Hand Painted Dough Ornaments

So remember the dough ornaments I made on tuesday?  Well today I started painting them.  I used some acrylic paint, and some block printing ink.  Only because this is the paint I have in the house.  The acrylic paint worked perfectly though.  It dried quickly, and went on easily, but the printmaking ink was a bit thick, and took awhile to dry.  I might consider buying more acrylic paint to finish this project.  

The dino on the left I painted with just the acrylic paint, and the more blue dinosaur I mixed the two colors together.  

Then to make the duo look like a pair I covered them with black polka dots.  I used black fabric paint, and a paperclip to apply the paint.  

He's cute!  I haven't decided yet if we want to spend the money on a Christmas tree yet, but this guy is making me think it might help get us in the holiday spirit.  

A perfect pair.  Just like my hubby and I.  :) That back one is a little sad though.  He can't stand up too well.  Good thing I plan on hanging them up.  I might varnish them too.  Give them a little sheen, and help their paint job last a little longer.  I'm sure there will be more painted dough ornaments leading up to Christmas.  Who knows they might even get to spend some time on a live Christmas tree.  

Hope ya'll are having a great weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!

Fancy Care Package

One of my brothers is currently living in Haiti helping build a community center, and I recently got the bright idea to send him a care package.  I don't know about you, but when I'm away from home getting a box full of goodies in the mail is just about the best thing.  But I'm not one to send a plain cardboard box in the mail.  It has no character, and takes all the fun out of the treats inside.  I love giving the boring exterior a major makeover.  

I started off by spray painting the outside a fun pastel green.  

Then I used a sponge pouncer to make blue polka dots all over the box.  I used fabric paint, because I figured it would dry quickly, but any paint would do.  I tested out how the dots would turn out on my canvas drop cloth first.  The sponge applicator is perfect for making polka dots.  It was even easy to make dots around the edges of the box too.  

The box looks awesome now! I'm excited to pack up all my goodies and get them off to Haiti.  I hope my brother and the people he's been working with enjoy the contents as much as I enjoyed painting the care package.  

I need to get myself ready for work, and off to bed, because I have to wake up at three in the morning tomorrow!  Then I have to drive for an hour and twenty minutes, to start working at 5:15am.  Pure madness!  Happy DIYing, chris!

Sail Away With Me

Today I decided to apply my fabric painting talents to a pair of leggings.  I'm not sure why I've only painted on t-shirts before, but I saw Annika painted some hearts onto a pair of tights over on The Pineneedle Collective, so I thought I'd give it a go on some black leggings.  

Here are the leggings I started off with.  They are great leggings, but I own tons of black leggings, so I thought I'd give these a make-over.  

I started off by sticking blue painter's tape all over my legs while I was still wearing the leggings.  That way I could look at myself in the mirror, and make sure I liked the placement of all the spots.  Then I carefully slipped them off, trying not to remove any of the tape.  

Next, I used a sailboat stencil, and traced it onto foam.  I would have preferred to use foam with a sticky back, but this is what I had on hand.  I made a bunch, because after painting five or more sailboats I'd start having major bleed issues.  If I had foam with sticky backing this probably wouldn't have happened.  

These are the tools I used to paint on the sailboats.  I didn't realize until I was nearly done that the sponge applicator was the best tool.  I usually use a paintbrush, and that's what I started off with, but then I realized I had some sponges I bought for this type of project.  So thrilled I bought these, I will definitely only be using these from now on when I paint stencils.  

This is what they look like finished.  I'm pretty happy with them.  Now I wish it was legging weather!  Well, not really, but these will bring a smile on my face when it gets cold out again.  

Here is what they look like in an outfit.  I almost thought I didn't have anything to wear them with!  Then I remembered this skirt, I haven't worn it in ages.  This style skirt was all the rage last spring/summer.  I guess the mini bodycon skirt replaced this look this year.  Still a totally cute look.

Tank Top -- Kohl's

Skirt -- Boscov's

Leggings -- Macy's

Belt -- Target

Shoes -- Target

Hope ya'll enjoyed!  Happy DIYing, chris!

T-shirt Dip Dye & Hammerhead Stencil

Happy Mom Day!  Sadly I don't have any mother's day crafts to post.  i'm not a very good daughter when it comes to presents.  I did hang out with my mom for most of today.  That should count for something.  Plus we cooked, and ate food together, and what better way to a mom's heart then through her tummy?  Ha!

Today I want to share a DIY I did a few days ago.  I came up with this idea about a month ago, but I was really nervous about actually doing it.  I dip dyed a t-shirt, and stenciled a hammerhead shark on it.  I've dyed fabric before, and stenciled tons of shirts, but this was a first combining the two.  Plus dying things is always an adventure, because it's hard to get exact sure fire results.  

This is the shirt I started out with.  Just a plain basic green tee from H & M.  It's a few years old, so it's getting very thin and stretched out.  

I was thrilled with the dye results.  I used Rit Dye Teal.  The powdered kind, not sure if that makes a difference, I've never tried the liquid kind.  I wanted the bottom to be darker, and for it to get lighter as it went up.  

Then I mixed up some grey fabric paint, and painted on my hammerhead stencil.  

I love how they turned out.  

I might add a boat on the top of the water, not sure yet.  I'll decide after I wash it again.  This shirt makes me really excited.  I want to make more t-shirts.  I really love stenciling, and dying the fabric adds an extra level of awesome.  I need to cool my nerves, and try my hand at silk screening.  I think I could have some sellable products, if I got good at silk screening.  

I couldn't be more thrilled with the results.  When I finished Aaron said he'd be proud to be seen with me wearing my t-shirt in public.  It's a silly thing to say, but it makes me smile.  Aaron's overdue for a new t-shirt from me.  I promised one for his birthday, and then I bought him clothing at the beach instead.  Opps.  I'll have some more t-shirt DIYs in the future.  Hope ya'll enjoyed, and had a happy mother's day!  Happy DIYing, chris.