Painting Fall Leaves with Martha Stewart’s New Paints

I was thrilled and honored to be one of the bloggers chosen to debut Martha Stewart’s new decorative paint program by Plaid. Paint? by Martha? Made by Plaid?

I didn’t have to be asked twice. I couldn’t wait to try out Martha’s paints that are formulated to work on multiple surfaces – wood, fabric, glass, metal. Durable for both indoor and outdoors and dishwasher-safe.

When I got my goodie box full of paints, mediums and tools, I was overwhelmed.

It took me a while to calm down enough to decide upon what project I wanted to paint first.

While I stenciled a burlap runner first – and I do mean 1st (there will be many, many projects to follow!) – I just couldn’t stop there. I mean, if you’ve been here before, you know dang good and well I wouldn’t just stencil a simple pattern and leave it alone.

Not when I was sent a beautiful selection of pearl, metallic and glitter paints.

I’ll admit, I’m not usually a glitter-type of gal, except for baby girl’s rooms. And after my last attempt using pearl and glitter paint for wall murals, I kind of ditched the whole paint-with-bling idea.

Not anymore, my friends. I.Am.In.Love.

But let me share the project with you so you’ll know why I’m so impressed.

The ‘original’ plan was to paint fall leaves on a muslin inset for the burlap runner.

I decided to add some berries just for the contrast in color. Now I’ve painted simple circles for years and they’re always a bit of a pain in the tooshie.

Not anymore. Martha has these round foam tools in various sizes. (Don’t ya love the way I keep calling her ‘Martha’ – like I’ve actually met her?)

But I gotta tell you – as a person who hates, really hates cleaning painting tools – this little guy is brilliant. The foam comes out of the holder. Clean up was a breeze. Rinse, squeeze, and you’re ready to go again.

Look at that! Perfect little round berries.

So I added some more leaves, a few acorns, and I’m ready to add some veining.

I’m writing painting tutorials on the leaves, berries and acorns for you. I promise they’re really not hard to paint. Promise!

But just ‘cause I can’t wait, here’s a ‘crucial’ tip for painting leaves -

Look at the difference when you add some veins.

Now they look like leaves, huh? Super easy too.

I mixed Martha’s glaze with paint and the paint flowed perfectly. And this was on muslin – not canvas or paper. As a matter of fact, I used Tintable Glaze for all the the basecoating and veining. The paint colors are still rich and vibrant. The glaze just helps them blend easily which is just what I wanted to capture a variety of shades on each leaf.

Now, uh, remember how I thought this was going to be an insert on the burlap runner? Well, I thought if I added a border around the muslin it’d coordinate better.

I never would’ve tried this without this cool little tip. And it comes in 3 sizes. It also comes with plastic bottles so you can mix paint with different mediums if you want. Since I wasn’t going to wash this runner, I didn’t use Fabric Medium.

But check this out – the tips screw right onto the bottles of paint.

And there are other tops – chisel foam and foam rollers – that screw onto either the paint bottle or plastic bottles. How cool is that?!?

So I could’ve stopped there but those bottles of Pearl & Glitter paint were sitting on my shelf . . . calling to me . . . I couldn’t resist.

Sparkles!

More sparkles! You can’t see the pearl in these pics, but it’s gorgeous. It adds another layer of dimension you just don’t get with regular paint.

And here’s what I love about the Glitter Paint – it goes on like paint, but the binder is clear so you’re just painting on glitter. Smooth, fluid, beautiful!

I used as many paints and tools as I could on one project and I loved each one more than the previous.

That’s the good news.

Now for the not-so-good-news.

My pretty, glittery, pearl painted fall leaf insert did not work with my burlap runner.

At all. Ewww.

But . . . I still have pretty fall leaves.

That work as a wall hanging.

Or a lampshade, um, wrap. Yeah! That’s it!

A fall leaf lampshade wrap!

No worries. I guarantee I’ll be painting many, many more Fall, Halloween & Christmas projects with Martha’s paint line.

Did I mention there are 160 colors of paint? They come in five finishes – satin, high gloss, pearl, glitter and metallic – and they are non-toxic so safe for use around children and pets.

And this is truly just the tip of the iceberg for this line. I can’t wait to try everything else. And you know, of course I’ll share my thoughts and tips, as well as tutorials with you.

In the meantime, you can check out some other great projects made with Martha Stewart’s paints.

Beckie @ Infarrantly Creative stenciled & painted a sweet footstool.

Jen @ Tatertots & Jello painted some darling pillows.

And Linda made a faux etched monogram on a glass vase at Craftaholics Anonymous.

I’ll share more some more blogger projects each day on my Facebook page for the next two weeks, so drop by and check ‘em out!

If you’d like to learn more about Martha’s paints, check out this video. The products are exclusively available at Michaels stores in the US and Canada starting the last week of August (stores set at different times so there is no "exact" day - and some bigger stores already have the product).

You are going to love these products as much as I do!

Full post disclosure available here.