Wednesday, April 11, 2007

On the road to recovery

Thanks so much for all your comments yesterday. Isaiah seems to be doing well and probably hasn't even noticed that he has a big goop of glue on his forehead. Yesterday it was just too much for me to be in the house, risking him hitting his head again, so I headed off to the thrift store. We weren't there but 2 minutes when a little girl passed us and looked up at Isaiah and said "eeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww". I almost had to run her down with my cart, but don't worry, I controlled myself. I'm only (halfway) kidding.

This morning I spent my time running after Isaiah, picking up all the books on the floor, making sure he was going to hit his head. I swear this is making me paranoid, but I don't want my poor baby to have a big scar in the middle of his forehead. That would not make for a good modeling career. Haha. Then again, Owen Wilson has a big crooked nose and he's successful. Ahh.. anyway, I went to Target and all of the Easter things are 75% off and the dollar spot is 50%. So if you're in the mood for some shopping and haven't had your fill of Easter candy yet, go check it out. I got 2 bags of my beloved Cadbury Mini Eggs for just .69 each. Now that's a bargain!

Lately, I haven't been too much in the mood for sewing. After getting all my fabric and notions organized it just seems too much to mess it up! I'm not very good about putting away my fabric as I use it. I've really felt like painting a lot, so last night I went out in the shed and got a scrap piece of wood. So, this is what I'm working on now. I'm using a piece of vintage scarf from my MIL. Haven't really figured out what I'm going to do after that.


I'm also using a technique I learned in high school. It's actually pretty cool and very easy to do. It basically takes an image and makes it look like stained glass. Here's a picture of it, although it didn't turn out all that well because I didn't put enough layers on, but I promise it works. Here's what you do:

Take anything printed on plan paper, like a photocopy, or in this case, I'm using a coloring book I found at the thrift store. You can either color it with pencils, crayons, or acrylic paints. You also could do the image first, then paint it after it dries. Then using an Acrylic Medium (I used Liquitex Gel Medium, Gloss), brush layers over image. Let dry and continue applying layers, drying in between, until fairly thick (like 5-8 layers). When completely dry, wet back of papers and begin rolling the backing off. Here's what the back looks like when it starts to peel off.
You can add more water if you need to do so. When finished, the image should be semi-transparent. (I haven't completely finished taking the back off).You can then glue it onto almost any surface. I'm going to do another one tonight, so hopefully that will turn out better. Hope some of you guys try this, it's really fun and easy.

7 comments:

Anina said...

Oh! Oh! Oh! I used to do this too. We would do what you're doing and then decoupage the pictures onto plaster of paris castings made using the bottoms of margarine tubs as molds.

Wow, what a trip back in time!

lera said...

I am laughing over you wanting to run down the little girl in the thrift store. I can see myself doing that for sure.

And I love Cadbury Mini Eggs. I almost went to Target yesterday. Hmm. Maybe tomorrow.

Unknown said...

I've done that technique but using clear packing tape instead of the medium. It's quicker (no drying time!) but you're somewhat limited to the width of the tape. You can line up strips over a wider image but I'm too lazy for that. :)

Karyn said...

I'm glad Isaiah's doing fine. You're actually going to be more scarred from this experience than he is!!
Mmmmmmmm...sale chocolate :)

Heidijayhawk said...

very cool idea katie! love it. glad to know the boy is doing better!

Jess said...

Oh my gosh, I am so going to have to try that! I'm not artistic to save my life, but I think I could handle a coloring book!

Anonymous said...

What a neat effect. Glad to hear the kid is ok.