My New Store! - Artspeak Canvases

Hello faithful followers (which number at about 12 I think, haha :). that's a pretty pitiful blog)

Recently I've been posting a lot of canvas paintings that I've been, well, painting. I just wanted to let you know that I will no longer be posting painting on here, my blog. This blog was originally a scrapbooking and craft blog, which is why it's called Kelsey's Scraps, and so, if I ever find the time to get back to that, that's what I'll be posting.

So where will pictures/posts/updates of the canvases I paint be going? I'm glad you asked. Due to a surprisingly positive response to all my paintings from my friends and family on Facebook as well as several requests to buy one, I've decided to start selling my painting. Mainly they are Scripture Doodles, but there are a few that are general canvases as well.

My new "business" name is Artspeak Canvases, because I like to paint art that speaks, such as Scripture Doodles. :) Anyway, if you've ever seen a painting that I've posted that you just really likes and think you might like to buy one, you can check out My Store and see what sizes and prices are available to see if you might consider buying one. It has all the canvases I've posted here, as well as some new ones, and hopefully I'll continue to add more canvases.

You can find me on Facebook too, where you can 'Like' my page to sort of bookmark it. Then you can see my posts of when I have new paintings, and it also has a link to my store to make it easy to find. And of course, if you like Artspeak Canvases, don't forget to share it!!!

Here's my new logo I made. Do you like it? I've got have different sizes and shapes, of course, because some places just don't accommodate such a short and wide logo! So I had to make a square version.

1 Peter 2:24 - Scripture Doodle

Here's another one!!!! This one is 12x24. I ventures away from the standard 11x14 and 16x20 rectangles, haha.

Romans 14:19 - Scripture Doodle

I wanted to do a quick, simple scripture doodle, and splattering paint sounded like fun. And so, I give you a quick, simple, paint splattered scripture doodle.

 I felt like adding a bit of shimmer and sparkle after i finished, so you might be able to see it a little in this picture.

Psalm 13:5-6 - Scripture Doodle

Well, here's another one! I've been wanting to do a music note themed scripture doodle for quite some time now but I had been having trouble finding a good verse that I wanted to do. Not too long ago I'd asked my Centrikid Camp friends what some of their favorite Bible verses were, hoping one would really jump out at me and I'd get an idea for a scripture doodle. There were 2 actually. The first was the Galations 12:20 one. And this was the other, Psalm 13: 5-6, plus I got to finally use a music note theme :). So it was a win-win.

Sorry the picture is a little crooked, I was trying to keep my shadow out of it, but it looks like it creeped in anyway, lol. See there on the left? Haha. Oh well.
And you can't see it in the picture, but I painted the edges of the canvas each one of the 4 colors of the words (pink, blue, purple, and green).

Here's an artistic-ish photo, just in case you wanted one :) ... is it blurry? I think it might be. Eh, whatever.

Gift for Grandma - Count Your Blessings

This craft was inspired by a project I saw somewhere else. I adapted it to the materials I had on hand and what I could get easily or affordable. This is a failry simple gift to make that is perfect for mom's and grandma's. A mother's most joyous blessing is her children, and this gives her a way to proudly show off just how many she has.

I made two of these. One for my mom when she got her first grandchild, and one for my Meemaw. It's a home made pallet wood frame that my dad helped me make. It has routed edges to dress it up a little, and I stained it.

And then, this is where you can tell I'm a broke college kid. I took a cereal box and cut out the wide side panels, one for each frame, large enough to cover the opening of the frame. I then chose my scrapbook paper and glued it to the cereal box, and then I hot glued the cereal box to the back of the frame. So fancy. Just don't look at the back, haha.

I used my Cricut to cut out my words, and some glitter glue to dress it up. I purchased some chalkboard vinyl with an adhesive backing for the 3 panels. I purchased a box of chalk, and fashioned a chalk holder with a piece of paper and magnet to attach it to the back of the frame to always have chalk nearby.

 Then I just went to Michael's to get some plate stands to display it!

 

 Here is a picture of the cereal box backing. Obviously the printed side is on the inside, covered up by the scrapbook paper. And the black square is the magnet where the chalk attaches.

Gift for Grandad - Card Playing Lap Board

My Granddaddy used have a piece of board that he used to play solitaire on all the time. It was wide enough to rest on the arms of his recliner across his lap. Until one day they bought a new, bigger recliner, and his board wasn't wide enough to reach across anymore. So he stopped playing cards.
This past year for Christmas, my brother and I decided to make him a new board that was big enough to fit his big recliner. And since he's a big Ole Miss fan, we gave it an Ole Miss theme.

It's not the best picture, but here it is. My brother made the board, so I'm not sure exactly how he did it. He had some pieces of thin panel left over from something else he had built, so he glued 2 pieces together to made it sturdy. You can't see it in the picture because it isn't far enough away, but he used some kind of saw to round the edges, and then he sanded it. Then he brought it to me to paint.

First I primed it. Then I painted the front Navy Blue and the back Red, which you can see in the picture below. Then I found the logo and the Colonel online and printed it out big. I used carbon/graphite transfer paper to trace it one. I painted it all in white first, then went back and added the red. Then I retraced the Colonel's features onto him since I had painted over them, and I think I went back and used black paint on those details so make sure they didn't rub off.

Then I gave the board back to my brother, and he polyurethaned it, to seal it and give a nice finish.

Granddaddy loved it, and now he can play cards again. Here is a picture of him using the board.

DIY Picture Puzzle

Several weeks ago, one of my friends from Centrikid that lives forever away in North Carolina sent me a package in the mail. It was a few silly little items that most people wouldn't mean much. But they completely made my day because of the thought she put into the package, which was to remind me of all the fun times we had a camp. Water balloons, flarp, and a rainbow colored bandana, along with a wonderfully encouraging card.

I had been wanting to send some people from camp some letters anyway, so this was perfect motivation for me to finally get around to it. I knew if anyone loves getting things in the mail even half as much as I do, then hopefully they would appreciate some snail mail.

I needed something new, exciting, unusual, and fun! So this is what I came up with. A picture of me and my friend in the form of a puzzle, and I made it all on my own! Keep reading for instructions.

Step 1: Go to the dollar store and pick out a 24 piece puzzle. You could get a 32 or more piece, but it's easiest to work with bigger pieces. I used this cute little Precious Moments Puzzle. (WARNING: The cuter the puzzle, the harder it is to cover it up in step 2!)

Step 2: Paint the puzzle white! What I did was put the puzzle together and then I tried to paint over it like it was a canvas with white acrylic paint. Let me tell you why this is not a good idea.

1. Once acrylic paint starts to dry, it dries like a solid sheet, which means all your pieces stick together and if you try to pull them apart, it's very easy to peel the paint off one or both pieces. If you've ever gotten acrylic paint on your hands and peeled it off, you know what I'm talking about when I say it dried as one big layer.
2. It takes a lot of paint because it's basically guaranteed you'll have to give it a second coat, which I went back and did on each individual piece rather than do the whole thing again. (I was catching on :))
3. Because of steps 1 and 2, this takes a lot of time. Paint one coat, let it dry. Pull your pieces apart. Paint each individual piece with a 2nd coat. Let it dry. Possible have to touch a few pieces with a 3rd coat. Let it dry.

So what do I suggest? Spray paint. White spray paint. It will get a good, even, thick covering, and will dry relatively fast. And even if you do have to add a second coat, all it takes is a minute to do. I would lay all my pieces out on newspaper, NOT CONNECTED, -but make sure they are oriented correctly so you know what piece goes where, other wise you're trying to work a solid white puzzle before you can move on!!! - and spray paint them.

Once the puzzle pieces are dry, put it together.

Step 3: Find the picture you want to use. This is the one I used.

Then use a photo editing program, I used Picasa, to get a pencil sketch and crop it down. Make sure it has plenty of lines for detail.

Step 4: Print out your sketch picture in the correct size for your puzzle. Obtain some graphite/carbon transfer paper. Place the transfer paper under your picture, be sure the waxy side is face down on your puzzle, and trace all the important lines, which is anything defining in the face, hair, and clothing, and all the outline lines, of course. I'm sure you can tell that I ignored the background, I only traced the 2 people.

Step 5: Once your people are traced onto to the puzzle, it's time to color it. I used a makeup wedge sponge and some stamping ink. I chose the sponge and ink technique (hey, that rhymed :) ) because I wanted the look of the softer edges. And because I knew the ink would still allow my carbon transfer lines to show through, especially in the lighter colors, a little less so in the darker colors.

However, if the ink did look a little too think over the carbon lines, it fixed very easily with a black colored pencil.

One thing I did not like about using the stamping ink was that it took forever to dry because the acrylic paint is not porous like paper, and so it couldn't soak it up. In fact, there were a few places there I had too much ink that it never dried. I fixed this problem in step 6, but if you are unable to do step 6, I suggest finding a different medium to color with, maybe paint or even markers. Not sure how markers work on spray paint though, never tried it.

Step 6: This step is not 100% necessary, unless your ink isn't drying. But even if your ink is drying, this step is a good finishing step to make your puzzle look better and last longer. And that would be, coat it with Clear Acrylic Sealer, (if your ink is not dry, only use the spray can kind or obviously your ink will smear.)

When I sprayed my pieces, I had taken them apart because I wasn't sure if the sealer would act the same as the acrylic paint when it dried, making them stick together. So just as a precaution, I suggest taking apart your puzzle before spraying it.

Be sure to follow the instructions on the can, and make sure you do this step out side.

When you're done and the pieces are dry, you'll have a nice, smooth, glossy coated puzzle. Another plus is that this weighs less than 13 ounces, which means you can mail it straight from your mail box. I just put all the pieces in a ziplock baggie, put it in a padded mailing envelope, used Paypal to pay for postage and print out a label, and it was good to go. It only cost me $1.92 to mail it. So add 1 dollar for the puzzle, and I already had everything else, and this was a $3 project. :)