Friday Finishes and Postcard Giveaway!

This week I wanted some eggs to fill a basket and love the look of speckled eggs. I didn't like the ones in the stores or the prices, so I decided to make my own grungy eggs. I found paper mache eggs at Jo anns and I had coupons, so I got a couple of packs at half the cost.

I painted them with acrylic paints and let them dry for a day. After that I tried watered down walnut ink on them but it kept dripping and sitting in a box left some blobby spots, so not the best way to age them. I think the best way would have been to sponge it on and use less water with the ink. After I aged them, I used black acylic paint and splattered spots on them with an old toothbrush. The trick to getting a speckled look is to not over load your brush with paint and keep the paint at the top of your brush.

Not perfect but not bad, nice prim look for Easter. I started out with an eggshell white but decided I wanted colored eggs. I have my little bird sitting with it and a bunny next to it, but moved them so I could get a clear shot of the eggs.

I also made another postcard and want to share this one with my readers. I forgot to stain the card first, so it got done after I painted the design. I wanted to add a saying but there wasn't enough room, so I added "Friendship Flowers" in German with fraktur font.

To enter for the postcard, you must live in the US, 48 contiguous states. To enter leave a comment and if you have ever sent a postcard out of the US, what area did you send it to, and what was the cost to that area. Or a card sent in an envelope, which is what I would do if I sent it that far;) I will pick a winner on monday night. If you have never sent something overseas, that is ok too, just leave a comment to let me know you are interested.

I have not had time to make up the new pattern, so hopefully that will get done next week. Hopefully a nice weekend and some outdoor exercise will relieve some of my stress;)

Postcard is done in watercolor pencils and antiqued with walnut ink.

Improved Burlap Pumpkin?

Today I went to the craft stores. We are lucky, in that they are all in the same area. I go armed with coupons and stock up on supplies I use the most. One of my favorite items is quilt batting, I wait for a 40% sale and use the 20% coupon on that and get a great deal. I have a lot of tops to quilt and I want to make charity quilts, so getting batting this way, will build a stash for me;)

I was able to get moss for my pumpkins and I also found a pack of fall leaves to add to the display.
My husband but some stems that I had from an old wreath and I used those in place of the sticks.

I decided not to glue it down, so I can just throw the moss away and remove the stems for easy storage.
Hopefully the kitties won't try to eat it.

I tried different angles, but none showed off how nice they look in person. They are about 7" in diameter. You can find the tutorial to make your own at Country Quilts Blog.