Glass Vase Vamp

One Salvation Army Thrift Store glass vase displays its four sides. Martha Stewarts Gloss Glass paint was used on my newest crafty piece!  Specifically, I used two blues: Pool and Greek Tile, with one yellow: Yellow Jacket.  I think Martha's glass paints are the creamiest and yummiest paints I've used.

 Instead of painting the colors on the vase, with a sponge or brush, I squeezed the paint directly on the vase from the bottle. The plastic paint bottles have a pointy end, which makes things easier. Working with one side at a time, I squeezed each color in random this way/that way lines. And then comes the FUN part!

Rolled up a piece of Saran Wrap (or any plastic wrap)  and began to dab the paint over the vase. Think as if you're sponge painting. Some sides I squeezed out more blue, another side more yellow. I think the Saran Wrap dab gives a cool and different texture/look than sponge painting does. Who knew?

 Since the paint seemed pretty thick (next time I may not use as much paint), I let the vase dry overnight.  The next morning, as I got ready for work, I popped the vase in a cold oven, set to 350 F degrees to bake for 30 minutes.  After baking, I left the vase in my oven to cool.

What a nice surprise to come home to!   

**I love getting to learn my inner-crafty self** 

Patient Purple Haze Vase

 As I trek farther into discovery of my inner-crafty self--and hit my head and say out loud to any cat that purrs nearby: "Wow, if I knew I really could DO something crafty, I maybe wouldn't have gotten C's, D's, and "incompletes" in junior high art class. :)  OK, fast forward to 2013 and the

object of my attention this day: 

A glass vase from the Everything is a $1 Store painted 

with Martha Stewart glass paints. The entire vase was painted white. 

I let the vase dry for an hour or two. I've learned it is best to be patient (oh, I so detest that word!) before another coat of paint is added. For the purple paint, I dabbed my angle sided paint brush all over the vase. Usually, I like to use natural sea sponges, yet the brush dab gives a groovy kinda look too.

I let the vase dry over night, just to be safe. Once again, that whole patience thing--then the vase was popped into a cold oven, per Martha Stewart's directions--turned to 350 degrees and baked for 30 minutes. Once the time passed, I shut off the oven and left the vase inside to cool off.  

I realize I should have put some pretty flowersin the vase. Hmm.  Well, just gave myself an idea for another post... In the meantime, there is just something neat about painting on glass. 

So, I suggest grab a vase, plate, wine glasses--anything and PAINT--your imagination has no bounds!   :) 

Realize

Some time
Make sure you just give 
Yourself the time--

To stop and smell the flowers--

'cause you never know 

What you might miss!

--and I painted the vase!--

Two Week Wander....

Been two weeks since I posted.  I must apologize.  One of the main reasons, was I wanted to share what happened about one of my  terra cotta pots. Giddy I was as I shipped a pot to a high school classmate in Iowa. Thought I packed the pot all snug. Secure. And everything. 
I wait for my classmate to let me know said terra cotta had arrived.  Anxious I became, when the pot didn't show up on the day I was told--it went USPS. My class mate said not to fear. They lived in a rural Iowa town---all 800 of the population. I had a surprise for her, and I couldn't wait for her to get the box.  The main pot, was a 6 inch terra cotta--the one in this link--but I also put two 4 inch pots--one bluish and on purplish inside. Honestly, I didn't like the six inch pot, and I thought the smaller ones were much prettier. The package arrived in a couple extra days. I couldn't wait to hear from my classmate. Well, turns out two of the pots were broken.
Yep.
I gave the durability of the terra cotta more than it deserved.  My fault I didn't protect the the treasure enough in the box. Shoulda done a bigger box. Coulda bubble wrapped, padded them more. I am still heartsick this happened--this was my first shipping of pots. 
Bummed. Bummed. And more bummed.
My class mate said the surviving pot is pretty. I plan to send her another pot. Wrapped better. More secure. I admit to feeling like a failure.  What if this had been a paying customer and they received a busted terra cotta pot?  I am grateful my classmate was understanding. 
Learned alot on this lesson.
In the meantime, I will take a cue from the cat posed pretty here. She likes my terra cotta pots any which way--just as long as the pots don't detour her from the food dish....Stay tuned. 

Van No Gogh...

This is Mooch--

The female feline who 

Mooched off me by living

In my shed for 7 months-

The moocher wound up staying longer

And longer and longer, now

She's inside, commands attention and sniffs 'round paint 

Used on a craft project that failed-

And she's still a Mooch (a cute one at that), plus 

Also quite the snoop...(and I wouldn't have it any other way!) 

Jar in a Jam

A new crafty thing attempted: Paint on glass.    
***First the jar. My first attempt to paint on glass. This is a two liter mason jar purchased for a buck at The Good Will--last autumn.  Yea. Well, I tried a crafty thing where I tried to Mod Podge leaves on the jar. Uh--not quite a the success I thought it would be. I soaked and washed off the jar, then used cotton balls dabbed in alcohol to take care of whatever residue was left. Plaid Folk Art Enamel paints, including the red base coat were used on the mason jar. .  
****Then I went a little natural sea sponge happy with the colors.Part of my problem with paint, is I think I miss something if I do not drown my project in a zillion colors. Note to self. Gotta work on that. I did use a metallic enamel, which gave me more ideas--however back to this matter at hand...
****After I natural sea sponged the jar and instead of washing off the the paint to start I anew-- I decided to journey on. I let the mason jar air dry for an hour before I popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If you do bake glass, turn on the oven's fan. Your nose will thank you later.
****All in all, I enjoyed painting this jar. I would like to find more big mason jars like this to play around with. There was no writing on the jar, no nothing. I know I went overboard on the paint selection. Regardless, felt pretty 'artsy' that I baked ON glass, instead of in it--like I do my marvelous peach/blueberry crumble topping pie (which will be another post!). I will paint  another jar with less paint and more restraint.  Also want to try and thin paint with nail polish remover like on the SandandSisal blog. I love how her vases turned out, plus the vases were painted on the inside! 
***In the meantime, I have a cat to pet, ice cream to devour and finalize plans to make my next mason jar as marvelous as it can be. 
Stay tuned.