Oil Painting with a Vintage Flare

I love the look of those old black and white or sepia colored photos from the early 1900's. Recreating photos in photoshop can be a challenge to capture the right aged look. 

In learning how to oil paint with the tonal method, I fell in love with the process of starting a painting.  

To me it was exactly the vintage look I tried to recreate in Photoshop.  

What I love about this is these oil paintings are one of a kind and created by hand, with love and tenderness.

Let me know what you think.

This painting started out as a rub out. 

By turning the photo upside down and rubbing out the highlights

begins the process of capturing the innocence of this little tyke.

Once the rub out is dry it is easy to then fill in the tones with a big brush.

I just love this process!

This reminds me of some gentlemen possibly getting his photo taken just before boarding his yacht for a night of dancing and dining with his elite friends.

This too started upside down!  

New Found Hobby - Needle Felting

I have found a new passion!

This craft is called needle felting. Using 100% wool and very, very sharp needles I can create little tiny miniature creatures!

I made this little guy for LeeAnn, my granddaughter.

She named him Alfred.

This little pony was a special request from my granddaughter, Madison.

She wanted a pink horse!

My daughter, Brittany loves ducks 

so she was very excited to see this little guy coming her way.

My daughter, Cristina, loves dogs.

This was my very first attempt at the craft.

No doubt, I'm hooked!

One piece at a time, this little guy was created

with tender loving care!

Thanks to LivingFelt.com for sharing their works on Pinterest and Facebook which inspired me to try this wonderful craft.

Rag Lamp

 

 

 

 

 

At the Speckled Hen show in Paso, I bought these lamp frames. 

I had seen this project in malls before and now I had a chance to try it myself.

The two frames were $5.00 each.  The larger one was $10.

 

 

 

I purchased White muslin at Walmart (1 yard per lamp and 2 for the big one)

I cut and ripped the fabric in 1 inc increments. Doing this on the fold makes it faster and easier.

I also purchase a skirt at Goodwill that had the white netting and cut it into strips also.

I used the netting at the top. Just tie the strips on one by one and fluff them up.

then I tied the muslin on around the frame. 

I left this one open but you can certainly add more.  Even add colored ribbon to match your decor.

 

I found the lamp base at the Goodwill for $5. and it matched very nicely with my other finds.

 

 

 

And there you have it!  A romantic simple bedside light.

Rags to Riches

I have a bathroom that has red, white and blue wallpaper.  Rather than start over for budget sake, I decided to go with it.  I wanted more of the primitive feel so I decided to use red polka dots and blue starts.  I found fabric at Walmart and got 2 yards of each.  I then cut the fabric into one inch strips and only about 1/2 cut at the fold to tear them into strips with the fraying. 

 

I then added the strips onto the rod with alternating red and blue.

 

 

Love the look. It's a shower curtain valance! 

 

 

Then added the finishing touches....

 

An upside down towl rack repurposed for a magazine rack with a touch of red, white and blue hearts.

Bright red towels finish that wall off.

 

Above the toilet I found an old box with two knobs on it and tied the strips to them in bows. Added a bit of the frayed material to drape over the sides and a beaded doily underneath.  Then found another old doily and draped it over the front.  Added a small bottle, a perfume bottle stuffed with the scraps of material, a red, white and blue star, a red bottle found at a thrift store and the confederate and american flag found at local antique store.  Then added a stack of red, white and blue star boxes to teh counter and two blue towels.  This completed my little bathroom!

 



 





 

 



Vintage Kitchen Make Over

We just bought a mobile home out in Mid California and I had so much fun decorating it this last week. I thought I'd share all the little vintage touches I added to the home to make it feel warm and cozy?

I did the kitchen in Aqual and Red. So cute! Found the polka dot curtains on clearance at TJ Max. Picked up the polka dot red oven mitten and aqua towels at Walmart. then found some fun vintage pieces such as the little drawers and a little red wire piece at the Speckled Hen show. Then after a full day of antiqueing brought back some old red handled kitchen utensils and put them in an old colandar with red and aqua polka dot ribbons. Found a cool cork piece (hanging on the wall) and a few other toucheds of red and aqua.

I found this awesome little red drop leaf table and chairs at an antique shop and the red and aqua table cloth!  What a great find to add to my motif!

Cork board from Goodwill and red sign from Kohls.

 

Plastic plates from Kohls Clearance - can't beat that!

 

Red and White corelle dishes from Walmart.

 

 

A repurposed rack (?). Tied red polka dot ribbons on it and use it for a drying rack.

 

Finally a little drawer shelf, an aqua bookend, and two old red handled kitchen tools.

 

More to come in the other rooms!  Stay tuned!