Painted Wine Glasses

More in Emily's adventures in craftiness. 

I took a wine glass painting class. 

I found out about this class through a booth at a festival at Bowie Town Center, and it sounded like an awesome deal - for $25 (pre-registration fee) you get two wine glasses to paint, one glass of wine/cocktail drink, and appetizers to share. And as I've mentioned before, I am always on the lookout for new artsy/crafty ideas. 

I get the creative drive from my dad. He's a painter (watercolors, acrylics, mixed media...) and when I was a kid I would take drawing and painting classes with him. Eventually my perfectionism and comparison kicked in and I didn't consider myself to be much of "an artist," but I still always had that creative drive. Now I'm drawn more to design and crafts then drawing or painting, and Pinterest, love it or hate it, helps me get ideas, even if those ideas often go unpursued...

So yeah, back to the wine glass painting class. It was run by Wonderfully Made 4 You, who do these classes once a week at T.G.I.Fridays locations throughout PG County, MD. It was pretty low-key and straightforward; basically you use acrylic paint and then just paint anything that strikes your fancy, although they had examples available. 

My first one I copied from one of the samples but used my own colors. The sample said "Grandma's Sippy Cup," (I've also seen "Mommy's Sippy Cup") but since I'm not a grandmother or mother, I thought of personalizing it with my name but just went with "sippy cup." ;) 

It actually doesn't look as polished as I had hoped...there's that damn perfectionism again...but it was fun to make. 

The second one I like better. The flower stencils (just paint and peal off!) really allowed me to get more detail in, and I like the grass effect I got by using a broad foam brush on the base and bottom of the glass. 

Fun stuff. In addition to the Fridays' events, they do private parties and events for children (pottery painting), so it's a cool activity for individuals, friends, families, anyone needing to scratch that crafty itch. 

Perfectionism, Creativity, Crafting, & Bottlecap Magnets

Perfectionism is definitely something I can relate to.While it can get me doing things merely in an effort to impress others, my style of perfectionism is more likely to relentlessly compare myself to others, determine I don't "add" up, and then decide something is not worth the effort because I can't do it as well as so many others. (Graduate school was an especially tough time for me regarding this, by the way). Obviously, this is a very limiting habit to have, and I often find it competing with my desire to create. Perfectionism in fact feels to me like the enemy of creativity, of taking risk, trying new things, or doing things from the sheer love of doing them rather than out of a need for illusive perfection.

So I'm trying to feed my inner creativity and starve my perfectionism. As noted previously, I like to dabble in crafts. I'm not a craft blogger and don't intend to be. For one thing, my camera phone and photography skills are a little lacking. However, I enjoy making things, and since I have a blog AND a Pinterest account, I can share them with people just to share something that makes me happy, not in an effort to compete. Yeah, there are so many people out there so much "better" at crafting than me, but that's ok.

My current/ongoing project is bottle cap magnets, pictured below.

You may have seen various bottle cap products in stores, from magnets to key chains. You can decorate the front or the back of bottle caps (from old beer or old-fashioned soda bottles, yay for recycling!) with anything from photos to rhinestones to scrapbook paper.

The ones I make are pretty simplistic, actually, and I double the recycling effect by finding pictures that appeal to me from old magazines. You can even use old junk mail images. Then I just cut the image into a circle the size of the bottle cap, fold it slightly around the inside of the bottle cap and glue it. Craft stores carry pre-cut magnets with adhesive on one side, so I just stick that on the back and stick the magnet on the fridge. Simple, cheap, and fun!

Some of mine are a bit messier looking because I used too much glue, making the paper bubble up. For a smoother,  more professional effect, you can buy Epoxy Dots and stick them on top of your image. Or make them the cheap and easy way, like I do. :). Either way, these magnets are a fun way to personalize your fridge, and they make great gifts too.

bottle cap magnets

 

Father's Day Gift: Painted Ceramic Mushroom

I have realized that my need for creativity needs many more outlets, or rather, it needs to be put into practice more. Michael's Crafts (or really any craft store, Michael's just happens to be my most frequented) is a goldmine for the kind of crafty projects I wish I were doing more of. Holidays of all kinds, however, bring out my inner crafty girl for many reasons, the main one being that handmade gifts are usually both more affordable and more fun than their store-bought counterparts.

And so I made this painted ceramic mushroom garden thingamajig for a Fathers' Day gift. Perfect for my gardening lover dad, perfect for my budget and my need to be creative/crafty.

These whimsical ceramic mushrooms, along with owls, gnomes, and the like, are popping up wherever garden gifts and supplies are sold, but they are often upwards of $20, whereas a plain ceramic mushroom at Michael's was only $3.99. I already had acrylic paints, so I used those to paint mine. It's easy to customize with any colors/patterns you like.

That's really all you need to make a gift that is fun, whimsical, creative and personal for any garden/decorating lover in your life.