Painting Time

 Watercolor paper techniques using acrylic paints...I love this little bear image, I have painted him before on wood, but wanted to give him a watercolor look and update him a little...

I have wanted to paint this one for years...finally got a 16x20 canvas and just went for it...I am very pleased with how she turned out and the little chicks are just too cute...

Sunflower Painting

 Finished painting

 Adding final details

 Adding shading and highlights

 Adding basecoating layers

Background and adding basecoats

Sunflower painting is on 16 x 20 stretched canvas...Concept is from a floorcloth painting book, using my own style and techniques...

Snowman ornament pattern

I got this Jamie Mills Price www.betweenthevines.com ornament pattern from an older issue of Quick and Easy Painting, the Ornament Edition...I cut mine from pine and painted it using my own style...and colors of paint I had on hand...

Snowman ornament...

Past Swap Items...

Beautiful wooden box painted by Vicki in 97 I think it was...

Bottom edge of an apron painted by Melinda Frewin...in 98 I think...the design goes all along the bottom border..and I still use this apron today...I love it...it hangs in my kitchen...
From an ornament swap by PBO 1997...wish I could remember her name...those are the initials on the bottom...I love this little acorn...I used to use it on my Christmas tree, now it hangs on an old brass piece on the buffet in the dining room...

This is my beautiful Pear ornament from Melinda Frewin...it hangs with the acorn above...

This piece is from 2001...from Lyn...I love this cd ornament...we had a cd ornament swap...and we each said what our favorite season, or holiday was...and our partner painted us something accordingly...mine is fall...and I love tis little guy...he as always hung in my creative space...

This was from 1997 again...I love birds, birdwatcing, bird feeding, etc...and again...our parnters painted us something that was personal and special...Barb Ann is the name on the piece...she sits on top of my china cabinet, along with other bird stuff...

This beautiful piece, has no name and I do not remember who it was from...I think it was 97 or 98...cannot remember for sure...its a small wooden tray...again...my favorite season is fall...so my partner painted it special for that season...

All of these swap items are from an AOL Decorative Painting Group I was on for years and years...Some of the best gals and we had a blast sharing thru our swaps, our chat room was always busy with chatter...and just inspiring each others creativity...

Mini boxes and coaster book

These are my little snowman head boxes I painted this week...I base coated the box lids in navy blue (FA) and then using a scruffy brush pounced on two coats of white for the snowman faces...I added the detail freehand...

The idea for these mini box snowman faces came from Jamie Mills Price website...I looked at hers and used it for inspiration to paint them...

This was awesome...I got a RAK from Lynn Circe...oh my goodness...4 beautiful coasters she painted and sent my...plus two plain ones...these are not the traditional 4x4 square coasters I have been used to working with...they are more like 3.5 x 4...The flowers are so pretty...and I love Hydrangeas...I decided I wanted to turn them into mini books to share photos in...

I was so pleased with how the little book turned out, can't wait to get the other one made...I used dark blue cardstock for my pages...Thanks so much Lynn...I will treasure my little books...

Painting, old and new...

This is an old painting I did, early to mid 90's...unfortunately, I did not put the year on the back...but I did quite a few large paintings and gave them as gifts that year...this one I kept...and just found it amongst more of my packed up stuff...its on a 16x20 canvas panel...

More pins from chipboard...I made most of these between yesterday and this morning...these little things are so much fun to make, I cant wait to start wearing them to work...

This was another old treasure...early to mid 90's...dang it...no date, so cannot remember exactly when I painted it...I saw a pic in a painting mag...dont even remember which one...and I did my own thing with it...its 8x10 painted on 1/4 inch birch plywood...I also made my dice and game pieces...This had been packed up at my moms house for years...we found it, when we were packing her up to move her and then I lost it amongst, all my other packed stuff...and found it yesterday while plundering again...I really need to plunder thru my own stuff more often...I dont know for sure what I even own anymore...

Not sure if you can tell from this pic, the little dice and snowman game piece...I used different colored embroidery floss scarves on the snowmen and added toothpick ends for the carrot noses...

Painted Mini Boxes...

I like to paint little things...I bought these little paper mache boxes in 2002...and just found them while plundering in my studio storage room...I painted one box with my snowman and one with my freehand pumpkin designs...The front and back sides have this design...

both end sides have this design...

these are the tops of each box...I will use them to give little gifts in during the holiday...

these are the cutest little round boxes, I based each lid with dark blue and did my little freehand snowman designs on the tops...the bottoms are an ivory color, so I left them as they are...

Bird in Flowers Box

I love to paint birds...this little paper mache box was perfect for this little design...I basecoated the lid white, then did a wash of the purple color to stain the white...I transferred the bird, and some of the flowers and leaves...after I painted the bird, I did the flowers kinda freehand, the painted the leaves...

I painted the edge of the lid the same purple color and the box bottom in the green used on the leaves...

Painted Chipboard Die Cut Pins

Oh my...I am addicted to these little buggers...I am making painted chipboard die cut pins to share with family and friends for the holidays...I used to make these types of pins, but they were all hand cut, years ago...I am using those cheap earring backs to make the pins and using Glossy Accents to adhere to the chipboard...

These will be so cute to wear on a shirt collar, to hold a scarf together, or just as a shirt accent...

These are all the ones I have made so far...I already had the bunny, and finished all the others today...I will have packs of the chipboard die cut shapes, if interested, email me at debbiesdiecuts@gmail.com Asst pack of 27 shapes is $5.00 includes US shipping...

Painting away this afternoon

I painted this piece the other day, its a chipboard die cut pumpkin with a farm scene painted on...Just a free hand outta my head design...

Little scene painted on a chipboard round die cut, about 1.75 inches, used on a box top as an embellishment...

I am thrilled at how these turned out...freehand painted pumpkins, on ATC. twinchie and moo cards cut from chipboard...acrylic paints...I may use these in some swaps...

Decorative painting with ISC Rubber Stamps

I am totally in love with the new images from http://www.innovativestampcreations.com I stamped this image with black ink used my acrylics thinned with water to paint the flowers and leaves...I then used black paint and outlined the entire image again, I spattered the card with thinned green acrylic paint...I sent the card to a friend this week...

ATC envy with ISC beach scene

I love this ISC image...and it fit perfect on my ATC envy die cut http://thestudioinpreston.blogspot.com ...
I stamped the image in black archival ink, then used a watercolor technique to color in the image...I sponged the rest of the envy with blue paints...Betsy has lots of new images out and some more stuff coming soon...Can't wait...I am such an ISC collector... http://www.innovativestampcreations.com

My first bottlecap painting...

Oh my gosh was this fun...I had bought the bottle caps, just had not played with them yet...I joined a swap and got one as an embellishment on a bookmark and was so inspired to pull mine out and play...I smashed the bottle cap with my Sizzix machine, then used a 7/8 inch punch, dont have a 1 inch, and punched the piece from chipboard, painted the little scene, then glued in with Ranger Glossy Accents and covered it...cant wait to make something using it...Now, gotta make some more...

Painted die cuts...

This bunny is cut from chipboard, basecoated off white, shading and detail added using acrylic paint, sealed with waterbased varnish...he would make an adorable little pin for Easter/Spring, great embellishment for frames and scrapbook layouts or even as a magnet...

This little pumpkin die cut has always been one of my favorites, cut from chipboard, painted with acrylic paints, makes adorable little pins for the fall, I made a whole bunch of them one year and gave to all my co-workers to wear, we worked at AC Moore...I made magnets and frame embellishments last year for some friends and family...

This is the little die cut apple, again cut from chipboard, detailed and sealed with waterbased varnish...I added this one to a frame...

I used my 4x4 chipboard frame, painted it black, added white acrylic paint writing, like a chalk board...and attached the apple embellishment...I also added a small easel to the back so it will sit on a shelf...it could also be made into a magnet or attach ribbon to the top to make an ornament or hanging frame...

Pumpkin book...

I used die cut chipboard pumpkins for the book covers, Cuttlebug leaf die cuts for embellishments...I painted the front cover with details

This is how the front cover will look when finished...

This is the opened book, I made ivory colored pages for this book...the book can be taken apart to add photos and other detail to the pages...

I will add more foo foo to the snap ring binding...but this piece of jute, was all I had in the painting studio...I really need to bring more goodies here to use and work with...The pumpkin shapes have sealer added to them...

I used ranger glossy accents to glue the leaves onto the pumpkin...

Apple frame...

With my grand kids headed back to school...I am already thinking of something to do with school photos...I used the apple die cut from chipboard, cut a die cut circle out of the center, painted the die cut red, added details and photo...

These can be made as stand up frames, by making a little easel back for the apple shaped frame...or you can make them into magnets or even ornaments...this is the back side of the ones I made today...I just kinda freehand cut out what I needed and glued it onto the frame back...You could also, add the childs name, grade and name of school...

these are the sample photos in black and white from last years school photos...it was all I could find in my painting studio...I thought they turned out pretty good...I will be making more of these for sure...