Autumn Wreaths DIY Craft Day

These wreaths were made from wisteria vines that were running rampant in my backyard. They are the easiest to weave when they are fresh (you can see this first wreath is still green, I just made it yesterday. It's pretty easy to do, just weave in a circular pattern going over and under, and tucking the new pieces into the existing pattern. The hardest part is getting the consistency, and making sure it actually looks circular. Mine are a bit lumpy but nothing I can't fix from bending and pressing into shape.

The red wreath was made almost entirely from decorations from the Dollar Tree, which in my opinion is the best "first stop" on your way to shop for craft supplies. Sometimes their silk flowers look good, sometimes they don't but it's always worth a shot in my opinion! 

The second blue wreath uses cut up blue burlap strips purchased from jomar fabrics, thick twine as an accent, and the leaves are from either the Dollar Store or Michaels. All you need are scissors, wire clippers, and a hot glue gun! Grape vine wreaths are between $3-$10 at AC Moore and Michaels. 

Julie made her wreath with strips of plain burlap, decorative yarn and ribbon, and silk flowers. She still had fabric from her wedding and I still had some from mine, so we put it to use. 

Trish's wreath used wooden numbers that she painted white with acrylic paint and blue silk hydrangea flowers. She decided on numbers for the number of her house address rather than the letter "L" because she didn't like any of the "L"'s the craft store. Way to improvise, Trish!  

The Druids Keep, Autumn Edition

I always have too much fun painting the windows at Druid's Keep. The city window is a beautiful thing, and I have to be mindful that the charm of it is being able to look out onto the streets and see what is going on, and who is walking by, and what the weather is doing, etc. When I paint this window, I do my best not to take that away. That's why I go with the high-low-high format, so as not to intrude on the people-watching.

The Druid's Keep has a dart team, so my original idea was to show the Druid aiming a dart at a creepy old tree.

 Then I came across their dart team logo, a skeleton Druid, and I fell completely IN LOVE! I kept the same basic idea, but instead of a flesh Druid we have a Skele-Druid. I also used glow in the dark paint to accent the bones on the inside of te window, so it looks super cool at night with the help of a flashlight app. 

(Tracing the original image- so what, I cheat) :-)

(You can see him glowing!)

(End of painting day #1 at night, from the outside of the bar) 

One of the dart team members suggested a full moon over the Druid. It did look a little bare, so after I added some pale yellow outline to the leaves, I added bats and a moon. 

(Finished window, from the outside)

(Finished window, from the inside)

The best part about this was figuring out how to make it look great from the inside and outside. You paint reverse (details and outline, then block color) and then you paint forward (outline and details again). Making it look easy since 2012.

#willpaintforhaircuts season 4- Autumn window paintings

I'm going to add to this as I make more progress on the windows, but I couldn't help but post this latest one prematurely. (Updated Sept 25!) The first is a sketch made with Paper by 53, an iPad sketch app. My inspiration was a schoolgirl's hair blowing in the wind as she walks to school, fantasizing about all the colors of the falling leaves. The second and third pictures are of the painting I started at Inner Beauty by GnL salon in Bristol, Pennsylvania. The leaves will then migrate from the hair to frame the poster. I am actually starting to get a hang of this! 

(Migrating leaf frame in progress; had to pull the banner aside so I didn't get paint all over it)

(I have figured out how to make it look cool from both the inside and the outside! Here is a view inside the store.)

(And of course my ladies Gabi and Lindz hooked me up with this sweet feathering action in my hair, which is hideable!)