Santa Claus is coming to town!

Tonight is our small town's Santa Claus parade. It is always a fun event and the Christmas lights on the floats and vehicles twinkle in the dark sky. We have just enough snow to make it festive...if you were to rewind the calendar to last week, we would have had too much snow!  I am trying to keep busy with the projects since December is right around the corner.

I am pleased to share some of my latest work.

I bought a wooden file cabinet (in need of a bit of TLC) from an estate sale and wanted to do something completely new and unexpected. I have been chalk painting but didn't want to do that this time around.  Just in time I received my package from General Finishes that included two colors of their milk paint and a can of High Performance Topcoat in a flat finish.  Of course I had to open the paint right away (it was like an early Christmas present!)

As the cabinet had been in not so great shape I first had to wash it.  (Because you just never know what's in there when it's been sitting and unused for a while.  . After it had dried I gave it a light sanding with a medium grit sandpaper. Yes, I took the drawers out to do this....   

Now the fun begins!

Woohoo - I opened the can of Linen color milk paint and loved it....but was it going to be a nice paint to work with?  Oh yes it was! It went on so smooth and didn't drag like some other paints I have used. (Not sure if drag would be the technical term but the brush just flowed like it was skating on ice.)
I did two coats of the paint, it really covered well and I could have gotten away with one coat but I think I am so used to doing at least two coats I was stuck in that rut.

Anyhow, after the paint had dried, I did rough measurements for line placement but wasn't too concerned that they be an exact distance from one another. This is a fun plaid and I wanted it to be unstructured.  After the markings were in place I drew a bunch (that is a technical term!) of ideas for plaids using colored pencils. I always like navy and red-burgundy together so those were my starting points.

I used flat artist brushes to do the lines....I got a rhythm going so that I could make the plaid come together in a way that I liked.  It is a lot of tedious work but I was glad I took my time because where the lines intersect  you are able to see that they do.

After a few days of painting lines, it came together the way I envisioned.  For the topcoat I decided to use the flat finish High Performance Topcoat that I got from General Finishes.  I used a plastic spoon to stir it and then used the spoon to put it into a separate container (so that I didn't somehow contaminate the topcoat in the can in case any paint transferred to the brush).  I used about 20 teaspoons per coat of the topcoat. You sure don't need a lot of this to get good coverage.  I did two coats and am so happy with the results.

A shout out to General Finishes https://generalfinishes.com  This is my first experience using their products (and actually my first experience with milk paint!)  I am more than happy with the quality and ease of application.  Guess what is on my list to Santa now???

*****

You know that I use a styrofoam head sometimes but it lacks a real neck so sometimes I will hang a scarf on a hanger with a shirt/sweater as the background but this time I used a real model.   She is a but shy so I cut her head off...don't worry, only for the picture!

This is a double strand acrylic yarn wrap scarf.  I did a nice ribbing detail (my own design) and knit for days and days til I finished it. (Ok, I knew it would take a while so I am not really complaining).  It is secured with four wooden buttons and I made yarn loops to put around the buttons.  It is really toasty warm to wear.

*****

That's it for now, I have more projects on the go and also some of the ones I have recently completed can't be posted on-line until after Christmas as they are for gifts.

You can email me at penandinkwell@yahoo.com or 

find me on Facebook at Handcrafted Projects by Sue Lane  

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Handcrafted-Projects-by-Sue-Lane/105487656209042?ref=hl

I am also on Pinterest so follow me! I will add my new projectst to the  "My Creations" board soon.  http://www.pinterest.com/sue_montgomery/

Thanks for looking!

Another snow day!

It has been the perfect time to stay indoors and craft. Lots of snow outside and it's pretty chilly.  So here are my latest creations!

I love to paint mason jars with chalk paint!  These are done in blue and then dry brushed over top with white to bring out the details.  I gave them two coats of wax and finished off with sisal twine.

4" x 6" canvas magnet.  Base coated with acrylic in navy, floated white around the edges. Lettered in a bluish-white acrylic paint and topped with two coats of varnish. The magnets are on the back.

A toddler-sized cowl.  Knitted with gray and white strands together on circular needles.  Acrylic yarn.

White acrylic toddler-sized cowl made by request for a special little girl.  Knitted on circular needles. I will get a photo of the little one modelling this soon.

Using three strands of acrylic yarn (gray, light teal and white) I knitted this long double loop infinity. Nice and warm!

Another one of my original sayings (c. 2014) on a 4" x 6" flat canvas. Acrylic base coat, floated white around the edges.  Finished with varnish and put magnets on the back.

That is about it for now, more projects on the go including my bathroom re-do.  I will be posting more after I complete the current pieces.

You can reach me at:

penandinkwell@yahoo.com

and I am active on Pinterest - follow me at:

http://www.pinterest.com/sue_montgomery/

Thanks for looking!

November projects!

It is hard to believe it is November already!  I am making gifts for family and friends.  Here are a few pictures....

These are quart Mason jars. I painted them Deco chalky finish paint in "relic".  After drying, I used a dark sanding block to sand back over the lettering and raised portions of the jar.  After a wipe down, I waxed with Deco creamy wax,

This one of the multi-color scarves I knitted (shown in previous blog post) 

and modeled by the recipient. 

On the left is a close-up of the stitch pattern I designed and the finished project is on the right. It is a nice lightweight lacy acrylic infinity scarf, made long enough to wrap around the neck twice.

I can be reached at penandinkwell@yahoo.com  if you have any questions

 or would like me to make you something special!

I can be found on Pinterest at: 

 http://www.pinterest.com/sue_montgomery/

Thank you for looking at my projects!