Faux Brick Wall Tutorial

I had a wall inside my space at Rusty Saturday that just did not make me happy. I didn't like the color or the lack of texture so I decided to change it. I love the look of old crumbling brick walls so I thought I would give that a try. Here it is all finished inside Rusty Saturday. I am really happy with the way it turned out and I thought some of you might enjoy doing this in your own booth space or even on an accent wall in your home.

 I started with panels that I purchased at Lowes. This is what they look like and let's face it... they aren't very attractive or real looking. I laid it out on a drop cloth on the floor. I needed to complete the panels at my home and then install at the store. If you are doing this in your house, and are going to need more than one panel width, I would recommend putting the paneling up first, and then painting.

 I just used the paint I had already at home. One was a semi gloss and one was a flat. Both worked fine. I think you will want a light creamy color. I also used black and old ochre (because that is what I had in house) but you will only use a tiny bit of those colors.

I painted a couple of rows with my light colored paints including the "grout" lines.

 Then I used a damp rag to remove a lot of the paint...

...and a dry brush to soften the lines left by the rag.

 As you are working your way down the panel, take another rag and further remove some of the paint on random bricks so that more of the red shows through. Let it dry. (It dries REALLY FAST)

 Then I got out my black and ochre colored paints.

 I started at the top of the panel again and added the black paint to random bricks.

 Then I used the creamy white or ochre to blend it a little bit.

I did the same with the ochre color, adding it to random bricks to give more variation of color.

Once the paint was dry again, I started adding the joint compound. You can find it at any home improvement store.

 I used a putty knife and just started smearing it randomly over the bricks. 

 Use as much or as little as like to get your desired effect. It's messy, but it cleans up really easily. I even used my hands to spread some it.

 This is the panel all dry and ready to be put up. The joint compound dries much whiter than it looks when it is wet.

After I hung the panels in the shop (with the help of my darling hubby) I decided they were too white and cool looking. I went back the next day and sprayed coffee all over the panel. Light in some areas and heavier in others. You can see the areas where I sprayed it on the left side of this photo. The water in the coffee made the joint compound soft again, but after it dried,  it was nice and hard again.

As I said, I am really happy with the finished results.

If you decide to try this, let me know if you have any questions.I'm happy to help if I can!

Textile Art Necklaces

 It's always a wonderful thing when I make some time to play in the studio! I've been wanting to create some textile based necklaces for a while now.

 I just love it when the vision in my head and what comes out in the end are both the same!!

 I made several different ones, all to go with some of my favorite tops.

These top two are my favorites!!

 Although to be honest, I do love them all.

 I know many of you may think they are too matchy-matchy for your tastes, but I am a tone on tone kind of girl! :)

 I really like the addition of the inspirational type words on them. We all need those little reminders every now and then. :)

I am having so much making these, I cant seem to stop! Every free moment I have is spent in the studio making more!

I posted these on Facebook last week and got such a wonderful response from everyone!

I was asked by several of the ladies for a tutorial and since it's been quite some time since I made a new one, I decided it was time!!

If you would like to purchase the tutorial for making one of these fabric art necklaces, just click here!!

Waterless Snowglobe Tutorial

Hello everyone!! Christmas is just around the corner and I have been having lots of fun making Christmas crafts and gifts for my friends!

These waterless snowglobes came out so cute, I thought I would share with you how I made them. :)

 I started by bleaching out a bunch of bottle brush trees that I purchased at Michaels. I just threw them in bucket of water with a bleach solution of about 4:1 (water to bleach) After about 15 min they looked like this.

 Then I took a paper mache box that can be found at any of the big craft stores...

 ...and I covered it with this cool burlap and lace ribbon that I found at Hobby Lobby. You could also cover the box with any paper or fabric.

I put the top back on the box. It will become the bottom of the snowglobe.

 I added paper to the top, but found that it was really unnecessary. I poked holes where I wanted the trees to go.

 As you can see, I pulled the bases off the trees because I wanted them to sit lower on the box.

I used a bit of glue to secure them.

Then I added some more glue to the base...

...and sprinkled mica snow on it. Then I decorated the trees with pearl garlands, pearls and rhinestone beads.

(After I finished the whole piece, I realized I had actually planned on doing something a little different, so I made some changes... I'll show what I did in a few more pics)

 I wanted to mix rustic with refined so I used natural jute to wrap around the top of the jar. I used a hot glue gun for this because I wanted it to hold right away.

 Decorating the box came next. I used gathered lace on the bottom as well as silver tinsel garland and Platinum Stickles glitter glue.

 Then I glued the jar upside down onto the top of the box, and added some more Platinum Stickles glitter glue to the top of the jute.

I layered several different snowflakes together and glued them to the front of the base.

Next, I spray painted a tart tin and a wooden ball with a flat base with off white spray paint.

Once they were dry I used an antiquing glaze to age them and give them some depth.

This is what they looked like after some of the glaze was wiped off.

Then paint them both with Mod Podge...

...and sprinkle with fine crystal glitter.

Then I added some jingle bells that had been wired together and glued the whole thing on top of the jar.

This is what it looked like when I was finished, but as I said... I was a doofus and didn't do what I had originally planned. I decided to carefully tear it apart and make some changes.:)

 What I really wanted was an image of vintage children playing in the snow.

I printed the image out on my computer and glued it to a piece of heavy cardstock.

I left enough cardstock at the bottom to fold under and use it to glue down the image.

Once I ripped out the front tree and replaced it with the image, the whole thing came together the way I had originally wanted it. :)

Here is the second one I did. Instead of using a box for the base I used a large inverted tart tin for the base as well as a small one for the top. The jar is smaller too.

I added some snowflakes to the outside using Frosted Lace Stickles glitter glue. Then I decided I didn't like it and scraped it all off! LOL! Hey, it's a girls prerogative to charge her mind right???

Well I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and it inspired you to do something creative today!!