Flower Art Work Photos

And here they are:

 

 

Create yourself!
♥ Ally

FOR ART!

Wow, what a busy artsy week it has been.
This week I did two paintings for my grandparents that will be hung up in their living room. They have a lot of really cool vintagey metal art work throughout their house, so I wanted to stick with such colors and theme. My grandma is a green thumb and loves flowers, so I went with flowers for my paintings. Both are of the same flowers, one is purple the other is blue, all the paint is metallic. I added fabric flowers with writing on them and little gems in the center of a few of the flowers to add a bit of a 3-D touch. I'll post pictures later, after I give the paintings to my grandparents, I do want them to be a surprise. Overall though, I am extremely happy and proud of how the paintings turned out.

Tuesday, my mum and I finally took a trip down to Plaid Peacock, a local art type of store. And let me tell you, I fell in love with it. Basically it is me in a store. They consign local artist's stuff. And well, it's my new goal to have some of my stuff sold there. I'm really excited and pumped about it. I want to recreate the flower paintings I did for my grandparents but on a large scale and try to sell them at Plaid Peacock. If not, I guess there is always Etsy. Ha.

This whole week I've been making multiple trips to Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann, getting all sorts of supplies and ideas. I've tried out a few new things and tricks, some of them failed (horribly, I might add), others have worked out. Hopefully, I'll be adding some of these new creations on Etsy soon. Which reminds me, I need to finish my shoe projects and get those added online too.

It was kind of funny, last night I was looking for some inspiration, so I pulled out my visual journal I created in an art class my freshman year. And of course, I found loads. Like this portrait I was obsessed with drawing but probably haven't drawn since freshman year. Now I want to paint her on a large canvas, which I started earlier today. And I found tons and tons of lyrics from a band that I was in love with and have since forgotten (like most things from that year). It's all I have been listening to since last night. Life is funny that way. But I did indeed get some ideas for some projects from my little book. Like matchbox pocket shrines, and I thought of a few good uses for old, empty Bath & Body Works 3-wick candle jars (which god knows I have so many of them and we always have more coming). I also found a water color painting I did last year that I really like but wouldn't mind trying to sell. I love it, but money is nice too. Though if it doesn't sell, I suppose I won't be too heart broken.
Point is, I've really been back into art this week and it feels good. I've missed it.
Look forward to pictures!


Create yourself!
 ♥ Ally

DIY Painted Military Combat Boots

DIY PAINTED MILITARY COMBAT BOOTS

 

 

A few days ago I was shopping at Payless, and they had a great sale going on. I was able to get these babies, plus three other pairs of shoes, all for $5 each (saving almost $150)! But I realized, I already have two pairs of combat boots almost exactly like this. So what to do with my great find? Customize them of course!

 

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

 

 

What You'll Need:

+ Boots, or another type of shoe you will be able to paint

+ Metallic Rub (as many colors as you want, I used two)

+ Soft paint brushes, in a few different sizes

+ Varnish

+ Q-Tips/ Paper towels and water for clean up

+ Newspaper to keep your space clean

Optional:

+ Masking tape (for if you want to boarder the area you are not painting, I didn't use tape, the rub is easy enough to clean off with water)

+ Metal studs for added deco

 

 

 

These are the rubs I used, red and silver. I found them at Hobby Lobby for about $8. There are a few options as to what to use for the "paint". I just don't suggest acrylic. Liquid leafing would be a good choice if you don't want to use the metallic rub. But out of everything I tried, I liked the rub the best. It's thick, but it is easy to paint onto the boots and easy to wipe off. I just used paper towels or Q-tips with water.

I also got the varnish from Hobby Lobby. I got a bottle of Delta Satin Varnish, 8 oz. for about $10. You can find it in the acrylic paint aisle.

 

How to do it: 

 

Step One:

 

 

I started by putting my main color, silver, on the tip and the heels of the boots. After I had the first layer on both shoes, I went back and added a second and third layer just to make sure every bit of the black was covered and to make the silver extra strong.

 

 

 

Step Two:

 

 

Add the accents! There are lots of options for accents (lots of color combinations, places to paint, or even patterns, etc), that is if you want to add them. Like with the silver, I did two or three layers of red.

 

 

 

Step Three:

 

This is probably the most boring part.

Cleaning.

Wait about an hour to make sure the rub is nice and dry before you do any cleaning with water.

In some places I got some of the rub on the boots. Luckily, this is very easy to clean with a damp paper towel. Also grab a dry one to dry the spot that was cleaned or to wipe away any remaining color.

As for the edges of the boots, like the small little corners, I used a wet Q-tip, then a dry one, just like with the paper towels.

Easy but boring.

 

 

 

Step Four:

 

Touch-ups and varnish.
I let my boots dry over night. In the morning I checked to see if there were any spots where the black was showing through and then added more rub to it. I let them dry for about another hour before I put two coats of varnish on the painted parts.

If you add any studs or anything like that, do it after the varnish has dried.

I added a star on each side of the boots where there is an indent.

 

 

 

 

 And ta-da!

You have your own personalized military boots!

Though, I don't suggest wear them out in the rain or snow just to keep the paint protected.

Enjoy!

 

Any questions, feel free to ask!

 

Create yourself!
Ally