recycled cabinet door --> kitchen art

 

sometimes you come across a phrase that makes you laugh and say "wow, that is so me!"

 Which is what I did when I read this phrase.  I honestly can't remember where I saw this phrase, perhaps on Facebook?  

We love making pizza at our house and the pizza crust and sauce are always made from scratch.  

Nothing beats grilled margherita pizza in the summer with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden...yum!

I had a few old kitchen cabinet doors in the studio, leftovers from a major kitchen remodel a few years ago.   I used one of the cabinet doors and chalk lettering to make this art piece. 

I refinished the wood then sprayed the center with chalkboard paint.  I gave it a few coats, letting it dry between each coat. Had my hubby fasten some serious mounting hardware to the back (this piece is heavy) and then I was ready to start with the chalk. 

First step was to season the chalkboard area.  Think of this as priming the space before lettering.  It involves taking the side of a regular piece of white chalk and rubbing it over the chalkboard area a few times (in both directions) then wiping it off.  This creates a surface that easier to write on and erase. 

Using a chalk pencil, instead of a regular piece of chalk, makes lettering much easier.  And the fact that it is chalk, makes wiping away mistakes easier too.  Which I had to do.  A lot.  

I got my chalk pencil from Dick Blick Dick Blick Chalk Pencil

The pizza cutter (and I sure hope you could tell it is a pizza cutter!) was lightly sketched several times before I gave in and figured it looked good enough. 

When all was said and done I decided to seal the piece using Krylon Matt Spray (mainly because I had some in the studio).   I tested the spray a few times on an old Masonite board, just to make sure it was spraying evenly.  Then it was all set to display in the kitchen. 

and now I feel like making pizza tonight...

 

mandala inspired initial art

 

I had fun creating this piece.  It was done with Micron pens on some white cardstock I had in my studio. Mandala art inspired the design.  The overall size is 8" x 10".  

Mandala art is a geometric design that holds a lot of symbolism in Hindu and Buddhist cultures.  Mandala's are circles with geometric designs.  Some people find creating mandalas to be a form of meditation. 

I sketched out the "K" initial lightly in pencil then used micron pens to make designs up to the penciled area.  After I was finished I erased any pencil lines. 

At first I was going to color it in but for now I'm leaving this in black and white. 

Making cards using Peel-Off stickers

 Nothing like a cold winter day to get some studio time and make a bunch of cards.  I’ve used Peel-Off stickers (also called Outline Stickers) to make these cards.    

Peel-Off stickers are thin flexible stickers of images or sentiments/greetings.  They give a faux embossed look to your project.  These stickers have been around for a long time and I always have a stash in my studio.  They are fairly inexpensive and you can make a lot of cards with just one sheet of stickers.  They are available in different foils and colors with the post popular being black, gold and silver.  

The trick with these stickers is to go slow and be gentle when removing them.  They are very thin and can easily twist.  Use your finger nail to get under the edge of the sticker or use a craft tweezer.

Using Post-It Notes is another way to help remove the stickers.  This technique works well with sentiments that you want to make sure are lined up straight on the paper.

Take a Post-It Note and place it sticky side down on top of the sticker, press down gently then carefully pull up the edges of the sticker.  You are aiming to have the post-it note hold on to the sticker.  

After it is removed from the sheet then carefully position the sticker onto your paper and press down on the Post-It Note and remove it from the sticker.

My favorite way of using these stickers on cards is to color them in with paints or Copic markers.

  

You can also place the stickers over decorative paper and leave them as is or cut them out and glue them to a card.  Here I’ve placed the stickers on scrap sheets of alcohol inked paper and cut them out - a technique called “fussy cutting”.  

This sticker was placed on watercolor paper, painted, cut out and glued onto the card.  The silver decorative corners were from another sheet of Peel-Off stickers. 

I like buying sentiments in white or silver because then they can be colored with sharpie markers or alcohol inks. Allows me to color coordinate with the colors on the card.  Before coloring them in I always cut the sentiment from the sheet so I don't get color on surrounding images. 

 There are lots of creative options for these stickers. 

It was a fun day in the studio and didn't take long to pull these card together. 

Happy crafting!