Animal Paintings

Don't we love our animals? They become part of our family.

I am working on a space for a client and I wanted to add a personal touch to it. I think every space should have something you love in it.

When I saw her dog I knew I had to paint him.

 I love to paint but it has been awhile since I have painted on canvas. The last time was painting my valances in my Craft Room. 

I have painted all types and styles. A post that best represents this was my Painting and Love post.

This was something I really enjoyed because of my love for animals. I am now thinking of offering custom pet portraits in my ETSY shop. I love how doing one thing turns into something else.

I started with a picture printed off my computer.

I penciled in a sketch of the subject and started layering paint. I used acrylic.

I kept the photo near me to try and get the likeness of the animal as close as I could.

I love the way it came out and I think his owner did too!

What do you think? I love painting on this size. They are 12x12 gallery wrapped canvases.

Painting is a perception. A creative expression. Whether I paint on canvas or furniture it is what makes my soul happy:) If interested in purchasing one of your sweet baby. I am selling these for $160 They are acrylic on 12"x12" gallery wrapped canvas. Shipping is 12.95US I will need an email with a headshot of your pet with a color background you are interested in. To order click button below!
If you are local email first so you can pick up with no shipping charge.

Valentine's Day Mantel {Mantle}

"This is the song project that never ends, cause it goes on and on my friends....."

It all began with a little challenge to myself. (Yes I do that because no one else will lol)
I wanted to do a different Valentine's Mantle. One I haven't seen.

How hard could that be?

.........................................Well that is what I thought!

I mean I came up with an idea and all I had to do was implicate it.

So I started out with a bunch of these......

I wanted to make something with books. And since I have a whole bonus room filled with these babies I just knew I could do.it.

But we have all seen folded pages and mod podged print. How was I going to make something different?

I decided to make a heart out of books.....

So I gathered and built and stacked.

Then I looked for all the red books I could find.

.............................................and that's when the trouble began......

Was this going to turn into an epic fail?

I did't realize how many red books I needed. I also didn't realize that most of my books aren't red!!

Fail
..........................Fail
........................................Fail!!!!

Then I came up with a brilliant idea. I will only use the red ones as an outline. I will turn the others around to show only white pages.

So back to building....

It was like playing Tetris. Do you remember that game? You had to get the pieces to fit within each other. Well that is how the books were. I had to piece them together like a puzzle and they were all different sizes. I had to try and keep them all straight too with all the different thicknesses.
To top it all off, I had to make sure they didn't all come tumbling down.

When I stepped back to see my masterpiece...... I couldn't see a heart.

So I started again. In the mean time are you still with me?  I wanted to add a backing on the wall to give another layer. So I added some brown paper.

Then I wrote in script my favorite poem. Actually it is our favorite poem.

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."  My husband and I have always wrote and spoke these words to each other. I knew it would be great for Valentine's Day.

A subtle, lightly inked, handwritten poem to be the message....of love.  Like having a huge card on my wall.

I have used it before in french when I painted my French Hutch.

And after stacking a few hundred books....trying to be creative
                                                                                         and artsy
                                                             I ended up with this.

My problem is I feel it needs something else.

This was supposed to be a simple project.      HA!

So I decided to just go with it. Let go of the obsessive behavior....

Stand back and relax....Take the picture write the post and press publish!

So here it is! I think I accomplished it being something different. My outside the box project.

 Is it an epic fail?

I will let you decide.

 I still want to tweak it. Since Valentine's Day is in a few days, I knew I had to let it be...

Now I am cringing thinking about putting all those books back upstairs!

It is growing on me:)

Do you spend WAY too much time on simple projects sometimes?

I want to thank Donna from Funky Junk Interiors for featuring my Coffee Sack Heart!

Hugs

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http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Spent a lot of time this week on things that sucked up my time! For some reason my blog was acting up probably my fault  and my page was all wonky. I have been working on an idea for my Valentine's Day mantle which will probably be a fail post! Does this ever happen to you?

Sometimes I think to hard! I get tired of seeing the same things. So I want to try and think outside the box but it can become an epic fail!

Do I quit?

....................................... Heck no!

I will keep on keeping on with the hopes of discovering something I really love, like when I created my Dessert Tray Chandelier, my Fabulous Fan or even my Bird Wall Art.

or.....my favorite....my Audrey Hepburn Dresser!

So you see it is worth the time spent and even the failed projects if you get that one thing that is your Ah-Ha Moment!! Whether you get featured or not. As long as it satisfies you!

Today will be one of those days.......trying to finish projects......and hoping to satisfy that creative itch.

In the meantime I will leave you with this new recipe that I tried. I actually baked something I pinned from my Pinterest board Good Eats. This delicious recipe from Just Baked click for recipe.

Hope you try it. I would love for you to follow me on Pinterest too!

The key to this cake is,,,,,,,do not overcook and.....

make sure you swirl the cream cheese in the batter so it is distributed throughout the cake.

My family loved this recipe. It is a keeper!

Hope you have a wonderfully creative day!

How to Make a Bunny Washcloth {tutorial}

This was a busy weekend! I feel like I am behind on a lot of things. Super bowl was an exciting game with Beyonce', power outage and the Raven's win. My favorite commercials were of course the Budweiser horse and Dodge with Paul Harvey talking about farmers. (I miss Paul Harvey and the rest of the story!)

I also had a baby shower to go to. Funny, you start feeling old when your friends babies start having babies. It has been awhile since I have been to a baby shower. I like making things to give to people even if it is something small. I have made Onesie Cupcakes which are adorable. They are also a popular post! They make such a sweet presentation. I have also Hand Painted Canvas with the child's name.

This mom needed a bath tub and I filled it with bath supplies, hooded towel, lotion, shampoo, a book for bedtime and more. I wrapped the tub in clear wrap and made it into a filled basket. Something was missing on the front of it. I remembered an "old" idea. A Bunny Washcloth! This would be perfect with the tub!  It has been a long time since I made these but they are so cute!!

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on How to Make a Bunny Washcloth

You will need:
a washcloth
small rubber bands
double-sided tape
hole punch
paper

Start with your new washcloth opened in a square

I used white but you can use any color. Start rolling the corner.

Roll it half way and then roll the other side to meet in the middle.

Then fold rolls in half so that each corner meets

Turn and fold corners in half again bringing open end to rolled back

Now you will take a small rubber band and make a head by placing the rubber band around the fold opposite of open corners

I like using these. You can get a bunch at any dollar store

You will start to see a bunny forming

Take a small piece of double-sided tape and place it across the head

Get your hole punch and punch out of colored paper two eyes and stick to tape

You should have a cute fluffy bunny. It can hold powder, candles anything you wish.

 I used mine to tie on the front of the package. Adding something homemade always makes your package stand out!

Thanks for visiting!

http://dreaming-n-color.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-to-make-bunny-washcloth-tutorial.html

Woke up to This!

I have to say that it has been dreary most of the month of January. Tennessee never gets a lot of snow, which I am glad about the older I get. We do however get bad storms. 13 tornadoes touched down the other day! I am thinking about redoing the closet under my stairs since we spend more time there now trying to keep safe from storms.

So this morning I awoke to a beautiful site. Although I can't wait for spring to get here, and it can snow once and leave, I actually enjoyed the brightness the layer of white gave. The leaves caught it and everything glistened.

Someone else liked it too! He was actually scared at first lol. He wasn't used to it.

I love how he looks against the white backdrop. See the snow falling?


Then he gave his cute Santa impression! He is so talented!

And we just discovered he is a Flat Coat lab. When we adopted him we just thought he was a lab mix. My daughter research it and discovered pictures that look just like him. They were all Flat Coat Labs.
Funny we don't really care. We love him anyway!

Unfortunately never heard back from the winner so I had to select another.
You have 48hrs to respond!

Go here to see and please email me with your info so I can send it out to you!

Grey Hutch {French Style}

One of my favorite colors to paint furniture is grey. I have used it many times before. Once when I painted my Scripture Hutch I used Paris Grey. I also used it on my Dining Room Buffet.

Then the color grey I fell in love with was French Linen. I painted some French End Tables with it and now this hutch. Like I said, there were a few and some I haven't mentioned here.

I feel grey is a great neutral for any room. I love to be able to move my furniture from room to room and this color affords me that luxury.

This piece is for sale. It is sitting in my living room right now. I am deciding if I want to do anything else to it.

It has some fun details to work with....

Lets start with the beautiful curvy legs!

Then there is some pretty molding...

I love how the dark wax pops everything! Lets face it, painting is always a change, and this piece was no exception. You can see the before and after...

The inside has glass shelves and a light for displays. What I am not sure of is if I should paint the inside? It is a big piece and I would love to sell it without having to do so. Most of the time, I have painted the inside. I painted a charcoal in my large Red Hutch, red in the Bird Hutch and White in my Black French Script Hutch. See I told you I did a few and these aren't all of them!!

 What do you think?

Come on you furniture painters......give me some comments!!

I want to thank SavedbyLoveCreations for featuring my Dessert Tray Chandelier in a collection of things to do with plates!

And Please Email if you won the Giveaway. Check here if you are the winner. Today is the last day to contact me. I will choose a new one tomorrow!!