclosure: Erin is a paid consultant and has received products from Faber-Castell to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely her own and based on her use of the products.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from these links it won't cost you a penny more but Erin will make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony).
After a whirlwind 2015 I am so ready for 2016 and all it has in store for me and my family! So with that in mind, my #OneLittleWord for 2016 is "abide"...which means:
Full Definition of abide...
transitive verb
1: to wait for: await
2: a- to endure without yielding: withstand
b- to bear patiently: tolerate
3: to accept without objection
intransitive verb
1: to remain stable or fixed in a state
2: to continue in a place: sojourn
For me, the word "abide" will be a reminder to persevere as I trust in the Lord...I'll be explaining all about how I came upon this word and my verse for the year (along with helpful ways you can incorporate both in your quiet time with the Lord & in your art journal) in the workshop I'm doing for the online event Truth Scrap. I hope you join myself and 5 other awesome artist as we share with you techniques and tips on how to link together your faith and your art, it's going to be such a fun day! -I'm totally staying in my PJs all day for it and just have a chill time with the Lord, art, and all of you joining us! I'm so excited!
Did you choose a word or a verse for 2016? Share it if you did so you can inspire others!