A is for Alligator!

YAY! I finally finished my first painting for Conner's room! Only 25 more to go... this one took me about three hours but I love how it turned out. I just used a 12x12 stretched canvas, acrylic paint, some cute pics found online for inspiration, and wooden letters.

I painted all 26 canvases alternating colors (orange, brown, beige, yellow, red, blue, etc...). Then free handing the pics of animals for each canvas. I found the wooden letters at Michaels for about $1.29 each and painted those as well. I thought the floating letter would add a little texture and depth to the paintings.

Hopefully these will be completed before he gets here... 3 hours x 25 paintings = 75 hours of painting! Here's to determination!

It was really fun painting this one... Conner has been really active tonight and I was home alone listening to the "Kate Nash" station on LastFM.com. I was singing along and all smiley and happy the whole time. Dave was off watching the Packer game with his buddies and so it was just me, the dogs and Conner. I was having these fantasies the whole time of my son asking about all the paintings and learning the alphabet a ridiculously young age because he had been exposed to it since birth... then I fantasized that he asked me as a father-to-be himself if he could have them for his unborn child's nursery. It was kind of cool to just sit and be creative and let my mind go wherever it pleased. It was really important to me as an artist to incorporate something that I had made into his nursery and have that something be educational and inspiring. I hope I hit the jackpot with this idea!

So, what are some things that you have done for your kids? Please share your ideas and pics and experiences, I would love to hear what you have all come up with...

Peace!
 -Pin

DIY Corkboard

So I love wine... Before I became pregnant I had this belief that everything was better with a glass of wine, but I haven't been able to "partake" for almost half of a full year. Because of this belief, I have this slightly ridiculous cork collection and have been meaning to use them to create something really cool. If you will recall from my Anti-Resolutionist post, one of my list items for the year was to take those corks and create a cork board. I have spotted them before in wineries and decorating magazines, and thought that was something I could do myself. Because I have been asked by a few people how I will go about making this cork board (which is awesome because it means that people are actually reading my blog!!!) I will list the instructions as I have them in my head.

Warning - I have not yet created this project beyond the pictures in my mind, so if there are some serious flaws to my design please feel free let me know.

Homemade Cork Board

Ingredients:

• wine corks apx 50 - discard plastic and torn corks
• 1/4 in Plywood cut to size
• Wood Glue
• Hanging Hardware
• framing - I will most likely use 1/4 round or something similar

Instructions

• Paint or stain plywood depending on your taste
• Cut all the corks lengthwise and begin gluing from the middle of the plywood. Alternate between vertical and horizontal placement making sure that the winery is showing on each cork. (tip - use 2 corks at a time for each placement = II = II ensuring that the placement is even)
• Make sure that all the winery names are facing the same way.
• Allow glue to dry for a day or so
• Stain or paint the framing and add to the board
• Add hanging hardware to the back, find a stud, and hang it up
• Voila! A brand new cork board... congrats!

I Promise that when I actually get around to making mine, I will post pictures and the instructions that I actually used. If you get to it before me, show me your finished masterpiece!
Peace,
Pin