Frida Boxes and Fur Baby

Our little grand pup is growing quickly!

Gus loves this little patch of grass we

have in the backyard for our tortoise. 

It's the softest and coolest place to lay.

No wonder he gravitates there

every time he visits. 

Our son-in-law is in the middle

of a 2 month long chemo treatment. 

Every opportunity to help the kids out

during this tough season of life is a blessing. 

This is one of my two Frida 

shadow boxes. 

The yellow background on this

one is an easy way to tell the two apart. 

(Just a little side note, there's a glare

in this picture that isn't in the actual piece.

These are hard pieces to get good pictures.)

This one has loteria cards

on the side. 

 This is the second one. 

It's sides are painted with gems added here and there. 

I've left a spot in front of each to

place some tea light flameless candles. 

It'll help to light up the inside. 

Personally, I don't think pictures

do them justice. 

I love the way they look in person if

I do say so myself. 

Hoping you're having a wonderful 

week and all is well with your soul! 

Terri 

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall. . .

One of my neighbors kindly gave me

a big mirror a couple of months ago. 

It's 38" x 32". 

Another neighbor that knows about the mirror

keeps asking me if I've done anything

with it yet. 

Well, it's finally time to call her over

to see the mirror. 

I should say, the frame of the mirror. 

I'll let my husband get the mirror

part securely back in the frame. 

The frame was initially a brown

mottled paint and it was primed

in white to start the process. 

These first few pictures were taken at sunrise.

That's why they're a little dark. 

Next, I drew out my design and made

patterns for wood pieces that my husband

gladly cut out for me on the scroll saw. 

I placed the pieces where I wanted them

just to check my design, before

they were adhered to the frame. 

Voila! The finished piece. 

It's much more bright

and cheerful now. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Hoping you have a wonderfully

creative week! 

Terri

Giving New Life to an Old Guitar

My dear friends and neighbors

will sometimes give me things

they think I may like to paint. 

This old broken down

guitar is an example of one 

of those things. 

It's been sitting in the corner

of my art room for  a couple

of years waiting to be brought

back to life. 

I had a design percolating 

in my mind, now it was a matter

of putting it all together. 

The same friend that gave me the guitar, 

also gave me the cool wooden heart she'd

designed and had her husband cut out for her. 

I designed a pattern for wings and the "Love"

sign, and my husband cut them out for me

on the scroll saw. 

I strung beads where the tuning keys

would've been.

I used my wood carving tools to 

give the "Love" sign a little dimension. 

I also decided to change the plain heart 

into a flaming heart. 

My husband made

sure every piece was secured

properly with a combination of 

liquid nails and nails or screws. 

Here's another view from the front. 

I'm pleased with the way it 

turned out. 

It was so much fun to create. 

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead! 

Thank you for stopping by. 

Terri

Bunny Hutch

I received this bunny hutch

when it was looking a bit

tired and needing a little lift. 

It was stained wood

with black grating. 

Why didn't I take a picture 

before I started??

* * *

First, I drew out patterns of a flower

and butterfly and my husband

kindly cut them out of wood

on our scroll saw. 

I decided to spray paint the base.

With all the wire and intricate structuring

it just made more sense. 

That said, I rarely use spray paint, but

I'm glad I did in this case. 

You can see Maybelline came to check

things out. 

On a side note, we've noticed she's been 

biting the fur off the back of her tail. 

She's 11 years old and has never done 

that before. 

Hmmm. . . 

I'm hoping the bunnies will enjoy 

their new digs. 

Thanks for visiting! 

Terri

Sunny Days and Sundry Projects

My mind is boggled by

the weather forecasters actually 

complaining about the 80 degree 

temperatures we're expecting this week. 

Granted, the normal temps are in the upper 60's, 

but I'm not seeing a thing to complain about. 

I'm going to enjoy every bit of warm

sunshine I can. 

My husband and I are just hoping our desert 

tortoises don't come out of hibernation. 

It's still too early for that. 

We're sure to have a cold snap

or two before spring arrives. 

They need warm nights

along with the warm days

to be happy and healthy. 

I made this post card

to send to my son-in-law and

daughter this week. 

It's nice to be remembered

when you're going through 

a tough time in life. 

It looks to me like my 5th grade

self made it, but it's the sentiment

behind it that counts, right?

Last weekend I drew

out a pattern for some

smaller sugar skulls and

my sweet husband cut them 

out for me. 

I finished this one 

with the exception of

the varnish, which should

make the colors pop

even more because it's a gloss. 

This last mixed media piece

is one I'm still working on. 

I'm kind of stuck and

am not sure where to go now. 

Maybe I'll just set her aside

for a while and come back

hopefully with some inspiration

as to where to go next. 

Thanks for visiting. 

Hope you have a great week!

New Folk Art Dog House

There's a bit a humor

related to this latest project. 

My husband decided he wanted

to build a dog house for a larger dog.

He'd built several for 

small dogs, but this is his

first one in this size. 

He also wanted to make

it more comfortable for me

to work on, so he built it in our

family room!

The problem arose once it

was finished and we needed

to get it out of the house and 

into the garage. 

We only had one inch to spare around

the front door frame, it had to

be turned on it's side to get it out,

and the thing weighs a ton!

He ended up building a contraption

with wheels and figured out a way

for us to remain safe, but it wasn't easy

and we won't be doing that again! 

We just bought some

material to start on a second one. 

This time it'll be built and 

completed in the garage! 

Painted Chicken Coop 2

I finished painting the panels for 

the outside of the chicken coop, and

yesterday was delivery day. 

Here's a picture of the brand new

coop we had to start with. 

Here's the outside all prettied up!

The flags belong to Aimee the owner. 

They're a cute folk art rooster print

and fit right in with the design, so

I think she'll leave them up. 

My husband used liquid nails and 

his nail gun to secure the panels. 

This handsome guy is checking out his new digs. 

I hope he likes it!

My husband is measuring the inside

for the next part of the project. 

That needs to be pretty too. 

Peace, love, and chickens. . . 

Terri

Painted Chicken Coop

I've been painting a wood panel that'll be

attached to the chicken coop 

my husband Bob measuring in 

the picture below. 

There's just no way I could paint it 

on location, so this is the solution we

came up with. It'll actually add

additional support to the structure,

as well as making it pretty. 

I'm going to call this first

panel finished. 

Fortunately the biggest panel is

behind me. 

That said, I have four more ahead of 

me that I want to finish by Monday!

Lord help me!

Terri

My Painting Process

 There's a local PBS show I watch

from time to time called Books & Company. 

The host of the show interviews a particular

author and inquires about his or her book 

and their personal process

of writing and developing their stories. 

I love hearing about the different ways

they go about it. 

I know many artists travel similar unique

paths to end up with their finished pieces. 

Those kinds of things fascinate me, whether

it be an artist of the word, paint brush, 

or musical instrument.

Today I'll briefly share one of the ways

I go about painting my pieces by

sharing some of my works in progress in

the earliest stages. 

I'm working on a dog house and another

picnic table. One's in my family room,

and the other's in the garage, so the pictures

aren't the greatest, (thanks to poor lighting)

 but you'll get the gist. 

Before I start any piece I pray. 

I ask God to bless the work of my hands

and to guide and lead me as I create the design

and paint the piece. I ask that it'll be a blessing

to whomever it ends up going to. 

After that, I don't worry about it how I'm going 

to proceed, I just start with one element and

let the design flow from there. 

I always use one color (usually a dark one)

to get my basic design down. 

This is what I call free hand folk art. 

I have had to be more precise in the past

with a design image, and in that case

I'll draw it out on transparencies and

use the overhead projector to complete 

the design that way. 

I did the base design in the following picture

and started in with my first color. 

That's what I usually do. Then I'll 

go back with one color at a time and

continually add to the design until it feels and 

looks done to me (which can take a while). 

My husband always says, when he's dizzy,

he knows I'm finished. 

I'll be sure to post the finished

pieces, (hopefully in better lighting)

so you can see how they turned out. 

Until then, may God bless the work of your hands. 

Terri

Folk Art Bird House 5

This bird house gave me a little

trouble at first. 

My initial idea for it (which I was

really excited about) bombed when 

I told my husband what I wanted to do. 

He told me how hard he worked

on certain features and I was going to cover

them up with my idea. I could see his point 

(after a long discussion) and I decided 

to move on to a plan B. 

By the way, after this incident, we made

the decision that he'll do his thing when it

comes to building, and I'll do my thing when

it comes to painting. Our team projects have been

harmonious ever since.

Back to plan B. .  . I had to come up with

a new idea, and instead I just sat and sat in

front of this thing, starting at it and 

wondering where to start. 

Ever been there yourself?

After a grueling amount of time passed I 

decided enough was enough. 

I set a timer for 20 minutes and started painting

a base design without thinking about it. 

"Just paint!" I told myself. 

After all was said and done,

I really liked the way it turned out. 

Sorry my pictures aren't the best.

I keep this bird house in my daughters

old room and the lighting isn't the best. 

I think the gist of it comes across though. 

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Happy Creating. 

Terri

Love Shrine

 From the time I was very

young, I've loved dioramas. 

These three dimensional vignettes 

often capture a snapshot of life

which tends to spark my imagination.

I guess that's why I'm drawn to

Mexican nichos and shrine boxes. 

The one I'll share with you today

conveys a simple message. . Love. 

I started out with some nice sturdy

boxes for the base and designed

frames out of cardboard. 

More cardboard cutouts were added

to enhance the dimension. 

I then made cold porcelain clay roses. 

Cold porcelain clay was fun to 

work with, but I learned a few important things. 

First of all, don't use a good pot. 

Had I've known my pot would be ruined,

I would've bought a cheap one at the thrift store

to make the clay in. 

Next, when coloring the roses I used

markers instead of paint because it was

easier and less messy.

The problem with that is it completely

dries out the markers and then they're no good. 

Next time I'll put up with a little mess and use paint.  

After that, I covered my shrine boxes with paper mache, let

them dry, and then painted them with a base coat. 

I added some gems along with 

the roses and coated the frame with

a glitter mod podge for some extra sparkle. 

The "LOVE" letters are made

out of folded magazine pages. 

I thought it was so cute. 

I'd gone to Hobby Lobby after

Christmas and picked up a bunch of 

ornaments for a couple dollars each

with the intention of using them in my boxes. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Terri