How Much Art is Too Much?

What a silly question! Can you ever have too much art?

I think not.

But I am fast running out of space to put things without having a gallery wall in every room. Would that be a bad thing or give our home that collected cozy feel? I'm not sure...

I finally hung this brass do-hickey I bought about a year and a half ago.

I like it a lot!

I have big plans for our bedroom. Its such a mess right now. But I think I've finally figured out the fabric/curtain/bedding combo I'm happy with. I just need some funds to buy everything.

Ahem, birthday, ahem, coming up, ahem.

Sorry, had some phlegm in my throat there.

I wrapped the scarf I got for a dollar at the flea. It's taped all to hell on the back. I didn't want to do anything to ruin it in case I change my mind later and want to use another way. I think it looks so pretty as art though.

We finally got a new TV for the living room and moved the smaller one in here. I was so happy to get rid of that old tube tv for one that hangs on the wall. I will be selling that white chest at an upcoming garage sale (I'll keep you posted on that). I'm not sure what to do about the cable box though. I was thinking of buying a shelf and some cord covers painted to match the wall.

Stupid cable box. What have you done with yours?

I started a new piece of art. I have something in mind and I've done about three sessions on it since I took this pic. I think it might be awesome. Or it could totally suck. We'll see...

Happy Tuesday Lovers!

It's Time! Third Annual Handmade Holiday Gift Swap!

Can you believe how fast the holidays are approaching? I also can't believe this is the third year I'll be hosting my super fun handmade holiday gift swap!

Here are the details!

1. Your gift must be handmade. Meaning, it must be an item your two hands have touched, manipulated or altered in some way. Vintage items are ok but you must have done something to it. Crafts and items made from scratch are also good.

2. The item plus any materials needed must not total more than $20 USD.

3.You must ship your item to its recipient by December 15th.

4. And lastly previous years have necessitated some etiquette in the rules. If you know you're going to be busy and  might not be able to send out a gift please don't sign up. Nothing is more disappointing than spending time on your own gift and then waiting for one that never comes. Also, please send a thank you email, mention in a post or find a way to say a simple thanks to the person who sent you a gift!

You have until November 15th to sign up by sending an email to myflightsofwhimsy(at)gmail(dot)com.

Please include:

your full name

your address

your website or blog

your email

On November 16th I will send you an email about who you will be sending your gift to. But they won't necessarily be the person sending a gift to you! Tricky tricky, it's a surprise!

Now the 2nd gift swap was twice as big as the first so lets get the word out and see if we can double the size again! I want everyone to join the fun! Please let friends and readers of your own blogs know so they can sign up.

Let's make this the best year yet! Send me an email and sign up forthwith!

Silhouettes...

The days of plain silhouettes are over! Today, it's all about giving this traditional artwork a modern twist. The possibilities are limitless. Go with pattern, color, composition anything you can dream up! And the best part of all, you can make this yourself! I'm a big believer in creating your own art or buying from indie artists. No store bought stuff for us!

Here's a little something to get your creative juices flowing!

                                                                         Source: luxeandlillies.blogspot.com via k on Pinterest

                                                                Source: bijouandboheme.blogspot.com via Brandi on Pinterest

          

I saw this picture a while back on Bijou & Boheme that I can't stop thinking about. This

would be a really fun and impactful DIY art project.

I scoped out some great wallpaper for this project from my go to source.

From Wallpaper from the 70's and only 39 Euros a roll! You would have plenty left for other fun projects!

Even though black and white is my favorite you don't have to be limited of course!

This could be fun too!

If you wanted to use some fun papers as a background on smaller silhouettes you can also buy samples for 50 cents too. Even more possibilities there!

I smell another weekend project on my list! Seriously, I need a whole week off to finish everything on my "weekend projects" list!

Today's the day! Send out your gifts!

The day has finally arrived and I hope you all are more prepared than me to mail your handmade gifts to their recipients today! I put the finishing touches on mine before work this morning so I can wrap it up and mail it after work today. Timing was tight!

In other news, I'm off work all next week and I have a slew of projects I'll be working on around the house. Can't wait to share them with you!

Have a lovely weekend!

Last Day to Join the Gift Swap!

Hello lovers and happy Friday! Today is the last day to sign up for my handmade gift swap. See details here. All you have to do to join in the fun is email me with your name, address, and website (if applicable) at myflightsofwhimsy (at) gmail (dot) com by the end of the day.

Sometime this weekend you will receive info on who you will sending your gift too. I know you are giddy with anticipation. And for this of you who think you don't have the skills or talent to join, TSK TSK!I BELIEVE in you and you can do this! So don't be skird!

I'm dedicating my weekend to holiday decorating. It's nothing fancy, I have way too many other things going on to get all creative decorating but I am going to get our tree up and trimmed. I'm not allowing myself to start any other projects until I'm done refinishing my dining chairs. I have been avoiding this project for way too long.

Enjoy your weekend!

It's That Time! Holiday Gift Swap!!!

It's getting to be that time of year again and just to be sure everyone has plenty of time to participate I'm announcing my 2nd Annual Handmade Holiday Gift Swap! Last year's was small but a blast!

I hope that everyone will participate and join in on the fun this year!

Here's the skinny...

1) I will match you up with another participant to swap with. Your match may not be the person you are sending your gift to, it's a surprise!

2) You must make a handmade gift for under $20 (US). It can be ANYTHING! Completely handmade jewelry, art, decor, upcycled items you've given a special touch to, anything at all.

3) You must mail the gift by December 17th. Then wait eagerly by your own front door for your gift!

 You can choose to post your gift or the gift you receive on your blog or not. It's up to you!

To enter you must send me an email with your full name, website/blog (if desired) and mailing address to myflightsofwhimsy (at) gmail (dot) com by next Friday November 19th. I will send you your match the following Monday on November 22nd. Then the fun will begin!

Let's make this year's gift swap BIG BIG BIG! Spread the word and the cheer and enjoy!

Artwork Tutorial

I had a few requests on how I made my drippy artwork so here's a bit of a tutorial for you! I don't have many in progress pictures (bad blogger) but I will do my best!

Being my first painting, I assumed this could go horribly wrong but I asked as many artsy fartsy people for advice as I could and it turned out great. This is why I know you could do it too!

First get yourself a canvas and put down a base coat of choice. I actually used wall paint for mine. I have so many samples of paint from my various projects so I went cheap and picked one of those. I rolled it on with a roller, make sure to get the sides too. I did two coats to be sure since canvas is very textured and porous.

Next, pick out colors from your local craft store. I used small bottles of acrylic paint. They should have empty bottles for cheap too, you will need one for each color you buy.

TIP: It really depends on the look you're going for here but I learned from trial and error, it's best to buy colors that are in a really close range to each other. Some of the darker shades and more pastel like hues ended up sticking out like a sore thumb. I also started out with about 4 colors and ended up going back for about 4 more to get the color range just right. But again, this is really personal preference.

After your canvas is dry, lean it against something with a tarp underneath, things are about to get crazy. Empty out about 1/3 of the paint into one of your empty bottles and add about 1/4 of water and shake. You may have to play with your amounts here. On some shades I found I needed more or less water.

Then turn the bottle over and start running it along the top of the canvas as desired. For longer drips you will need to hold the bottle in place and squeeze out more paint. If you want to stop your drips at certain levels just lay the canvas down for a bit.

Then I just started randomly placing different colors here and there. This is where it got a bit tricky, some colors started to run together a bit or began dripping down the same "trail". Basically this means that you need drying time in between layers. I wanted mine to have a lot of layers, again personal preference. So I did several sessions over a few days after work.

In progress

Then when you're happy with the amount of colors/layers/textures you're done! It's really up to you.

I'm possibly considering doing a different look for another room by rotating the canvas as I go. The good thing about this is there's so many options and if you get a drip you don't like or gets messed up you can cover it up with another color. It's pretty hard to screw it up and that's what is so awesome about it!

If anyone ends up doing this PLEASE send pics! I would love to see what variations you guys come up with!

Reminder! Send your handmade gifts this Friday!

Just a quick reminder for everyone to send out their handmade gifts by this friday. If you wanted to participate but didn't get in on time never fear! I'm thinking of doing a Valentine's Day Handmade card swap to satisfy your craft appetite!

I Can't Wait

I hope it's awesome.

Gift Swap Update!

Image from Selina Lake

Ok the gift swap is on! We have about 5 people interested so far so we will do a circular swap of sorts (does that make sense?). I will be emailing everyone who commented tonight to ask for your addresses then after everyone responds I will send an email with who you will send your gift too and their website or blog if available to help you get to know them. The person who is sending you a gift will be a surprise, ooh la la!!!

It's not too late to join in! Leave a comment if you'd like to participate!

Gift Swap Anyone?

So I had an idea to do a handmade gift swap and I wanted to see if anyone would be interested. It would work like so;

I will match you up with another person to exchange with
The gift can be anything handmade and materials must cost under $20 (US)
The gift must be sent out on or before December 18th

I'm not sure how many people will want to participate but if we could get just enough to do a little gift swap I think this would be really fun!

If you are interested please leave me a comment and we'll see if we can get this baby going!