A Boot Pour

Remember my £1 pair of boots I picked up at the car boot? Well I decided to play with one of them today. (BH Monday).

I had/have no idea what I was doing but I decided I wanted to do a paint pour over the boot! I mixed about 8 colours of paint, including black and white and took the lace out of the boot.

Once I'd mixed all the paints I poured them all into one big coke cup. This is what I ended up with.

And this is how much the cup was filled up. I had no idea how much I would need!

Before I got to this stage I needed assistance. Once I'd poured the paint and covered the boot I was stuck. I never thought about what I was going to do with it or how it would dry. So I shouted Martin who put a carrier bag over a cooling rack for me and I stood it on that. I took it outside and paint is still dripping off it three hours later. That tells me I used far too much paint, but hey ho.

The only problem is, with the paint still moving, the pattern is changing all the time and it's difficult to 'save' something that you like. This is still soaking wet and the paint is still sinking down.

From the zip side, but again still very wet and the paint is still moving.

I was asked the other day if there is much wastage, and the answer is yes, lots! I'm not sure if you can see from this photo as the excess paint is caught on a piece of thick cellophane in a tray and it's quite deep. It may be my fault as I may have used too much, but I've been caught out before not having enough. I did contemplate tipping it onto a canvas, but as I wasn't too far away from making mud with all the colours, I decided just to leave it to get a skin on it before I dispose of it, as I reckon it will take weeks to dry! 

Three days later, totally dried, this is what I've ended up with and I love it.

View from the non zip side.

Close up of the front of the boot. Here it's held the colours and shape better because it was a flatter surface and didn't have far to drip.

Close up of the outside of the boot, some great colour combos going on.

Love this section here where the yellow has come through.

Another close up, love how it's come out.

And how the paint has continued and dripped over the sole of the boot.

And this is the zip side of the boot.

I really love it and not bad for a first boot pour.

All paint products are from the DecoArt range.

Felt on Earth - Sarafina Drop

I spent this morning making the nests to put the mini bunnies and mice in ready to be packaged and left somewhere in my community for others to pick up and enjoy.

A close up of the little bunnies.

And here they are wrapped in cellophane and decorated with some curly ribbon.

They all have a Sarafina (tm) Felt on Earth postcard attached to them too.

They were great fun to do and I feel priviledged to be taking part.

Sleepy Mice

I wanted to make something for a friends birthday and when in conversation, she mentioned mice. So I decided to have a go following Sarafina's sleepy mice tutorial which I followed apart from the eyes as I wanted open not closed eyes, but I'm really pleased with how these came out. I used the NZ carded batts from The Felt Box which felted up really well. 

Sat up on the needle felted cushion.

I filled a shallow plastic dish with shredded tissue paper and placed the mice inside. I like the patterned fabric that I'd put them on, so I decided to cover the plastic dish with the fabric.

Once covered, I filled the dish with the shredded paper and added the mice.

I wrapped them with celephane and finished them off with a ribbon. Fingers crossed she likes it.

Skellen Stencil by Debs Wainwright - Artzone

Once again, this is the stencil that I used which was designed by Debs Wainwright of Artzone. This one is called Skellen.

This is an mdf cog, painted with brown DecoArt vintage effect wash and hunter green. I mixed DecoArt chalky paint, new life, with DecoArt white modeling paste and put it through the stencil. I also used part of the Boho Jane stencil on the edges. 

This is white DecoArt modeling paste mixed with DecoArt everlasting chalky paint as I wanted a really rich, bright white. As you can see, the stencils work perfectly, no bleeding or anything, just a great crisp image.

I added a hat and Martin brought home some cellophane which reminded me of a spiders web. I tried to glue it on but you could see the glue through the cellophane, so instead I used washi tape around the edges to keep it in place. This stencil would be a great buy for your Halloween makes.

These are the five stencils Debs has designed. They are available to buy now from her Etsy shop here, and they are soon to be available at Country View Crafts and Handmade at Helens.

I haven't been paid to do or say any of this, I was simply sent a couple of stencils to play with. But what I would like to say, and this is only my opinion, is that the stencils are very easy to work with, they are of a good quality weight and because of this they are very easy to clean as there are no flimsy delicate parts. As you can see, they are very versatile, you can use them either way round, they leave a great impression and you can easily isolate different parts, so you don't have to use all the stencil. They are excellent value for money, they retail at £5.75 and I wouldn't hesitate to buy them.

Christmas Candles

I've been playing with pillar/church candles, tissue paper and cellophane. 

And this is the back.

Simon Says Wednesday have a theme of Christmas/Holidays