Kids

Fox Storage Chest • DecoArt IKEA Moppe Challenge

18 · Jan 2, 2018 · 4 Comments

You guys, I’m so excited for today’s post! If you’ve been following along on my Instagram Stories, you’ll know that I’m in the process of making over my little guys room. I’m getting so close to being finished and I can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on. Today, I’m sharing one of the fun elements that we will be putting in his room to dress it up. It’s a cute Fox Storage Chest for all of his little trinkets and toys. You know all of the little bits and pieces that little boys tend to collect. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, DecoArt gave all of their bloggers a challenge for January. The challenge was to make over a mini storage chest from IKEA. The IKEA Moppe to be exact. It turned out so cute and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

+ This post brought to you by DecoArt +

The Challenge

DecoArt sent out a challenge a little while back to transform this simple wood storage chest from IKEA any way that we would like. It may sound crazy but, I struggled coming up with a concept for the design. There were so many directions I could go; farmhouse, industrial, buffalo check, stripes… So many different ways I could take the design. This little chest sat in my craft room for weeks and I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do. For some reason, the word challenge puts so much pressure on me and I freeze. Finally, I decided that before I could decide on a design, I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with the storage chest when I was finished. I am in the process of making over my little boys room and I decided this would be the perfect place for him to store his little things.

With that MAJOR decision made, I placed the storage chest on the table and looked at it for awhile. Again, paralyzed by all of the different directions I could go. Finally, you’re going to think I’m crazy, I was looking at the piece and all of a sudden, I saw a face looking back at me. A cute little fox face and that’s when I knew what I needed to do.

I set to work designing my fox and preparing it to cut on my Cricut Maker. As we have discussed before, I really have zero talent when it comes to freehand painting but, with the help of my Cricut, I can create some great stencils. I may not be able to freehand paint but, I have mad stenciling skills!

Supplies

I realize that this is a rather specific project but really, This stencil and the concept can work on all kinds of furniture or signs. So, don’t get discouraged if you don’t live close to an IKEA. You can find something that this will look super cute on. Here are the basic supplies.

Mini Storage Chest – We used the Moppe from IKEA
Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint – colors; Yesteryear, Heritage & Timeless
foam stencil brush
small foam brush
Cricut machine
download my fox SVG file
vinyl
transfer tape

Instructions

The first thing you’ll want to do is paint your base coat of the Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint in the Yesteryear color. The reason why I selected the Chalky finish is that I prefer the matte look rather than a satin or enamel type paint. Plus, I think it’s a little more forgiving.

Since this piece is raw wood, it really soaked up the paint and it dried super fast (which I LOVE!) This whole project, once I had the design finished, only took about an hour.

The Fox Stencil

While I was waiting for the base coat to dry, I cut the first part of my fox stencil, you can download that HERE.

Because I was using two different colors for the fox, I had to create two different stencils. One for the inner part of the ears and cheeks, the second for the outer ears and face. Below, you will see how to weed the vinyl once you’ve cut the design.

Painting

I really don’t think the order matters but, just in case, I stenciled the inner ears and cheeks first.

Once I weeded the excess vinyl, I covered the design with transfer tape to transfer the image onto the storage chest.

I used my scraper tool to press the vinyl down especially on the ridges of the chest. Then I carefully removed the transfer tape. Take your time here and move slowly if needed.

Using your finger go around the edges of the areas that you will be painting and make sure you have a good seal with the vinyl. With the Timeless color, I used a foam stencil brush to get started. With a light amount of paint on my brush, using a gentle up and down motion, I painted the inner ears and cheeks.

Once you’ve finished painting those sections, carefully remove the vinyl. I typically don’t really wait for the paint to completely dry, you just need to be careful when lifting and removing the vinyl so that you don’t mess up the paint. If you’ve been careful and not used too much paint or pressure, you’ll have a beautiful line.

Now, you’ll need the 2nd section of your stencil weeded like the image below.

Like before, use the transfer tape to place the stencil carefully on the storage chest. You’ll need to line-up the ears and cheeks but, with the Cricut clear transfer tape that’s not hard at all.

Repeat the same painting technique with the Heritage color for the outer ear and face of the fox.

When you’re finished with that, remove the vinyl and let the paint fully dry. That will really only take 10 minutes or so. (That’s another reason why I love the chalky finish paint.)

You’re finished!

How cute is that for a little guys room? You could even add some cute girly eyelashes and it would look super cute in a girls room as well. I just LOVE it!!

Now, Gage will have the perfect spot for his little things. If you had a chance to do the mini storage chest challenge, what would you like to create? How would you like to use it? What DecoArt products would you use?

Disclaimer • I am a DecoArt Blogger and have received product and compensation for my time and efforts. All thoughts, ideas, and opinions are my very own.

DIY Octopus Wall Art

6 · Jul 10, 2017 · 2 Comments

Create a simple DIY octopus wall art piece with The NEW DecoArt Americana® Premium Artist Acrylics found at Michaels.

• This DIY Octopus Wall Art Post is brought to you by DecoArt •

Back in December we purchased our PERFECT home! Perfect for everyone but our little guy Gage. His room was a rather bold pink and purple. This kiddo has spent 7 long years with only sisters. We have a soccer ball and a volleyball that he plays with and they are hand-me-downs from his sisters and they are, you guessed it… PINK. To say that the little guy is over all of the pink, is an understatement. This week we are starting his room transformation and we are going vintage nautical for the theme.

Now, any vintage nautical themed room NEEDS a cool piece of art. This year in Gage’s 1st grade class he worked on a really cool report on his favorite sea creature, the octopus. We decided he needed a cool octopus for his room and set to work to create “Davy Jones,” Gage new octopus friend.

Gage’s sister Jane helped to create this with me using the NEW DecoArt Americana Premium Artist Acrylics and Mediums.

DIY Octopus Wall Art Supply List

DecoArt Americana® Premium Artist Acrylic Paint in Prussian Blue Hue, Dark Grey Value 3, Titanium White
DecoArt Americana® Premium Artist Acrylic Matte Medium
Art Wood Canvas (I found mine at Michaels)
Paint brushes
Paint rags
Jar of water
Pencil
eraser

DIY Octopus Wall Art Instructions

The cool thing about this project is that you really don’t have to be an artist to create fun art for your home. With this type of vintage looking painting, perfection is NOT NEEDED. Whew! That’s my kind of painting!

First thing you need to to is to take your Titanium White and mix it with the Matte Medium. Why would you mix the paint with a medium? Here is what the matte medium adds to the acrylic paint…

“Add Matte Medium to Americana Premium acrylics to create a matte finish, extend color, increase transparency, and enhance color blending. Can also be used as a clear coat for a matte finish. It is water-based and fast-drying.”

Pretty cool huh? Now if you don’t want the paint to dry too fast, you want to have more time to work with it, you may want to use and Extender Medium…

“Add Extender Medium to slow the drying time of Premium Acrylics. It can also be safely added to the other mediums in the line. Any time you want the paint or medium to have more working time add some Extender to it. Extender also allows you to perform oil techniques using acrylic paint.”

Once you have your white and matte medium mixed together, roughly paint on a white surface onto your boards. That reminds me… I used 2 of the 16×20 art boards to create a longer octopus to fill up more wall space. Because we all know… Davy Jones needs to be huge!

I left a boarder around the edge leaving some of the raw wood. But, if you notice, it’s all really rough. We aren’t looking for perfect lines here.

Next, Hannah sketched the octopus onto the boards with a pencil. Again, we aren’t looking for perfect. She even traced the legs off of the white section to make them look like they were coming off the canvas. Don’t trust your sketching skills? No worries, Angie from The Country Chic Cottage shares a great tutorial on how to use transfer paper to create a good sketch for sign making on the DecoArt Blog. It’s PERFECT for those of us who are artistically challenged.

Again, we added the Americana® Premium Matte Medium to the Prussian Blue Hue Americana® Premium Artist Acrylic Paint and mixed it well.

Then we set to work painting good ole’ Davy Jones the Octopus for Gage’s room…

I wanted as much texture as possible so we tried to create really rough brush strokes. I was really impressed with how fast the paint dried, it was so easy to use!

Next, we painted on rough circles for his tentacles and eyes. Again, we wanted things to look really rough. That’s why this type of project is so good for beginner artist. That leads me to the Americana® Premium Acrylic Paint, here’s why is it the perfect type of paint for this application… Americana® Premium™ acrylics provide a medium-bodied formula for the hobbyist-artist at an affordable price point. Its satin-sheen formula was created to work well on canvas, and other artistic surfaces. Its simplicity of design and use takes the intimidation factor out of fine art painting. Use it alone or mix with mediums to create original pieces of art at a budget-friendly price. It’s the perfect, easy to use, budget friendly paint for this kind of home decor project.

I’m even thinking of drilling some holes into the two boards and connecting them with rope. I think that will look really cool. I’ll let you know as we get started on Gage’s room. Davy Jones will for sure make a few more appearances!

Looking for more fun painting projects for the family here is another one from WhipperBerry that you might like…

Gnome Garden

Disclaimer • This post is sponsored by DecoArt. I receive product and payment to help create this fun project. Please remember, I will only share what I truly love and use all of the time.

Gnome Garden

4 · May 1, 2017 · 3 Comments

A Gnome Garden is the perfect project for the entire family! With a little imagination, a good container, plants, some sticks from your yard and a little DecoArt Patio Paint, you can transform a simple garden into a gnome wonderland. Come learn how…

This Gnome Garden post brought to you by DecoArt

I have always been fascinated by gardening. Gardening is in my gene pool. I have a sister with a degree in horticulture & landscape design (gardening) and a mother who adores gardening. I SHOULD be an amazing gardener, right?

Well… I’m getting there. To be completely honest, that darn gardening gene is taking awhile to really kick into gear. Every spring I bring home a new set of, what my husband likes to refer to as, “this years sacrifices!” What?

I’ve tried and tried for a few years to maintain some plants in my home and finally, I feel like I can mange some simple plant care. However, I am no expert. What I love to do is, create with my family and a gnome garden is PERFECT for that.

Gnome and Fairy Gardens are becoming all the rage these days. If you walk into Michaels right now, they have a whole section dedicated to these fun gardens with all kinds of gnomes and their accessories. I decided it would be fun to create a gnome garden together with the family using some budget friendly items like sticks from the backyard as our gnomes & a raw wood bird house that I found at Michaels as their cute home. Here’s what you’ll need to make one with your family…

Gnome Garden Supply List

Garden container
rocks
soil
7-8 small plants
4-5 sticks roughly 6 inches tall
DecoArt Patio Paint
- Suggested Colors
- Tuscan Red
- Marigold Yellow
- Tango Blue
- Mistletoe Green
- Cloud White
- Wrought Iron Black
Small round tip paint brush
Small flat tip paint brush
pencil
a sharp whittling knife
jar of water
paper towels
small decorative rocks
colored decorative sand
garden accessories

Why Patio Paint is Perfect for Gardens

Not all paint is created equal. Some paint is more durable than others and that’s alright, every type of paint has it’s purpose. What you are looking for with this project is a highly durable paint that is non-toxic, water based and adheres nicely to things that will likely be outdoors or will endure repeated watering like this project. The DecoArt Patio Paint is PERFECT for this! Here are the specifics…

No sealer required for a durable, long-lasting finish
Weather-proof
Satin finish
Scuff-resistant
Superior coverage
Will not crack or peel
Water-based and non-toxic
Easy to clean
Made in the USA

How to Create a Gnome Garden

Here’s a quick video to show you how easy it is to create a special gnome garden of your own…

Gnome Garden from Heather Thoming on Vimeo.

Isn’t that easy and fun for the family? Here’s the step by step…

Place rocks at the bottom of your container. This helps with drainage for your plants. Plants love water, but they typically don’t like to sit in it all of the time. You’ll need to make sure they have proper drainage.
Pour in your potting soil. Fill your container about 3/4 full.
Plant your plants in the container with the lower plants in front and the taller toward the back. Keep in mind, you are trying to set a scene. If you are wondering what plants to use and how to maintain them, here’s a good article from the Empress of Dirt.
Paint your birdhouse. Keep it simple or go crazy… This is your design. I wanted to keep our simple. We painted the door on the back of the bird house and added dots to the roof with a nice red peek-a-boo trim around the scalloped edge of the roof. I used the tip of the brush handle to create the dots on the roof.
ADULT TASK • Whittle the end of your branches into a tip like a pencil. The top portion of the tip will be your gnomes hat. Keep in mind this task either needs to be done by an adult OR supervised by an adult.
On one side of your stick, whittle a “U” shaped section for the face of your gnome.
Using the DecoArt Patio Paint and your small flat brush, paint on your gnomes hat and let dry.
Take the white paint and paint on your gnome’s beard. Basically in a “U” shape following the line of the face that you whittle in before. Set aside and let dry. Refer to video for more details on how to paint your gnome.
Using a sharped pencil, dip your pencil tip into the black paint and gently place one gnome eye. Reapply the paint to your pencil tip and create another eye. Dipping into the paint twice will help to create eyes that a similar in shape and size. Set aside and let dry.
Once dry, name your cute little little gnomes! Ours are Max (red), Sven (yellow), Einar (green) & Ole (blue). Then place them into your gnome garden.
Using the small rocks and colored sand, create a walkway in front of the house.

Summer Crafting with the Kids

0 · May 1, 2016 · 1 Comment

+ This Summer Crafting with the Kids post brought to you by Michaels +

You guys… Summer is almost here!!

No more school!

No more car pool!

No more early mornings!

Well at least for a couple of months anyway. Now the challenge is how to entertain the family during the fun, lazy days of summer. Did you know that Michaels has you covered, they offer free classes in their stores! You can try out a new craft skill for just the cost of supplies.

Just because school will be out for the summer, doesn’t mean that learning stops.

You can sign your kiddos up for a class or you can take a little time for yourself and learn a new skill.

Another great way to explore your creativity is by trying out a craft kit. Michaels has everything from sewing kits to art kits and everything in between.

My daughter Emily and I decided it would be fun to take one of their kits for a test drive.

Emily picked the Craf-Tastic™ Pom Pom Kit, we’re kind of obsessed with pom poms here at our house. This kit was cool because it had the promise of teaching us how to make pom poms really quick. We were intrigued.

I’ve made all kinds of poms, but this was Emily’s first rodeo so this kit was perfect!

The directions were fantastic and Emily who is 11 easily figured everything out without any help from Mom.

We loved how the kit came with EVERYTHING you need for a fun afternoon of crafting and Emily loved that she could do it all on her own.

We decided that it would be fun to add some silly eyes onto the poms to create some little fuzzy friends…

This kit was worth every penny… Emily and I had a ball creating together without all the hassle of trying to pull together all the supplies on our own. Total summer win in my books!

Here are some more fun idea from the other Michaels Makers.