I got a new grand baby in August, so I thought you might like to see the toy box I painted for him:

One of these days I will paint a cute little wooden stool I have for him, to match the box.

I have chosen next years and will be doing them soon, not waiting until Nov., to start them.

Belle

Only four more to go before Christmas.

Belle

Punk

Today I painted Santa faces on wood hearts. The wood came from an old house, probably flooring, and it was grainy. It must be oak with so much graining in it. Any way, I completed six ornaments today. But I have hundreds to go.

Talk to yall later.
B

Luvs

Oh, guess I had better clean the clamp, you can see little spatters of paint.

These were fun to do and I tried some new brush strokes and techniques, especially dry brushing....really fun. And Luvs...you made me stop and think about what "What can I do with this?" Thank you!

Belle

The very late or very early Halloween scene was really a test of skills for me and looks nothing like the pattern by Patricia Rawlinson and I can see that my sky looks broken up rather than scattered. Oh! Well! What's done is whats done. I still have to figure out how I am going to present this one, frame or a wall hanging. Now I have a ton of housework to catch up on!!!

Belle

I imagine most of you have seen mine as I've made them, but I'll try to snap some pics so you can see them in place with my other Christmas decorations.

Here's a pic or two to start, I'll be back with more later.

Luvs

The "greetings" was partly my ideas and a combination of several patterns all rolled into one. The hat really needs to be down on his head more, but as he is mine - it's OK.

I made the Welcome Fall for myself about a year ago and DH sold it before I had it finished, this one is also mine!

Belle

Everyone always loves Christmas decorations, so I wanted to include a few for them to choose from.

The rectangular signs were just made from rough fence boards that I had on hand. I didn't sand them down smooth since I liked the rough texture for these. The large Santa is on 1/4 inch plywood.

Luvs

Punk

I think this is what you meant by not your typical santa. If it is, you are right DD would not have any of these displayed in her home but some of us seem to like any thing painted. LOL Punk

(Didn't think to take a pix of the back of the rabbit, but it had a "real" cotton tail.)

The tree was an after Christmas clearance item, and the rocks were picked up while walking my dogs. I enjoy taking my paints along so I can paint in the evenings before bedtime.

Hope they make you smile or chuckle--not fine art, but just for fun. ;o)

Luvs

Luvs, I didn't have a pattern for this one but I remember seeing the children in an old book so I used soapstone(makes a very thin drawing that can be wiped off, just like chalk but a thinner line). I drew in where I wanted the water, the horizon line and after I completed painting everything, I drew the children. I really struggled with it because I hate to do special orders, always feel like it won't be what they wanted. I would much rather paint what I like and then hope someone comes along that likes it too.

The craft show went really well. We had a booth full of things but the ornaments sold the most - and I made the most in sales. We were a little short of making $1100. The attendance was down from what I remember several years ago but we also do not have the shows we use to have either. I hate that because I love finding things that someone has made or painted for my tree (which as you know is a real hodge podge of everything. One of the things that sold really well (the price was way too cheap - $2.50) was the cinnamon stick snowmen. She painted it very quickly, added a clay nose and the hats were the cutest, some were tiny little baskets turned upside down and the others were the fingers cut from mittens. One lady came in and purchased over $300 in just ornaments, she was so excited she just flitted from one thing to the other!! The second photo shows the craft sticks I purchased at Dollar Tree, just painted real quick Santas and Snowmen, sold 24 out of 30. I also painted Mrs. Claus' dress on an ornament, hope it shows up. The ornament in the little plastic bag is of a white seal on the ice - just darling.



This little snowman reminded me of you, Luvs.





I attached the pictures of the boxes I picked up at Dollar Tree to show you how you can use that 18K gold pen to edge the box also. I used it on just about everything. Hope you like it.
B

Image link: Lightbulbs I made at Christmas... (48 k)

Image link: my christmas stars (58 k)

www.decoart.com

www.northpolechristmas.com

www.christmasfreebies.com (coloring pages and more. I'll be using the coloring pages now that luvs has shown us how great they can work for patterns)

http://home.att.ne/~DLeddy/free.html

www.createanddecorate.com (has a new free online project every month and sometimes it's a paint project, you just have to check back every month)

www.busybee.ns.ca/links/freebies/htm

www.deltacrafts.com

www.decorativeartist.com

www.freecraftsayings.com

www.paintworksmag.com (one free project each month)

www.mypaintpalette.com (1 free)

www.michaels.com (go to craft painting tab then decorative painting)

These are from a Sandy Holman book, "Watts Next" and are pretty simple to do. The worst part is the beak, it took 3 coats of straw to cover over the black. That wouldn't be so bad, but I made 24 bulbs. :) If I had these back, I'd put a little extra something on the cuff of the hat, it's looking a bit plain to me.

I've made penguin bulbs, too, a few years ago, but they were so labor intensive, I only did 8 of them.

One thing I learned, as I didn't have enough blown bulbs when I needed them- bulbs are CHEAP. I ended up buying some new ones, trading them with bulbs in lamps that had been there for a while and then painting on them even though they were still good. Compared to wood, bulbs are a very inexpensive surface to paint on. Just be sure to wash the bulbs really well so your paint will stick.