WELCOME SPRING!

Here's a welcome sign I made for a special friend that I wanted to share.  You can see one made earlier here.

It started from a ceiling fan blade; I had already puttied the holes.

Sorry, it appears I'm really bad at taking pictures.  I first painted it with a Mauve chalk style paint.  After drying I lightly topped it with Driftwood.  Once dried I distressed it slightly and then dry brushed it with Burnt Umber.  For protection I used Minwax.

Below is the finished product

FRONT

BACK

I used dry plants and then wrapped with twine, for additional support.  Gives a nice rustic look.

I found this beautiful burlap bird and nest at the fabric store

BEFORE (a plain ceiling fan blade)

AFTER   A chirpy way to welcome someone into your home.

Oh, the things you can create from a ceiling fan blade...LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!

Crystals

This is how it ended






Why are we fascinated by crystals?

Beautiful sparkles

Joined together by strings

Stunning...

Last week I posted about my crystallized napkin rings

These are the remnants...crystals that formed on the strings

I enjoy basking in their beauty

But this is where it began, an experiment, strings soaked in water.  You can read more about it here

Strung together

A beautiful end

Never be afraid to do different...LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!

Crystalized Napkin Rings

I got this idea from my nephew Denzel whom I dubbed "The Mad Scientist".  

Some of you may have heard of the relationship between Borax and Crystals. I never knew of it until I visited my family in December and my nephew showed me one of his experiments. I just knew I had to play around with this when I got back home.

A lot of thoughts ran through my mind but I decided to stick with something simple...napkin rings.  

I took some burlap fabric and an old metal napkin ring.  I cut and rolled the fabric around the napkin ring, to get the correct size, and then stapled it on one end to keep it closed.  I later fringed it, which left me with lots of string to play around with (that's another post for next week).

I boiled some water, removed it from the stove and added 1/4c Borax for each cup of water. (you can probably add less).  I then stirred until the solution was dissolved.

I sat my makeshift napkin rings in the water and was especially careful not to let them touch each other.  I had lots of space so I placed the strings on the other end.  Then I let them sit to work their magic.  ;-)

After a few hours my crystals began to form.  You can decide if you want your stuff to continue sitting in water or you can remove them.  

Isn't this beautiful!

The rest is history  

There were a few loose crystals, so be sure to shake gently.

If you want to see more click here.

A special shout out to my nephew Denzel  for arousing my curiosity ... LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!

Silver Tray from Light Shade

It started as a light shade...

FRONT

BACK

I puttied the hole

This is where I forgot to take pictures  I primed the back and then painted it  with a metallic bronze, I later protected it with a semi-gloss polyurethane.

I used silver leave for the top

SILVER LEAF 

I then glazed it with a burnt umber to give it that tarnished finish and once again used a semi-gloss polyurethane to protect it.

I topped it off with candles and colorful gemstones 

BEFORE

AFTER

I can't believe it's not glass...

LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!

The last of my MINI TRAYS aka PERSONAL COFFEE/TEA TRAYS

If you're just popping in you might want to visit this blog to see how I painted my trays then you can visit here and here to see some other trays.

Here's the last of my Trays that I painted.  There are lots of pictures, so I hope you're sitting down with your cup of tea, or to store your jewelry and trinkets  ;-)


Blue/Gray trim w/silver

Copper & Black

Multicolor

Silver

Blue/Grey

Black w/silver trim (set)

Copper

Silver

Here's another glimpse of all most of them

LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!