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Kids Crafts – Painting Pebbles

We, meaning myself and the kids, collected lots of pebbles while on our recent trip to the seaside. Once we got them home we decided we would paint them for the garden.

Our pebbles would be used to brighten up flowerpots and flower beds. Here’s what we used…

Various Pebbles (collected from the beach)
Acrylic paints (various colours)
Mod Podge
Googly Eyes
Glitter glue

You can paint your pebbles anyhow you like the possibilities are endless. This is a great little craft project that you can do with the kids. My very own toddler loved it.

The activity held my creative little three year olds attention for over an hour. He painted in various colours before adding different coloured googly eyes and painting on red smiles.

His little stones were painted and glittered… Messy but fun.

Once the toddlers pebbles were dry I added a layer of Mod Podge to give them a shine as well as a protective layer.

Yourself, along with the kids, can let the imagination run wild painting & creating allsorts of designs and patterns from funny faces to dinosaurs, dots to hearts.

We also made some pebble bugs using paint and googly eyes. For our bees and lady birds we used some foam pieces to form the wings. For our spider we used some garden wire for the legs. These are currently busy drying on the window pane, but I’ll be sure to post another little update once they are dry and ready to display.

As for Harley’s wacky face pebbles, we plan to place them around the flower beds in our garden today (given it remains bright and sunny that is).

Hope we have inspired you to have fun with paints.

Remember… Painting on paper is fun but painting on pebbles is awesome!

Tutorial – Shabby Chic Crackled “Love” Hearts

So cute but so so easy.

To make a small crackle heart in this pretty shabby chic style you will need the following materials…

Small Paper Mâché Heart
Folk Art Acrylic Paint (940 Coffee Bean)
Mod Podge Shimmer (Gold)
PVA Glue (Mixed with water)
1 4mm White Flat Backed Crystal
Acrilex – Tinta Craquelex Branco (basically white crackle paint)
Black Marker Pen

Tools
Glue & Paint Brushes
Heat Tool or Hair Drier
Sponge Paint Applicator

First paint both sides of your heart in the coffee bean paint.

When dry apply one thin coat of mod podge shimmer to both sides of the heart.

Once dry mix 4 parts PVA to 2 parts water. The mixture needs to be thin but still tacky (apply more glue or water if you need to).

Apply the mixture to your heart with a sponge applicator. Don’t apply to thickly.

Now blast your heat tool or like me, your hairdryer, over the heart. Don’t dry the glue fully! It needs to be tacky but not wet.

As soon as this is done use a brush to dab the Craquelex over the tacky glue (do not reapply over the same area more than once as this stops the effect from appearing. Be sure to work fast as to avoid the glue over drying.

Once your heart is covered blast the hairdryer on to the heart and watch as the cracks begin to form.

Let the heart now sit for an hour before taking your permanent maker and writings the word ‘Love’ in which ever style you desire across the front of your heart.

Leave to dry for a further 30 minutes as to not smudge the ink on the next step.

Now applying another coat of mod podge shimmer gold. At this point also apply the 4mm flat backed white crystal to the bottom point of your heart.

Leave to dry and then hang and display.

If you love these hearts but don’t want to make them yourselves please email me and I’d be happy to create these for you. Prices start from £2.50 and can be made in various colours.
Email clairelouise.tss@gmail.com
All payments are taken via PayPal

#silentsunday

My Latest Art – Seeing in 2013

My Latest Art – Wondering

My latest Art – Japanese Teen

Japanese Teen

For more of my work please click the ‘Creative Flare’ tab under the main blog header.

Would love to know what anyone thinks.

My Latest Art – The Rocker

My Latest Piece…

The Rocker….

For more of my work please refer to the creative flare tab under the blog header

A craft project – Glass Painting

I love working with glass, it’s such a delicate material to craft with, but one that almost always produces brilliant results.

This last month, I’ve been feeling very crafty! I’ve had a bit of an obsession with my Deco and Porcelain paint pens as well as that of Pic-Tixx 3D Glitter.

Both myself and the kids have been busy creating a whole host of stuff. A few weeks ago we designed our own porcelain plates, then we went on to create some porcelain mugs to match. More recently I’ve been using Deco paint pens and Pic-Tixx 3D Glitter to add my own unique stamp to items such as t-shirts and I’m currently in the process of making some boring leggings into some groovy ones!

Apart from the leggings, I’ve been busy jazzing up some glass lanterns for the garden.These, I brought in a really funky shop called ‘Tiger’ it’s kinda like the ikea market place but better.They sell all kinds of stuff from vintage inspired puppets to masquerade masks. I often buy funky bits of stationary and pretty plane glass jars which I use to create pretty gifts for family ( I’m planing on demonstrating how I do this next week).

The glass lanterns have thin metal handles so they can be hung as well as placed on a table. I have brought loads over the summer and at both £1 and £2 (depending on size and colour) they are a great find and I love them.

However despite their already prettiness, I really wanted to put my own stamp on them.This was perfect as I could do almost any funky design without worrying about them matching the decor as these are intended for the garden. I’m a big lover of vintage pastels and French inspired furniture. I’m currently in the processes of restoring furniture to give it that slightly worn shabby chic look.The pastels and French cottage theme is being carried out right throughout the house, so, I’ve decided to bring bright funky colours to the garden… I love glitter but used within the home, unless it’s Christmas, is in my opinion a tad tacky… That’s why I’m glitzing up the back yard instead.

So far I’ve been customising green and pink tinted glass lanterns as well as some clear ones.

I hadn’t created any design or plan! In fact, I’m sure I didn’t even have one in my head… Nope, I had no ideas whatsoever. So, I just went with the flow, putting pen to glass and just doing whatever came into my head right then and now.

What I used:
Deco Paint Pens: These write like a thick felt tip pen, the colour is released from the pen onto almost any service, and it’s only then you can tell its actually acrylic paint your using.

Porcelain Paint pens: These work like those above, except when it comes to porcelain these are much more striking. So, when working with porcelain I’ll be honest when stating… if given the choice out the two I’d go for the porcelain paint pens when using on plates and cups but equally the deco pens when, like now, I’m decorating glass.

Pic-Tixx 3D Glitter: This is absolutely amazing stuff, I love it! It works well on almost any surface, wood, glass, porcelain, china, plastic and even fabric (wash garments at 30’c but be sure to set the glitter on your design with an iron before hand). I’ve found these work amazingly on glass, though there is one colour in my packet of 6 that is much runner than the rest, meaning it isn’t very 3D either.

Glass Lanterns: My pretty garden candle lanterns in pink & green stained glass, as well as my clear glass lanterns were brought from a shop locally to me called ‘Tiger’ unsure if these are online. Each is priced between £1-£2 and they are the perfect size for decorating.

If you can’t find this kind of glassware, clean jam jars and existing votive holders are all possibilities worth considering.

Paint pens and glitter I use can be picked up for a good price at Baker Ross.

I don’t need to give you a step-by-step guide, as it’s as simple as drawing your own design directly onto the glass. However, here is a few tips if your using Deco paint pens or 3D Pic-Tixx.

1) Decorate one side and leave to dry for a good few hours before finally completing the remaining side.

2) If using Deco-Pens as well as Pic-Tixx then opt for darker more striking colours. This works better with the glitter.

3) Don’t attempt to use Pic-Tixx while Deco paint is still drying! It just gets messy.

4) if any mistakes are made, quickly wipe away with a slightly wet cotton pad and a wet cotton bud for the smaller harder to reach mistakes.

This is a dead simple but very effective way to create a glass masterpiece or simply jazz up items already found around the home.

Whatever you decided to do… Be sure to have fun while releasing the creativeness from within!

The Results

I hope you feel inspired to give it ago!