Day 3 of Watermelon Week!

Hello! It’s Wednesday and we’re midway through Watermelon Week. But you know how Wednesdays can be. Maybe a refreshing watermelon drink would be just the ticket? I’ve got two for you -

Watermelon Week–Day 2!

Hey there! Did you see the yummy watermelon ‘treats’ yesterday? I have three more for you today.

You know those people who are not only creative and crafty, but thoughtful too? Katie at The Crafty Blog Stalker is one of those. She made this adorable treat bag and tag that says “You Are One in a Melon!”

Watermelon Week!

This week is going to be such fun! I’m joining fourteen other bloggers and each of us have created something “watermelon”. Whether you love to eat watermelon or, like me, love to add pops of watermelon red to your summer décor, you’re sure to find some projects you’ll love.

Today I’m sharing one delectable recipe and two adorable paint projects.

Coastal Décor Ideas

Hello! Wanna take a trip to the beach today? That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? While I can’t magically transport all of us to some white sandy shore, I can share some decorating inspiration that might make you feel tranquil and serene.

I just started guest posting at Craft Gossip this week. Whee! Have you checked CG out? Oh my, tons and tons of crafty goodness. I’m honored and excited to write a weekly post there, starting with this one. Hope you’ll stop by and say hi.

Btw, if you’re one of the lucky ducks who live on the coast, go ahead, tell us where you live so we can all swoon a bit.

P.S. I’m doing a live Hangout on Air today at 4 pm PST – Painting Easy Summer Fruit. As always, I’ll insert the feed and video into a post here so you don’t even have to click over to Google+. Who loves ya?

Colleen

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19 Vintage Door Upcycling Ideas

Did you miss this post about the raffle? You can enter to win my painting Two Cows for Oklahoma AND help the Red Cross at the same time!

This old french door has been sitting in our garage for as long as I can remember. Now that escrow has closed and we gotta be outta here in three weeks, this baby is coming with me. Somewhere.

Look at all of that chippy goodness. I’m trying to leave as much intact as I can, but it needs a few good coats of poly on it to protect it.

Painting Cows

Because painting these Two Cows was pretty emotional, I didn’t plan on writing a tutorial. But for some reason I took a number of photos of the different stages. Habit, I guess. So I thought some of you might like seeing those stages. One of these days I’ll do a serious tutorial for painting animals.

Like anything I paint, I always start with a photo reference.

This beautiful picture was photographed by Ree, The Pioneer Woman. It’s so gorgeous, it almost looks posed, doesn’t it?

While I loved the composition of it, I wanted to focus on the cows faces so I had to take a little artistic license and do some repositioning.

House Hunting

Did you miss this post about the raffle? You can enter to win my painting Two Cows for Oklahoma AND help the Red Cross at the same time!

Tomorrow our house closes in escrow, barring any unforeseen hiccups. It’s a bittersweet milestone. Sad, because I grew up in this house. Sure, that was many, many moons ago but when we moved back here two years ago, all of those memories were refreshed and brought to the forefront.

Selling this house is sweet because I feel like I haven’t had my ‘own’ home for 3 years, since Marlon & I lost our home together. He moved in with his mother, I moved in with Mom and we made the best of it, planning for the day when we’d live together under one roof again. Plans change.

We have three weeks after tomorrow’s close and then we have to be outta here. One problem with that . . . we don’t have a house to move into. ruh-roh.

Two Cows for Oklahoma – A Raffle!

This is the first time I’ve ever raffled one of my paintings for anything. I hope when you read the story behind this painting, you’ll understand why I’m choosing to give it away to contribute to the relief effort for Moore, Oklahoma. Raffle details are at the bottom of this post.

Some of my paintings I consider more special than others, for various reasons. Usually I don’t know whether or not the painting will be one of those ‘special’ ones until it’s finished.

Not this with this one. With this painting I knew before I’d even set the paintbrush to canvas that it was going to be different.

A couple of weeks ago was the anniversary of my husband’s death. May 14. Call me silly, but I was totally unprepared for how hard of a day it would be. I tried everything I could to get on top of the pain & depression I was feeling on that particular day. Nothing worked. I knew I needed to paint, to start a new painting, to get lost in my work so I wouldn’t feel so lost in my life.

As I stared at the blank canvas, pondering what to paint, an overwhelmingly strong message came to me. Paint cows.

Cows?!? Now, why on earth would I paint cows? It’s not that I don’t like cows. I do. But cows don’t ‘fit’ into any category that I’m working on.

That didn’t matter on this day. It was as if there was a pull, a magnetic draw, to start a cow painting. I don’t know where it came from. Was it Marlon, sending me a message? Or some other intuition? Wherever it was coming from I knew I needed to paint cows. So I did what I always do when I plan a new work - I googled Images. Nothing appealed to me though. Oh, there are tons of cute cows on google but none of them spoke to me. Where can I find some good photo references of cows?

Another message came through – The Pioneer Woman.

How To Paint Faux Leather Photo Frame

I hate to break it to you but Father’s Day is three weeks away! Here’s a fun and easy faux finish that’s perfect for the guy in your life.

Don’t let the words “faux finish” scare you off, ok? This is a foolproof paint finish and you only need a few supplies.

Patriotic Printable to Paint or Color

Whether you’re enjoying a quiet weekend at home or are barbecuing with friends, I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day.

I spent a few moments sketching this printable and giving thanks to all of the Americans who have fought for our country. It’s not much, just a sketch, something you can print off for the kids to color or paint.

But there’s just something about the red, white and blue. Something special.

Happy Memorial Day.

patriotic printable in color