painting Archives - Page 2 of 33

art, arts and craft, kids art, Paintbrushes, painting, Summer

How to Paint Watercolor Lavender

I’m back with another watercolor flower painting tutorial. Learn how to paint lavender (an easy flower to paint!)

How to Paint Watercolor Lavender

I thought it would be fun to continue on with our watercolor summer flower tutorials! Last month, I taught you how to paint pretty pink peonies. For this month’s tutorial, you’ll be learning how to paint an even easier flower – lavender!

Lavender was one of the first flowers I attempted to paint when I started with watercolors. It’s literally a few straight-line stems and some stippled brush dots and you’re done. I’ll give you all the details below.

Let’s get to it!

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Instructions:

Let’s make some lavender! Once you get the hang of these flowers, feel free to use different colors. Let your imagination be your guide.

Step 1: Create the stem

I’m using a small brush here and a brownish-black color. (Feel free to add some green if you like.) Use the tip of the brush to create a series of lines all coming to a single point at the bottom, like a stem. If your stem ends up too light, just add more watercolor paint and go over the line again.

Step 2: Create the lavender petals

Remember when I said these are one of the easiest flowers to paint? You won’t even believe this!

All you need to do is grab a medium-size brush. Add a little purple watercolor paint. Using the side of the brush, dot it along each stem (called stippling in the art world). Start narrow at the top and go a little wider towards the bottom. You’ll start to see the makings of your lavender! Imperfection is good here.

Step 3: Add some dimension

Now we want to add in a little dimension. Load up your brush with dark purple or blue watercolor paint on your brush. Create more stippled side brush marks as we did in Step 2. This will darken your lavender and create some depth.

Another variation that you can create is a bushy lavender plant. Instead of starting with a stem, create a series of green lines as your lavender bush. Paint the watercolor lavender at the tops of these lines. Then darken the bottom of the plant with a darker green to create some depth.

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial for painting watercolor lavender.

Next month, I’ll show you another watercolor tutorial. Pretty soon, we’ll put together all our flowers into one giant piece of floral art ready for framing. See you next month!

~ See More of Karen’s Tutorials ~

Hello! I’m Karen, the creator of the Home Decor and DIY Blog: Decor Hint. I’m a Native of the East Coast, but I currently live in beautiful Seattle with my hubby, our two wonderful children, and our spunky wheaten terrier.

You can usually find me with some sort of craft in one hand and a coffee in the other. And I’m always rearranging furniture or moving lamps from room to room. I have a passion (read: obsession) for decorating, DIY, and gardening. In short, I love making my house into a home.

Like many, I’m inspired by what I see in home decor magazines, but I’m not so inspired by the price tags. Consequently, I love finding and creating beautiful budget-friendly home decor items. In a head to head competition, I bet you’d never know the difference between the designer items and my DIY creations! Many of my DIY projects focus on sewing, crafting, upcycling and organizing. Some of my favorite projects have been making pretty wreaths, sewing my own tassel hand towels, and crafting these trendy wood bead garlands. I can’t wait to inspire you and spark your creativity through my DIY projects.

You can always connect with me on Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram.

July 22, 2020/1 Comment/by Karen Decor Hint

Millie's Remodel, painting

Millie’s Remodel: Exterior Paint Colors – Need Help Deciding

The time has come to pick paint colors for the exterior of the Millie’s Remodel house. The majority of the house is brick so I have to choose a paint that is safe for exterior brick. If I’m not careful paint can cause the bricks to deteriorate or the paint to flake off easily.

Millie’s Remodel: Exterior Paint Colors – Need Help Deciding

Welcome back to another Millie’s Remodel update. Today I need your help deciding on exterior paint colors!

When I purchased the house, it had ugly khaki vinyl siding on the front.

The rest of the house was red brick. It was hard justifying painting the entire house until…

…my siding contractor removed the vinyl siding to reveal the original wood siding underneath. Would you believe it was in pristine condition? No wood rot!

The paint was peeling, so I knew it had to be painted and I didn’t like the two-tone look of siding and brick. I really wanted the house painted one color.

You may remember I had my mason brick up the back doorway leading to the laundry room. Anyone living in the house used to have to go outside the house and make a U-turn to go back inside to do laundry, which was just crazy.

Now that room has a doorway from the inside so you can do laundry from inside the house. That makes more sense, doesn’t it? Because who wants to walk outside in the rain to do laundry? The room is actually a dual purpose room. It’s a laundry room and powder room, which is why I opted for a transom light to allow some natural light in while still maintaining some privacy.

Anyways, now that this doorway is all bricked up, the mortar doesn’t match and you can see where the doorway was. I’ve wanted to paint the exterior, and now this gives me a great excuse because as you can see, none of the mortar matches.

Masonry Paint Specifically for Brick:

Many people love the look of painted brick, but make the mistake of using regular latex paint. If the brick can’t breathe, it forces the paint to flake off the house or traps moisture in which can damage the bricks. Either way, it leaves you with a maintenance issue.

But, RomaBio is a mineral paint that allows the brick to breathe and prevents moisture from getting trapped. While I was researching RomaBio paints, I discovered they had several new colors in the Young House Love collection. Although it was hard to decide, I narrowed my choices down to four colors:

Forever Evergreen
Navy Steel
Sage Advice
So Succulent

As you can tell, I’m leaning toward greens and blues. But, I need to show you the other houses in the neighborhood so you get the full picture! Do me a favor and watch the video below to see the samples on the Millie’s Remodel house and see what the surrounding houses look like.

As you can tell, I’ve narrowed the choice down to two colors: Sage Advice and Navy Steele.

Leave me a comment and let me know which is your favorite.

Oh but wait, I photoshopped some renderings of the house with different colored doors! Hopefully, this will help you make a decision!

Pumpkin Door on Navy Steel

Lime Green Door on Navy Steel

Cranberry Door on Navy Steel

Pumpkin Door on Sage Advice

Navy Door on Sage Advice

Cranberry Door on Sage Advice

Let me know your thoughts in the comment area. I’m all ears.

Disclosure: RomaBio is a Millie’s Remodel sponsor. I reached out to them after doing lots of research on painting exterior brick and asked if they wanted to be a sponsor of the project. I was provided with complimentary products to use.

You can catch up on the Millie’s Remodel project here.

June 26, 2020/12 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

art, arts and craft, kids art, Paintbrushes, painting, Summer

How to Paint Watercolor Peonies

Painting with Watercolors - Peony Flowers

Summer is here and I’m in the mood for some summer flowers. Instead of gardening – I’m going to teach you how to paint watercolor peonies!

How to Paint Watercolor Peonies

I love painting with watercolors because it’s so forgiving. The watercolor artwork is not supposed to be super perfect – it’s those little imperfections that give your piece so much character!

Today, I thought it would be fun to give you a little lesson in painting watercolor flowers, like some easy peonies. It’s really a step-by-step process and I’m breaking it all down to show you how simple this really is.

You definitely get better at painting with watercolors the more you do it. In just one session, you will be amazed at how much you have improved and you won’t believe that you can paint this good!

Painting watercolor peonies is great way to keep your mind active and positive in these unprecedented times. All you will need are some watercolors, brushes and watercolor paper. I ordered everything off Amazon so no need to leave the house.

(Here’s a little secret though – you can even use printer paper if you’re just starting out! It may ripple a little, but don’t worry about it!)

This is a great activity for the kiddos too – so tell them to follow along and let’s dive right in!

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

I ordered this set of brushes and paints and it’s been the best thing ever! The brush quality is good and the watercolors are vibrant. If you are serious about watercolors, you will want to purchase the watercolor paper eventually – it’s thicker and slightly textured and your artwork will look really good on it.

Instructions:

We are going to make beautiful watercolor peonies. I will show you the colors I used, but once you get the hang of it, you can use whatever colors you want! The steps are the same.

Step 1: Create the center of the peony

Using a medium-sized brush to dip into a light, watery peachy pink color. With your brush, create a circular backward “C” shape on the paper – it doesn’t have to be perfect! In fact, it shouldn’t be. Keep this part light and airy. This is going to form the center of our open peony flower.

Rinse your brush in the water and wipe it on the paper towel.

Step 2: Create the petals surrounding the center

Now grab a darker pink color with the same brush and form little curve shapes all around the “C” shape we created in step 1. These shapes should be rounded, like little smiles, and different in size. You are basically enclosing the center you created with these ‘smiles’. Some of the shapes should go out – like petals opening up.

To give the flower more dimension, paint one petal in the front that’s more rounded in shape. It looks like it’s facing you. You can also add two smaller frown shapes in the back of the center to give the illusion of more petals in the back.

Step 3: Add the stamen

To finish, take a very small watercolor brush and a black or brown color and paint some small dots in the center. Then add a few thin lines coming down from these dots to represent the stamens. This final step will really help your flower come alive!

All you need to do at this point is add a light green line down from the flower as your stem. Leaves are optional but are simple to paint. Create a few strokes of green with a medium-sized brush under your flower.

Once you get the hang of it, just changing the shape of the center can create a whole new flower look!

And that’s it! Aren’t these watercolor peonies so beautiful?

Paint a whole page of these beautiful flowers and frame it after they dry. I could sit here and paint all day – the time passes so quickly when I’m watercolor painting. I love these activities that help your mind focus, because I always feel so refreshed afterward!

If you guys like this tutorial, I’d happily create more watercolor flower how-tos in the future, just let me know in the comments below.

Thanks so much for reading, see you next month!

~ See More of Karen’s Tutorials ~

Hello! I’m Karen, the creator of the Home Decor and DIY Blog: Decor Hint. I’m a Native of the East Coast, but I currently live in beautiful Seattle with my hubby, our two wonderful children, and our spunky wheaten terrier.

You can usually find me with some sort of craft in one hand and a coffee in the other. And I’m always rearranging furniture or moving lamps from room to room. I have a passion (read: obsession) for decorating, DIY, and gardening. In short, I love making my house into a home.

Like many, I’m inspired by what I see in home decor magazines, but I’m not so inspired by the price tags. Consequently, I love finding and creating beautiful budget-friendly home decor items. In a head to head competition, I bet you’d never know the difference between the designer items and my DIY creations! Many of my DIY projects focus on sewing, crafting, upcycling and organizing. Some of my favorite projects have been making pretty wreaths, sewing my own tassel hand towels, and crafting these trendy wood bead garlands. I can’t wait to inspire you and spark your creativity through my DIY projects.

You can always connect with me on Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram.

June 24, 2020/3 Comments/by Karen Decor Hint

art, arts and craft, Crafts, decor, Decorating, gifts, Holiday decorating, Home Decor, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, priming, Spray paint wood, Très Frugal

Doodle-Painted Birdhouse

If the birds are out in your area, chances are they are looking for a place to nest. Try your hand at doodle-painting a cute little birdhouse to help them start a family. Who knows, they may be lurking in your yard like a depressed House Hunter’s couple who can’t get past the color on your neighbor’s birdhouse. Check out this cute Doodle-Painted Birdhouse.

Doodle-Painted Birdhouse

Have you lost your mind Brittany? This looks like a Christmas tutorial in May? No, I haven’t lost my mind and yes, this is May (for those of us who have lost track of the days. But, this is the perfect project for anyone who has a simple birdhouse that needs sprucing up for those discerning House Hunter birds.

Although I created this little painted birdhouse to function as a tree topper, you can forgo drilling a hole in the bottom and add a hook to have a fully functional birdhouse for those bird watchers in your home.

This is a project you can do for fun or meditation. And kids can also get in the fun. All you need is some acrylic paint and a paint pen and you can have a blast making this Doodle-Painted Birdhouse for yourself or as a gift.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Unpainted birdhouse
Spray primer
Pencil
Drill
5/8 inch drill bit (for tree topper only)
1/8″ drill bit
Plastic dropcloth (I used disposable tablecloths because they are cheap and smaller in size)
Red craft paint
Gold craft paint
White paint pen
Paintbrushes

Optional:

Screw eye hook for hanging,
Outdoor polyurethane sealant

Instructions:

Spray prime the unfinished birdhouse and allow it to dry thoroughly.

Sketch a star shape on the sides of the birdhouse. Mark the location where you wish to drill holes. (If you are using this for an outdoor birdhouse, it’s nice to have a little ventilation for the house. But, feel free to skip this step if you wish.)

If your birdhouse is a double-decker, you will probably want to drill holes through the sides at angle and down into the first floor roof. This will allow some of the light to come through the top story holes as well.

For Tree Topper Only:

Mark the center location on the bottom and drill a 5/8″ hole through the bottom of the birdhouse. (Skip this step if you want a functional birdhouse.)

Dump any wood shavings out of the birdhouse. Set up the birdhouse on the drop cloth for painting.

Paint the sides of the birdhouse red (or any color you like.)

Paint the roof, steeple, and perches gold. Add a star and tree shape on the sides to accentuate the drilled hole patterns.

After the gold and red paint has dried completely, use the white paint pen to doodle-paint all over the birdhouse.

Afraid to Doodle-Paint?

Nonsense, there is no rhyme or reason to the doodling, just make lots of little curly q’s, c’s, and loops. You can start by outlining the window structures. Then embellish them. Regardless of your doodle-painting style, it’s important to have fun!

You can see how I used the same technique on the chalkboard ornaments on my Feathered Nest Christmas Tree and they came out really cute.

When the paint pen lines have dried, add a few coats of an outdoor sealant.

Birdhouse Tree Topper:

You can use it as a tree topper by feeding the top branch(es) into the hole on the bottom of the birdhouse.

Outdoor Birdhouse:

Add the screw eye hook and hang the birdhouse from a tree in your yard.

Décor Birdhouse:

If you simply want to display your birdhouse as décor, set a little battery-powered light inside the hole in the bottom and enjoy a homey birdhouse on a shelf.

Want to decorate your birdhouse more? You can see how I created this little Christmas painted birdhouse and embellished the roof.

Doodle-painted birdhouses are adorable gifts and very frugal. Make it May is almost over, but stay tuned for one more project!

Pin for later!

May 28, 2020/5 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Crafts, decor, Decorating, gifts, Home Decor, kids art, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, Pillows, Sewing

How to Make Thumbprint Design Envelope Pillows

Envelope pillows are the easiest pillow covers to sew. Combine a beautiful pillow with a personalized thumbprint design and you have a great gift idea for parents or grandparents!

How to Make Thumbprint Design Envelope Pillows

Hello, it’s Cristina from Remodelando la Casa once again happy to share an easy and fun project where kids are more than welcome to give a helping “thumb” 🙂

Envelope pillows are the easiest pillow covers I’ve sewn and let me tell you, my sewing skills are not that good. A fabric rectangle is folded to create an “envelope”, four simple straight lines to sew and your cover is done! No zippers, no Velcro, the envelope holds the pillow really well.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Fabric (I used drop cloth material), and all the necessary sewing materials.
- If you don’t have a sewing machine, this is a project you can put together using Stitch Witchery.
Fabric paint colors:
- Glacier White, Royal Blue, and Marine Blue)
Contact paper
X-acto knife
17″ x 17″ pillow forms

*Pre-wash and iron the fabric

Instructions:

For a 17″ x 17″ pillow insert, use the following dimensions.

Once the fabric is cut to size (18″x 40″), hem the left and right edges. (Fold in ½” twice, as seen in the picture below. Iron it flat and hem.) Do the same on the other side.

To create the opening on the back, fold the left side over and iron.

Do the same on the other side. These folded lines are a good visual point to help you center the design on the front face of the pillow later on.

Before sewing across the top and bottom of the cover, let’s work on the design (the fun part!) Print the starfish and seahorse silhouettes. (for these pillows print at 120%.)

Place each design on top of a big piece of contact paper, tape it in place.

Using the x-acto knife, cut through the printout and the contact paper following the outline of the silhouette.

After cutting, peel off the outer piece of contact paper and center the design on your pillow cover. Press the contact paper firmly all around the design to prevent paint from seeping through.

Now it’s time to call all those little artists and give them each a set of fabric paint.

The thumb-printing / painting can begin…

…until the shapes are filled.

Let it dry according to the paint manufacturer’s instructions. After the paint dries you can sew across the top and bottom, making sure the designs are on the inside.

If desired, wash and iron the pillow covers. Insert your pillow form.