Buttons + Paint = Funky Art

What do you get when you mix buttons and paint and imagination?  Why, you get art of course!

These button painting are made by taking a blank canvas, adding paint, mixed with a bit of imagination, a smidgen of creativity and a few buttons.  Presto, chango, you have art!

The paint I used was a combination of the acrylic paint that can be purchased at any craft store, and some oops sample paint I bought on clearance at my local hardware store. (I love a good bargain!)

First, let's create the background by taking the darker paint and then blending it with the lighter paint.  You'll want to work rather quickly, as acrylic paint dries pretty fast, and once it's dried, it's set.  With the paint wet, you'll add each color, one at a time, blending one color into the next, avoiding any sharp lines of color.

Until finally, you have a blended color background.

Set it aside and let it dry completely.

(Since I was working on several of these at one time, you'll notice the backgrounds may be different in some of the following photos.  The technique though is the same.)

Okay, let's make the tree!  Using the acrylic craft paint, paint out your tree.  I like to use a contrasting color for the tree, and I learned the hard way that it's much easier to use a smaller brush to paint the trees than it is to use one too big.  (Although the smaller brush may take more time, it gives you more control of what your end result looks like.)

(Sorry for the glare on the pic!)

Once everything is dry, you can start selecting your buttons. 

You can use matching color buttons, or a mix of color buttons, or all the same type or same size--it's up to you. 

Before you glue your buttons, do a dry placement (without glue).  This allows you to decide where to place the buttons without smearing glue all over your painting.

A word about the glue.  I used simple craft glue (not something like Elmer's glue) that I picked up at my local craft store.  I don't think the brand matters as much, as long as it dries transparent!  Make sure your glue dries clear!!!!

What about those buttons with the little pieces on the back that raise them off the surface?  Take an Exacto knife (or razor blade) and put a little X-shaped hole in your canvas wherever you want your button to be. 

"CUT INTO MY CANVAS?!?!" you might be saying.  Yes, that's exactly what you want to do, but cut a tiny, itty-bitty X-shaped hole.  You can always cut larger if you need to.  You want a hole just big enough to slip the back of the button through it.

Once you have your button placement figured out, start gluing!  A little dab on the back of each button is all you need.  When the glue is dry, you're ready to move onto the next step--edging your art.

Unless I'm using a frame (which I'm not on these), I like to use black paint to give the edges a finished look.  Simply use black acrylic paint to paint the outside edges of the art.

Again, let everything dry.  When it's all dry, then it's ready to hang!

Blue background with yellow tree and mix of yellow and blue buttons.

Green background with dark brown three and mix of brown buttons and brown beads.

Red & yellow background with black tree and a mix of red and black buttons.

I like them hung together for a more dramatic impact.

Seeing the Potential: Stairs Before and After

Sometimes, it's difficult to see the potential.

Really difficult.

Such was the case with the stairs in my daughter's apartment.  The stairs originally had horrible, disgusting carpet on them and one evening, we decided to pull off the carpeting and were met with a gazillion staples and the horrible, disgusting stairs under the carpet.

Go ahead--say it.  EWWWW!!!!!

Most people would cry at these stairs.  But my daughter is...well, my daughter.  She has my genes.

Poor girl.

How about another Before pic of these awful stairs?  Can you stand it?  More EWWWW!!!!

Horrible, aren't they?  Okay, one more.  The After will be worth it, I promise.  See the marks on the side where all the gazillion staples were?  It took forever to pull them out.  Forever and then some.

 I promised After pics, and here they are.

After the staples were pulled out and the floor and railing cleaned, the stairs were painted with Sherwin Williams (SW6076) Turkish Coffee, the trim and baseboard received a fresh coat of white Olympic One Paint and Primer in One Satin Finish, and the walls painted with Sherwin Williams (SW 6759) Cooled Blue.

Much better, don't you think?

Perfect Price: Dresser Make Over

Sometimes we come across the perfect piece for the perfect price. 

Or the "could be perfect, but isn't yet" that's still the perfect price (free). 

Such is the case with this dresser that my daughter and I found at the side of the road, waiting to be carried off by the trash collector.  Luckily we got to it first.

You may not think we were lucky when you see the before pic, but we were.

Yes, it's a bit rough and tumble around the edges, but it's a solid (ie. heavy) piece, and hey, who could beat the price.

I'll remind you, it was a bargin for FREE! 

So let's take a look, shall we, to see what can happen with a coat of white paint, new handles and a bit of love.

It's like a completely new piece! 

Sorry, I don't have pictures and instructions--my daughter did this with her own creativity, but she tells me it was a result of a couple coats of white paint and simple change of drawer pulls from the hardware store.

The pefect price, indeed!

Big Ideas, Little Budget: Painted Tile Back Splash

I don't always have the cha-ching in the budget to make my BIG ideas into BIG reality, which means I have to come up with other ways to make my BIG ideas into BIG reality.

And here's a BIG idea. I love the beautiful tiled back splashes I've seen in magazines. But, because I like to change my mind (which sometimes also translates into changing the decor in my home) and because I don't have big bucks to drop on a different back splash every couple of years (or more), then I had to come up with an alternate way of getting those fancy-schmancy back splashes for my kitchen.
This is why I love Pinterest. (For those of you who don't know, Pinterest is like computer crack. Seriously.)
When I saw this from Sawdust and Embryos via Pinterest, I heard angels singing. Can you hear them too?

Source

They've painted tile. Not painted ON tile, but painted the tile!

This, I thought to myself, I could do. So, with the help of my wonderful daughter (who is completely used to her mom calling her up and saying, "Hey, I have this idea and need your help!") and her understanding boyfriend (who is getting used to his girlfriend's mom calling him and saying, "Hey, I have this idea and need your help!"), I tried my own version of creating a painted black splash in my kitchen.

First, I needed to paint what would be the "grout lines" in between the tiles. Since my walls (and originally the wall behind the sink) is yellow, that meant that I needed to paint the area white. Also, since this was to be our first attempt, and if I decided that I didn't like it, I could paint over it, I decided to do only the section directly behind the counter.

You can see the blue painters tape I used to mark off the edges.

Next, we needed to tape off the "grout lines". To do this, we had to first cut the tape into the appropriate width. I got a roll of one inch painters tape, which we then marked at the half inch width, then carefully cut with a sharp blade.

Cutting very carefully!

Next, was the most painstaking part--laying the tape. We had a template (sorry--no pics of the template!) that I created from the side of macaroni and cheese box that we used to mark the first row and used a light pencil mark to help guide the tape placement.

Eventually, we had the entire area taped.

Next, came the painting part.

For painting, I used the acrylic paints that can be found at nearly every hobby store (like Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.). Mine, I bought for about 69 cents on sale.

I mixed the colors and did the "tiles" one by one. Each color is painted on approximately four to five "tiles". I had a painting in my kitchen and a rug on my floor which had similar colors to the ones I mixed and used.

To add a bit of visual texture to each "tile", I dabbed the paint on with a small paint brush.

Here's a section of what it looked like when all the "tiles" were painted (before we removed the tape).

There were mixed opinions as to if we should remove the tape while everything was still somewhat tacky (slightly wet and not completely dry), or if we should remove it right away. We decided to VERY CAREFULLY remove it right away.

And, ta-dah! Here's the final product!

Just to remind you of where we started...

Before

And after!

When we first pulled off all the tape, I wasn't sure if I liked it. Both my daughter and the boyfriend were also not sure if they liked it. However, throughout the evening, I found myself drawn to it and it made me smile. I think it gives my plain-Jane kitchen a bit of spice and personality, which is what I was looking for. 

Once the weather gets warmer (and I can open some windows), I'll add a coat of clear polyurethane to protect the surface from water and other splashy things that might be on the counter. Until then, I'll be very, very careful. 

This project (not including painting the "grout" background or installing the new lighting--see below) took a complete afternoon--about three or four hours--with three people. While my daughter and the boyfriend did most of the taping, I did all of the painting, while they provided their suggestions as to the shades, colors and placement of the paints. Although this could be a one person project, having an extra set of hands makes it much easier and faster. Plus, having someone to provide their thoughts and suggestions also helps.

If I had it to do all over again, I might make the size of the "tiles" and the "grout line" a bit thinner. The size the "tiles" are now are thicker than typical tiles you might find in a netted sheet at Lowe's, but thinner than typical subway tiles. The grout (at half an inch) is also thicker than traditional grout lines. I think 1/4 inch grout might be more "realistic" looking, but I'll not be changing mine anytime soon.

You might notice that the under the counter lighting in the after picture is much brighter. That's because my wonderfully handy (and always willing to help his mom on her latest ideas) teen son and I installed a set of under the counter lights I got for around $40 at Lowe's that morning. Before, I had two separate florescent lights, and I really like the look the under the counter lighting provided.

This back splash will be fairly easy to repaint over if I decided in the future to change my mind and the decor of my kitchen. 

Until then, I've provided interest and personality to my kitchen for a very reasonable investment of paint, tape, time and effort (and a few extra helping hands!).

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