I’ve been drawn to the lovely simplicity of grain sacks in decor lately. Perhaps it’s because we’re house hunting and with each house I see, I envision different decorating styles.
Another reason I love grain sack is because there are easy ways to recreate the look with a little tape and some paint. My kind of projects!
Have you been on Google+ in the last 24 hours? Did you notice a few changes? Yesterday, March 15, Google made some huge changes – to both Google+ and a lot of their other properties too. Today I wanted to highlight some of the basic changes on G+.
The most obvious change is the layout for the stream. It now has three columns and many have compared it to Pinterest’s look. Maybe, maybe not. I like it but, of course, as with any update and change, many don’t.
If you’re not a fan of the new layout, you can switch back to one column by following this tutorial over at Crafty Hangouts.
I am a huge coffee lover. As long as it doesn't taste like coffee. Yep, I want my java to taste like a liquid dessert. Fortunately, International Delight makes this very easy. They have so many scrumptuous flavors too.
Chocolate and coffee is a perfect combination, in my book. That is, unless you can get chocolate and toffee, like my favorite candy bar of all time - Heath Bar. Yum. But that's my favorite flavor.
Drop by and check out all the delectable flavors, pin your I.D. for a chance at a magical trip and play to win other prizes too!
But what if you're not a coffee drinker? Did you know there are loads of recipes that use International Delight creamer? Yep. I started a Flavor Inspiration board on Pinterest. Check it out!
When you've used every drop of your favorite flavor, keep that container! It has great lines and makes a darling little vase. Want to see how?
First, remove the plastic wrapper and spray paint the container. I cut the nozzle top off but you could leave it on and wrap it with ribbon, if you wanted. Now you're was ready to paint some cute little daisies.
(I used Martha Stewart's craft paint which works well on plastic.)
Start with the daisy centers and paint a couple of ovals.
Paint petals all around two of the ovals and on one side of the daisy bud.
Add some yellow to the centers and paint some simple stems and leaves.
For a little border, add some dots and dashes around your daisies.
That's it! Now you have a sweet little vase, ready to welcome Summer!
Wasn't that fun? And here's the best part - try another International Delight flavor and then you can make another summertime vase. I'm thinking Caramel Macchiato and sunflowers. Or maybe geraniums?
What's Your ID? International Delight is looking for their most passionate flavor fans. Put your ID on the map to enter to win a Magical Trip, play games and discover more unexpected delight. Share your ID flavor at http://whatsyourid.com.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.
Colleen
about Colleen
I could’ve sworn I’d already done a daisy painting tutorial before this. Daisies are one of my favorite flowers. They’re so bright and cheery. I mean, I love all flowers, but there’s something about daisies.
My main goal with writing a series about Painting Simple Flowers was to show easy ways to paint a type of flower and then take that method and paint similar types of flowers.
Take a look at daisies. There are lots of other flowers that are really similar to them. Black eyed susans, zinnias, dahlias, to name a few.
Before we get started with this painting tutorial I want to say how completely touched I was by your comments on my last post, Time For a Change. I’m always amazed at how sweet and supportive Just Paint It readers are. Thank you so, so much.
Okay, let’s paint a pretty little teacup. I don’t know why I’m so attracted to teacups lately. I don’t own teacups. I don’t even drink tea, for that matter. It could be my addiction fondness for Downton Abbey. But I don’t think that’s it either because I’m drawn to designs that are a bit more whimsical, along the lines of Mackenzie Childs, sort of. I just like painting teacups, and I hope you will too.
Today I’ll show how to get a dimensional teacup using shading and highlights in layers. One of my favorite things to do is make something look dimensional with just a few layers of paint. Give it a try. It’s not hard at all and then you can ‘decorate’ your teacup any way you want.
Be careful what you wish for. You might actually get it.
My mother and I have had our house up for sale for quite a while. We dropped the price, again, and it looks like we have a solid offer now. However, the buyers want a 30 day escrow. That means packing and moving in a month. Not to mention, we have to find somewhere to live first!
On the one hand, I’m excited about the prospect of a new house. Neither one of us were too happy about moving back into my childhood home 2 years ago. For Mom, this house holds too many memories and nostalgia. I just wanted to be in a house with my husband again.
It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a year since my husband died. I wake up each morning and go through the motions of living. Some days are even pretty good. Actually, most days are pretty good. But I have to work at it. I have to really work at counting blessings, finding appreciation and staying positive. Otherwise, I can find myself on that slippery slope into the dark abyss called depression. It’s a long, hard climb up once I’ve slipped into that hole so I really try to be aware of that line in the sand and not cross it.
Blogging usually helps. But not always. If I find myself on the other side of that line, I can’t always find words that make sense. Maybe that’s not true. I could find the words but I just don’t feel like it. There. I said it. Some days I just don’t feel like painting pretties and writing about them. I’m hoping, really hoping, a new house will be just the kick-in-the-pants I need.
Hi, thanks for stopping by today to see how to paint hydrangea. I’m demonstrating the wet-blending method – using two or more paint colors together.
In addition to the video from the Hangout on Air, I wanted to also give you some step-by-steps for this technique.
Does it seem like every other post I write either has “simple” or “easy” in the title? It seems that way to me. But I have good reason. I want you to enjoy painting. That’s always been my goal here.
Somehow, I don’t think “How to paint a Time-Consuming, Challenging Teacup” would be to appealing.
Or maybe it would. Who knows? Maybe I’ll try it sometime. While this post is called A “Simple” Teacup, the truth is, it was far from ‘simple’ to draw.
If you look closely, you’ll see the imperfections in this sketch.
This week, and probably part of next, I’m focusing on Mother’s Day projects. The fact that I’m also in the midst of the series, How To Paint Simple Spring Flowers, and flowers go so nicely with Mother’s Day is just a happy little coincidence.
Hey, I’ll take any reason for a happy coincidence.
Last week we started with basic five petal flowers. We’ll revisit them.
This week I want to show you some easy tips, and tricks, with four petal flowers. Starting with hydrangea.
I’ve already shown a few ways how to paint hydrangea. Today I’m going to show you how to sketch a hydrangea blossom. Sketching always comes in handy when you’re painting. Some things are easier than others to sketch, particularly flowers.
