Painted Pumpkin Patch

When it comes to craft supplies (and a good bargain), I can be somewhat impulsive. A recent outing with my husband had us right next door to Michael's when I spotted baskets of craft pumpkins outside the door.... half price! Rolling his eyes, I b-lined to the baskets and grabbed up as many pumpkins as my arms could hold.

Inspired by the MacKenzie-Childs Pumpkins, I started checkering. Little did I know how challenging checkering a round, not-so-perfectly shaped pumpkin would be. I finished the small and medium but my patience and weekend ran out.

The next weekend, feeling fresh and inspired I painted the two remaining pumpkins - but with more color and flair. Ikat print and orange make me happy, I think they go together and I felt the small pumpkin needed a neutral, so I went with leopard print. As far as I'm concerned, leopard is neutral.

Now that they're all done, we have quite the Painted Pumpkin Patch serving as the greeting committee for the Team McDaniel home.

**I entered the Painted Pumpkin Patch in Michael's #TrickYourPumpkin Sweepstakes and sure hope these cuties win me the $250 gift card that's up for grabs. I could have a lot fun living creatively with that kind of prize!

OU Wreaths - We don't cheer for the Sooners.

We don't cheer for the Sooners, but a former co-worker and her family does! When she saw my OSU wreath, she asked if I would make her an OU one. And because I'm not too proud, I agreed!

But not without POKEing a little fun with the Sooners... 

That's how I should have glued down the letters, right? Of course I didn't. Hopefully the Patrick Family is enjoying their new wreath!

Thanks to Facebook, word spread and had another request for an OU Wreath. Now the Childers' family are showing their Sooner spirit on their front door!

Even though I don't cheer for the Sooners, I sure did enjoy putting these wreaths together for the girls! Go Pokes!

OSU Wreath - This house cheers for the OSU Cowboys!

Not only is my Alma-matter ranked #1 for the 2013 season... we're also currently winning Southern Living's Best Tailgate of the South. See, true OSU fans believe in the saying, "win or lose, we still booze!"

 

Because we're getting excited for Orange Fridays and Saturday Football, I decided it was time to make a new OSU wreath for our front door! I want it to be known that "this house cheers for the Cowboys"! I started out by painting paper mache letters, checkered of course. Then gathered up a hodge-podge mix of orange, black and white fabrics with burlap and leopard serving as the neutrals and started attempting to make my plan.

 

It took me a while to figure out placement and what to include there must have been 6 test ideas before I finally got to the final design. I cut, pinned, sewed and hot glued until my little heart was content.. and here's the final product! 

4 Day 4th of July

I could really get used to 4 day weekends. When Wednesday is your 'Friday', it's amazing what all you can do. B and I spent two full days at Lake Texoma celebrating the 4th of July with fun in the sun and fireworks and still had a day and a half to spend at home before starting the week. Because laundry and other house chores is 'for the birds', I spent most of the time at home painting. 

Wanting to paint something different than my latest pieces (see them here, here and here), I whipped out this traditional yet whimsical 11x14" painting.  You'll even notice that I used a color I rarely use - red (Xmas ornaments are an exception).

After finishing the Traditional Whimsy painting, my creative juices were still flowing. To switch things up, I went for bigger and out of my comfort zone. For once, I started out without a plan and let my love for ikat and bright colors shine through in this 18x24 Afternoon Ikat piece. 

Because I still felt like painting, I painted a plain-jane initial I had stored away - Mackenzie-Childs Courtly Check inspired, of course. 

Then, I noticed a pattern in everything I paint. I always finish them off with a little gold... so I guess, adding gold is 'my signature thing'.

At this point, B looked at me and the collection of paintings/crafts we're beginning to acquire and asked what I'm going to do with all this. Good question. I have no idea and we're running out of room in our house.

I'm too chicken to open up an Etsy shop or Facebook 'fan' page just yet, but am thinking about hosting a pop-up shop (via my personal Facebook or Instagram) to see how things go. What do you think?

Terrariums, Painting and Decorating

I guess my creative juices were flowing this weekend. I kept filling the space in between normal weekend stuff with creative stuff. Somehow I managed to host an unofficial craft night, paint a 16x20 canvas and decorate a space that hadn't been decorated in nearly 4 years... in a matter of about 48 hours. 

It started Saturday, while running my errands I walked by a terrarium display at Lowe's. I've been wanting to make one, but just haven't gotten to it yet - so, I started gathering supplies. Knowing we were having another couple over for dinner, I decided us girls would have a craft night while the boys did their thing chilling on the patio. 

Terrariums are as easy as 1, 2, 3. Literally,  1 = rocks, 2 = charcoal, 3 = soil, 4 = plants, 5 = more rocks, done.

Sunday morning, when all I wanted to do was sleep in until 8am… and my body thought 6:25am was a better idea, I busted out a 16x20 canvas and painted. 
 

While B was away for most of the day, the big blank wall in our living room was really bugging me. I have purposely left the wall blank, because my Mom always said, just leave it empty until you find the perfect thing for over the couch. 

This whole time (nearly 4 years) I’ve been looking for ONE perfect thing, when I realized that space could definitely handle a couple perfect things. I laid possible items out on the floor so I could get a better visual for balance and spacing. Here was an initial stab at what the mix might look like:

 

One of my favorite parts of my married last name is the "Mc", so wanted to make use of the little 'c'. But the gold didn't look just right. I had to paint it.

Mackenzie-Childs Courtley Check-like of course.

Most of the items are result of my craft making. Two paintings by me, a big "M" I got down in Canton, TX, little 'C' from Hobby Lobby, and my 1st anniversary, paper gift to Brandon showcasing the Texas girl and the Oklahoma boy. 

The collage isn't perfect, but I love how it's quirky, colorful and ties in both Brandon and Me.