Creative Dawn

Think spring!!!  What a long winter, I can finally see the ground even if it is muddy.  The birds are chirping and soon you will be able to see even more signs of spring.  This is what is truly an inspiration! This is a post related to one from last week.  I painted a seahorse on a chair and after doing so decided that I really liked the design.  Using that template, I drew the seahorse onto a piece of yellow paper which was actually a manila envelope that I cut apart.  The color stood out to me and was a great contrast with the black scrapbook paper.  It looked best at an angle so now I need to find a frame that will work for it.  

In the past six months I have painted a variety of things.  There are a few items that are found at thrift stores on a regular basis.  They always have a lot of wooden shelves which are not the most conducive to a creative project, tons of frames, wooden trays and of course cutting boards.  I like to use three of the above mentioned when I find them.  Read some of my past posts and you will be reminded of that.  Today, I have another cutting board, this one is the most common size and shape that you will find.  It looked like something from the seventies to me with the lettering and colors.  As with most things I get I just covered the design with paint.  If it isn't an object that suits your taste, cover it in paint and make it your own.  Because of the size of this cutting board and most of them for that matter it is best to keep the design simple.  Since there is a Parrot head fundraiser coming up at the end of the mon...

 My Stencil  Lately, I have been working on an Adirondack chair and foot rest.  It is for a Parrot head charity auction in March so it has to be a tropical theme.  As I was deciding what to do, I came across a picture of a gecko wall decoration and thought it would be perfect.  I painted a gecko on each arm of the chair from a stencil.  Once the chair is finished, a picture will be posted so you can see how I used the gecko design there.  Enough background story, on to the post for today.  I started to think that these cute creatures would make a great addition to my tropical bathroom decor.  This is a 16 x 20 canvas that I had in the basement just gathering dust.  I used my homemade stencils and painted them in bright colors.  It's fun and bright and will look great on the wall once I find a good frame. 

This was probably an assembly line painted tray with a patriotic theme.  Nice, but it could be improved upon. I purchased it at the Goodwill for a few dollars.  I painted it in a bright green, one of my favorite colors and after digging out my Christmas decorations realized that I have quite a few items in this color.  Maybe I like it because it isn't the standard Christmas green.  Well, anyways, after painting the base coat I cut out a few stencils in ornament shapes and in varying sizes and then painted them onto the tray.  The sides I did in a darker green.  The tray is fun and festive.  Now as with everything I make, I need to decide to keep it or give it as a gift . 

Here is another cutting board that I found at a thrift store for a few bucks.  I used bright red and then cut out a tree stencil for the design.  I painted the tree in white and then made quilt-like shapes in shades of green.  Outlined them in white and made different patterns in each block.  A splash of green dots and gold swirls around the tree and you have a simple holiday wall/door hanging.  With the addition of a candy cane striped ribbon to finish it off.

Hi, my name is creative Dawn and I use stencils. But...I do create them myself. Sometimes when you are drawing or decorating you need a design that is consistent, so I cut out my own stencils to use. It's great for symmetric designs like butterflies or margarita glasses. The painting and drawing afterwords is freehand, but sometimes creativity needs a little assistance. I usually use card stock or heavy paper, many times it is something that was used in the past to map out an idea so it's a form of recycling. These are some of my design patterns. You may see them pop up from time to time in a project. One of the many tools used to be creative!