Progression...and a challenge...

I'm willing to wager that we all have a rock that we just don't know what to do with.  I had one that sat on my table, sat on my table, and then it sat on my table some more.

I finally got tired of it sitting there, and I started drawing zebra stripes on it with a pencil.  I decided to try out the new gel pens on it, and colored them in.

After I got through with that, I knew I needed to trace around them with black, but the gel had to dry very well.  (Hint:  in my experience, gel never seems to dry all the way...it always smears...this one sat for days and I still ended up smearing it.  Please, if someone has hints, comment and leave them!)

Next, I outlined the stripes, and then, the white looked too plain, so yeah, I had to add all those *other* stripes...and then it went back to sitting on my table...

In the mean time, I received my order of glaze pens in the mail, so I decided to try out the black one and see what it would do.  RUN, and I do mean RUN to the nearest craft store, (I got mine at Michael's.) use a coupon, and play with these pens.  Again, they have to dry, but that's like an over-night thing, and they just flow, add dimension, and shine.  I LOVE THESE PENS!

I'm not sure that it is my favorite, but it is no longer sitting on my table.  It sorta reminds me of a Dr. Seuss illustration.

So, here's the challenge.  Start with something, anything.  Lines, a color, a word, a new toy, what have you, and PLAY!  :)

Don't forget to post your finished challenge product on "615 Rocks Sumner County" facebook page!

The Gift That Keeps On Giving...

*NOTE*  Anyone is welcome to join the rock painting/finding/enjoying page "615 Rocks Sumner County".  If this is the first you've heard of this, come on over to facebook and check it out!


I suppose today isn't much of a teaching post, but more of a retrospect/reflection post.

I was asked to do a special order last week.  It was a sad one, but one I felt honored to have been asked to do.  I wanted it to be just right.  I wanted the heart and soul and prayers and thoughts that I put into it to reach out and hug its new owner, who would forever have a hole in her life.  This, my friends, is a suicide ribbon:

I included two photos because the color of the paint was hard to photograph.  And of course, as is with all "cause" ribbons, the color is significant.

Now you are thinking....and this has to do with rocks...how????  Well, it has to do with rocks because they say that if any little thing would spark the attention of someone who is about to do this to themselves, the outcome would very likely be different.  We've all read stories, heard of divine intervention, and probably never dreamed that it could be one small thing that we do that could save another...and we may - and quite possibly won't - even ever know.  Quite simply put, a rock you paint or a kind gesture you may make may just save a life.

So goes with the rocks we paint.  The image, the words, just the colorful rock in a sea of many "ordinary" rocks, may be what makes the finder smile that day.  Or maybe someone picks one up, rehides it, and that is the person that needed the message....we never know what one small, seemingly effortless or small thing that we do, such as painting a rock, may do to change another's day, life, beliefs, disposition...similar to The Butterfly Effect, if you will.

To add to my thinking along these lines as this canvas lay on the table where I paint next to rocks in various forms of done-ness, I open up the page "615 Rocks Sumner County" one day this week only to discover that someone has found a rock that I painted, that I put no label on, with a message, that came back to ME on a day I was very much in need!!!!!!  Who would've thought?!?!?!  Not I!  Another "funny" thing...I never took a photograph of this one, because Anna took it and then wanted to hide it right away, and I was doing something else...and now, I have a photo!

So there I was, at my desk, nearly in tears, and lo and behold, I quite (nearly) literally had to eat my own words!

The moral of the story:  You never know what one small thing could end up being so big to someone else....or even yourself!

I'll go back to tutorials and information tomorrow, but I had debated on posting my thoughts, until Lil Red Rock came around, and then I knew I needed to share, so there it is.

Happy Wednesday evening, friends!  :)

Check this out...

In my last post, I promised to open a door for you into a whole new realm of rock-y, decoupage goodness.  I had said "tomorrow" and I'm pretty sure this is the tomorrow after the tomorrow's morrow, but it's worth waiting for, and my apologies, too.

I explained how I did the clown rocks in a previous post, and this is much the same...only easier.  Did you know that you can Mod Podge tissue paper or napkins onto a rock (or whatever) and then even paint on top of that, should you wish?  Well, you can.  Needless to say...I have a large tissue/napkin collections that I'm happy to be using on the rocks I've been making.

First, I'll show you the one I did with tissue paper:

All I did was paint some podge on my rock, and I do this generously.  Then, add the tissue, smoothing it down with my brush full of podge until there are no wrinkles and it is laying flat on the surface I want to write on.  Then, I podge down around the edges, and you can wrinkle, fold, crease, or tear to lay those down, however you choose.  The paper becomes more pliable, of course, with the mod podge on it.

After that coat dries, you can doodle, draw, paint, what have you.  Here, I used my medium Posca paint marker, then my gold ultra-fine tipped Elmer's Painter marker.  I'm calling this one done, writing the info I want on the back, and then dropping this baby off somewhere for someone else to find.

This next one is actually a kleenex that I had saved (NOT USED!) and the word "love" is written on it just like below about 16 times...this is the first one I've used, so there's lots of potential still in store for that kleenex!

I put this one on a rock I had already painted white...the "background" of the kleenex was white anyways, and when you take just the layer of the tissue with the writing on it, it's very, very thin, so this almost looks like a tattoo on the rock.  I used the same method of adhering this as I did on the tissue paper pineapple.  The rock is pretty thick, so I'll likely sit and put vinery and flowers around the edges during a movie or something, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way this one turned out because of how thin it is.  Lesson learned:  don't overlook even the thinnest of pieces that you think could be podged...try them!  You might be surprised!

Run!  Look through your stash!  See what you come up with, and don't forget to SHARE!  :)

Remember, I post updates about my blog on my personal facebook page, and on this page:  615 Rocks Sumner County.  Anyone is welcome to join, and participation is a treat to me!

I am not satisfied with the color of this photo; it was taken under my Ott light.  The room was actually dark, aside from it.  I suppose here would be a great place to post about the Ott light, too.  This is a magnifying, LED light that helps you see the lines you've drawn, and it is something I love and never want to do without, because light has always been a big thing for me, and I can see everything well with this when I'm painting.  Often times, I sketch things with a pencil, very faint lines, and not complete ones, but more like a shadowy light ghost of a line to use as a guide.  My Ott light helps me so those faint lines perfectly.  They are pricey, but remember you can use a 40% off coupon at Michael's, JoAnn, or Hobby Lobby to purchase one.  Word from my experience:  Spend the money and get at least a standing desk light, nothing smaller, because it's too small and doesn't serve the purpose you need.  Again, that's just my thinking and experience, but one I would have found helpful if I had been able to ask someone before purchasing my first one.  Amazon had some that were less expensive, but with the coupon at Michaels, what I got was a better deal.

When I was making this, I knew it would be my next post, because this is such a simple look to replicate, but it looks so...well...fancy.  Time-consuming.  Advanced?  Or maybe all of the above, but really, all it is is lines and coloring.  You can do this with anything you make....add the black and white (or in this case, I used lavender) to make a "film strip" looking outline.

Here are the steps:  trace on the edge of your drawing.  Trace it as close and as steady as you can...but don't worry if you waiver.  It can be part of the dance.  You can see that mine is thicker in some places than it is in others.  Once you get that outline done, leave however much space you want around your outline, and outline that.  Again, don't worry about being perfect.  Next, just pick your color and start coloring a space and skipping a space, until you meet up with the point at which you started.  I color according to my shaky-ness in the lines.  You can see that some are skinnier than others, and some are wider.

Here is a closer-up view:

I played with some white in the striping, too, and didn't like it, so I mostly covered it back up.  Like I said in a previous post, I just keep painting until I"m happy with the way what I'm working on looks.  Some of the white still shows, and I am OK with that.  Also, as I previously posted, I love to layer and mix colors until I get what is pleasing to my eye.  At first, I didn't have the leaves on there at all.  Just the flower petals, and the center.  I colored the center yellow, but thought that made the petals look like they needed some, so I started just drawing some yellow lines and just drew until they looked ok to me.  (So scientific, right?)  I added the black to the center and then added the little pucker-y lines of yellow coming out from the center, then a few black spots here and there...then a little hither-skither white lines about.  My art is sooooo not-perfect!  After that, I decided that a leaf or two were in order, and started in on those.  THe "stripes" you see in them are just from a different paint marker, and that's the look I got.  I kinda liked it, so I just left it that way.  Last, I had a gold glitter gel pen laying there, so I ran it over all the yellow lines in the flower.  I tried to make the sparkle show in the photo, but it just didn't quite work.

My challenge to you?  Start with something simple, just an outline, and go from there...keep buildling, layering, drawing until what you see is pleasing to your eye!

I have a new how-to for tomorrow that I am REALLY excited about, and trust me when I tell you that it will open up a WHOLE NEW WORLD to your artwork!!!!

More about paper, and a kitty cat....

*Note:  I post the link to new blog pages as they become available on my facebook group, "615 Rocks Sumner County".  That is the best way to keep up with my posts and new work.  Anyone is welcome to join and participate.*

Hey, ya'll!  I've been bad and neglected you this week.  I always thought "older" people and by "older" I mean anyone older than me, were silly when they said that time speeds up the older you get, but now I'm the old person, and that's the best thing I can come up with for where my time goes...lol.

I'll try to do better.

First, I want to show you the new clown-on-rock I made last night, since everyone loved those so much:

This is another of those vintage cutouts that I told you about in  the other clown post.  I think I still have four more of them left, all different.  This stone is bigger than my hand.  I haven't put the clear coat on here yet, either.

I have lots of other rock projects and tutorials to share with you, but along the lines of paper, I found this beauty today, and I thought she was worthy of a mention on here.  You could use the same technique as for the clowns (if you're new here, just go back a little farther and you'll find that post), only this way, you don't have to have specific cut-outs, etc.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/54676582950819290/

If you have newspaper, sheet music, a dictionary page, pretty much anything, you can do this.  If the paper is too stiff for the rock, just roll it up, crinkle it, make it as pliable as you need/want it to be, then paint it with glue, and etc etc etc.

Yesterday, I sent Anna a picture that I found on Pinterest.  I didn't save the link, shame on me...but here is the one I found:

Animal lover that she is, I knew she would enjoy this one, and told her we would paint some together next time we had the time.  Last night, around 9:30, my lil precious pants sends me a photo.  No words, just a photo.  My heart melted when I saw this:

Happy crafting!

Shhhh....I know a secret....

at least to me, it is a "best kept secret" and I've been crafting and painting for a lot of years, and tried a good many ideas and products to help with this, all to no avail.

Did you know that this stuff is magic:

http://www.murphyoilsoap.com/products/original-oil-soap

Here's why:  you know those paintbrushes that didn't get cleaned?  Or your favorite brushes that over time seem to keep paint in them until they become un-use-able?  Soak those brushes, no matter how full of paint and concrete-like they are in a glass with an inch or two of this in the bottom.  Soak them over night, or do like me and put them in there and leave them for a month, lol.  Even so, they've come out so soft and new...I'm amazed!

Because no blog post is a blog post without a photo, I'll share this with you.

The coloring on this one is so much better than this photo, and tonight, I put the clear coat on and it's even better.  I'll snap another pic and do a follow-up on it.  I coated a lot of rocks tonight that we've done over the last month-ish, so tomorrow might be a mostly-pictures post.

Thanks for coming by and reading!  If you want to know when new posts are done, please find my facebook group and click to join!  Just type in the search "615 Rocks Sumner County" and I'll approve you!

Multi Colored Pencils!

While we were out running errands yesterday, you know we *had* to make a trip to Michaels.  You know, because there are *necessities* there, just like milk and bread are necessities....

While being an awesome sport, Mr. Rock found these really cool colored pencils:

They were $10.00, but you know, we never pay full price for anything at Michaels, because they always have a 40% off coupon.  It was my lucky day, because there was also a 20% off coupon. Isn't Mr. Rock the best?

Here is a close-up view of the neon pencil.  I'm sorry for the not-so-good photo...it was dark and I was excited.

That's also the rock that I used for this little project.

As you can see, it didn't show up very well.  I was surprised.  However, these pencils have a very hard lead in them, not a soft, waxy type like you get from PrismaColor.  I colored two coats, with lots of pressure, to get the look you see.  I still like the rock, but the lightness of the coloration is a bit off-putting to my taste.  I will be using the America one (red, white and blue, of course) tonight on a rock I painted white, and I'll report back to you with how that turned out.

This is what I came up with as the end result:

As always, anyone is welcome to join my group on facebook:  615 Rocks Sumner County.  That is where I post notifications that the blog has been updated, and where I post all of my rocks.  

Something Simple

This is not some big new technique I've run across, and it's also not anything I can exactly tell you how to do.  But I can show you what I mean.  This is just something I've noticed that I habitually do before deciding if I have reached the "done" point on an item I am working on.  I rely on the ole "eyeball" to tell me when what I've created is at a pleasing point and I need to stop.  Often times, some of my best work comes from something that started out just plain ugly and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it.  Tonight was one of those nights.  Unfortunately, I didn't capture any of the too-ugly part, because I guess I was working on figuring out how to make it better.

I wrote a simple message on my rock:  Can I keep you?  Because that's a good message from a rock, wanting to adopt a human and all, and whose day wouldn't it make to want to be kept around a little longer in the midst of good company?  In my mind's eye, I saw this just done with black and white lettering on this shiny red rock...but my hand had other ideas, I guess.

So imagine that rock up there ^^^ being plain...with just the black and white lettering on it, all plain, no border, no nothing.  Yeah, ugly.  It's ok, you can say it.  I'll say it with you.  Super ugly.  So I did what I do when I make something ugly.  I started layering things.  I thought it needed a border to help, so I drew the black one.  Still ugly, if not, uglier.  thought maybe the daisies would work.  I did them in white....it just didn't cut it.  I put yellow centers.  Still not satisfied.  Added the white lining in with the black around the border.  Nope, not it.  Added black lining to the white petals.  Better.  (Note:  I do a lot of outlining.  I think I've mentioned this before.)  Added the green leaves...getting there....add the light green dots...like.  Still plain lettering is there, and it's still ugly.  Add light green dots to lettering...OK.  Snap "done" photo.  

Here's an important thing I do, a lot.  I don't know why, but it makes a difference in how I look at my work.  I take a pic and look at the pic.  Sometimes, I'll prop a canvas or something prop-able up to look at it from a distance.  Or, I'll ask Mr. Rock or Anna to hold up what I am working on so I can look at it across the room.  

Another important thing:  if I've done a lot of layering and adding and my "eye" is still not seeing a happy, "done" project, I will put it away and sleep on it.  I don't do this often, because it drives me nuts not to finish, but sometimes, it's just necessary.  

Now, back to the ugly rock.  I *thought* I was done, but there was still something...and through looking at the photo, I decided it was lack still of color on the lettering, so I took my yellow and added a small dot over top the light green on random dots on the lettering.  This, my friends, is what completed the image, and let my "eye" say "Done!"

Here it is...I apologize for the poor lighting...it's darker in here...I'll try to snap a pic over the weekend in the daylight and post for you to see better.

So, today's lesson?  Follow these steps:
1.  Keep on keeping on until you have something pleasing to your eye.
2.  Take a photo, step back, walk away, do what you need to do to come back to it if need be.
3.  Remember, you can't mess it up!  Just keep on painting!  :)

If you like my posts, please share them!  I post new updates on the Facebook group:  "615 Rocks Sumner County" and anyone is welcome to join.  I love comments, I love interactive-ness, and I love inspiration from others!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back often!

Lettering Lesson...

Another of the most popular questions, I think, is always about how to letter, what to letter with, and I seem to get compliments on this more than anything.  I'll try to share my secrets with you here.  As I do more lettering, I'll do more posts, but I have a few examples on hand for you.

First:  the tools of the trade...meet my newest two BFF's...

The white marker up there ^^^ is one of the Elmer's paint pens I was referred to by other rock painters who I wish I could tag on here.  You can get these in several sizes, and they come from Wal Mart for $1.97 in a multitude of colors.  They also last forever, and the tip doesn't get all funky.  The one I write with is the "Ultra Fine" tip.   Here is an example of the writing I do with this marker:

I also use the Elmer's one to do my highlighting on my bigger lettering, like this:

And to make teeny markings like this:

(For the record, once I got that finished, it no longer looked like a jellybean, but looked more like a dill pickle.  Poor rock.)

This is my other BFF, my black medium point POSCA marker.  There are not quite accessible, but worth the weight, and they aren't too costly.  Posca has fine tips as well, but for the price and the performance, I'd get the medium Posca ones and the Elmer's for the writing.  One way to make writing pop is to write in the thicker color, like I have done with the black here:

and then use the thinner Elmers to write a smaller line inside the thicker lettering.  This seems to be what most people ask about, as far as specific lettering questions go.  There are actually very few times that one will see my work not outlined, or lettering done in only one color.  I am big on highlighting.  You'll notice now that I've pointed it out that my other lettering I've already shared has this "feature" to it as well.

Receiving compliments specifically on my handwriting happens, too.  But let me tell you something...the only time I remember getting in trouble at school was when my 5th grade math teacher, Mr. Prichard, called my dad and showed him my sloppy papers.  I got a spanking for that, and a good tongue lashing, too.  And I had to miss recess, but that was never really my favorite anyways.  My writing got marginally neater after that, and I'm being generous by saying "marginally".  Fast forward a decade and a half, and I find myself teacher Kindergarten.  People, if you want neat handwriting, RUN to your nearest dollar-type store and buy a book with lettering practice for little people, and DO IT.  Practice.  Make a conscious effort to design your letters correctly.  It's a learned skill, and I believe with the right effort and want-to, anyone can master it.  LET ME ALSO SAY THIS:  Your handwriting is cherished by your loved ones, even if they don't know it.  Think back over prized possessions you have...or have come across over the years....I bet you've encountered hand-written recipes, letters, and what-nots by your loved ones that made you remember them in a special way.  I still have a Yahtzee card that my Gramps filled out, and I'd trade it for nothing on this earth.  I still have letters and cards from my great grandmother, my Granny, and my Grandma.  It was THEIR handwriting, that they thought wasn't good, that I love.  So don't discount your own handwriting, ya hear?

If I could offer up any other handwriting tips, it would be to loosen your hand up.  Write what you want to write for good as practice with pencil and paper.  Let it flow...don't "try"...it will look shaky.  And also remember..."perfect" is not the look we are working for.  Work with what you've got...you'll learn and love it.  If you don't find that you can write in a straight manner, draw lines, paint them, too.  I"ll make an example tonight.  Thanks!  Ya'll just gave me inspiration for the evening!

Last, I like the way different letters look be it capital, lower-case, or my own touches that make my lettering recognizable as...well, mine!

Decoupage?

I thought it would be fun to do a little lesson today on how to add paper items to our rocks.  I had an old sheet of vintage clown cutouts that if they were new when I purchased them are definitely classified as "vintage" now...yipes!  I wanted to use them up, to be honest, as they have not been treated the best, so they were wrinkled, but I happen to think of clowns as happy things, because in my childhood, clowns *were* happy.  Circus clowns, clowns at the parades my town had, which were pretty awesome parades, the clown that hung on my granny's wall, that when you twisted its nose, it played "Send in the Clowns" which is still one of my favorite songs to hear...and the title of the piano arrangement I played in the talent show in the 3rd grade that won me a large pizza from Pizza Hut was called "Clowns" and it was a fast-paced song that reminded me of clowns on a tight rope or something.  Happy memories, each and every one.

OK, off Memory Lane and back to rocks...I posted this this week, and it received a lot of comments.  

This is NOT my painting, this is one of those cut outs I was just talking about.  These are a little thicker, between sticker and card stock thickness, if that makes any sense.  Even with a good coat of Mod Podge for them to stick to and then a good coat over, if the items are very thick, I find that they like to soak up enough of the moisture from the Podge to start wrinkling.  This never makes me smile with glee.

Insert good ole Aleene here:

Tacky Glue, in my opinionation, is something that every household should have.  Sort of like duct tape, or super glue.  It'll darn near stick anything to anything.  Dries clear, doesn't expand...and CHEAP!  I squirted out just a small amount, think pencil eraser in size, got out my paint brush, and painted the back of my clown all over.  Then I smoothed that clown down on my already-smooth rock and let it dry like that.  No bumps, no wrinkles, no peeling around the corners...just looks like my clown was printed on my rock.

Here are some pointers to go along with this lesson:
*It is necessary to put a coat of Mod Podge over the whole rock, including the item put down, because the clear coat and paper don't really mix that well.  AFTER the coat of Podge, THEN coat with clear coat in light doses, misting a few times until you think it's good.
*I find it helpful to put the tacky glue on the backs of stickers as well.  Yes, they are sticky, but for me, they still come up.  Not all do, but to save myself from ruining a rock and to save the trouble of trying to make it work, I put a coat on the back of each sticker before placing it as well.
*Tacky Glue is only needed for thicker paper items.  (I have a future lesson coming up with thinner papers and how-to's.)
*I haven't done one in a while to photograph, but this is fun to do with fortunes from your Chinese cookies as well.  Who doesn't love reading those silly things?  :)

For making it all the way to the end, I'm sharing with you another clown that I put together this morning:

"See" ya tomorrow, and happy 4th of July!  I'm so grateful to live in the Land of the Free...because of the BRAVE.  Don't forget to thank a Veteran, active military, and the families of those who have to share their loved ones so that we can be free to pick and paint our rocks while they are out there fighting for our country!

Lesson 5...it's in the details...

The never-ending question seems to be "What do you paint with?" or "What did you use to create that look?" And I kept asking and kept asking until I got answers that worked for me.  This would be thanks to several knowledgeable and generous-with-that-knowledge people.  I find myself wishing I had a "tag" button so I could tag people as I write, like on FaceBook.  It's got me a bit spoiled.

These are not in any particular order....

1.  Posca pens:  These are the bomb diggity of coloring with paint and still having control.  They flow, the nib does not stop up or quit writing...they really are just completely awesome.  They even come in fine tip, and larger tips.  Here is the Posca website:  http://www.posca.com/uk   For some reason, I can't make the link work by clicking; it acts like it is broken, but if you will copy and paste, it should work.  It did for me.  These are a *must* for any kind of painting, in my books.  Here are a couple examples of things I've made with my Posca pens:

 The lettering above was done with my medium Posca in light blue, and if you can zoom up, you can see the the highlighting done on these letters in white was done by my fine point one.  The surface is canvas, and they worked like a charm.

Mr. Fishy was done with Posca for the red, and the thicker lines, while the fine-tuning in white and black were done with Elmer's paint pens, which you can purchase at Wal Mart in varying sizes for a whopping buck .97.  Run.  Get one of every kind.  You won't be disappointed.  They look like this:

http://www.elmers.com/products/paint-pens-and-other-supplies?filters=paint-markers

Here is another example with the Elmer's paint pens:

I know I've used this rock as an example before, but this shows the writing with the paint pen really well, so I'm using it again.  Also, I use my Elmers markers to write on the backs of my rocks.  Don't forget to clearcoat that part, too, so you can see just how far your rock travels.

Again, not sure why the links aren't working, but copy and paste.  These come individually at Wal Mart, or I see you can buy them in sets now.  (Mr. Rock might not care for that new knowledge...then again, getting them all at once will save him from the paint marker area, so he may be glad.)  LOL

Another item that you can use to decorate rocks is gel pens.  For real!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0F4U2S/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the set I purchased.  They work great...my warning is LET THEM DRY WELL!!!  When you *think* they are dry, let them dry LONGER.

Here are two that I did with them:

 The example of why you should let them dry-a lot- right up there ^^^^^.  (I wrote "embrace imperfection" on the back and we hid it anyways.)

The light pink I used for lettering on this one is the Posca pen, but all the rest of the pink and green are done with the gel pens.

Last but not least, THIS.

The orange of the lettering is Posca, and the white is gel.  Third time's a charm. :)  After letting this dry for an eternity, I lightly misted with clear spray.  Very lightly misted.  I repeated this process probably 6 0r 8 times until I felt certain the rock was covered well.

Last on the list for today is Sharpie OIL paint pens.  They look like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Sharpie-Paint-Marker-Point-Based/dp/B005QEZ9YW/ref=sr_1_3?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1499099998&sr=1-3&keywords=sharpie+oil+base

And they tend to have a bit more brilliant color to them, like this:

While they are "OK" and some claim them to be their favorite, and you could, too, I don't like the way they glide? move across? paint? on the rock.  It's not as smooth a motion as the Poscas.  And the paint doesn't flow as easily.  But I do own every color, and I do use them.  They are just not the first thing I reach for.

Throughout posting, as I try out new items, I'll be posting my thoughts on them here.  If anyone has something they want to try, or have seen, I'm always up for a challenge.  On my list is my Prisma Color pencils, chalk markers, crayons, oil pastels, metalic markers, and there are a few more items up my sleeve.  :)

Thanks for staying with me to the end, if you made it this far!  :)

Lesson 4...Paint for Backgrounds

There are so many choices of paint out there!  Rock painting is by far trickier than any other surface I know that I have painted on in the past, and I've heard other experienced painters say the same thing.  When you are new to painting, period, and rocks are the first thing you pick up....I know it has to be even more difficult!  Hopefully something I say here will help oldies and newbies alike.  This is all just trial and error on my part, advice that has worked from those with way more experience and talent than I would ever hope to have, and - well - my opinion.

The least-expensive paint I know to use as background (or anything, for that matter) is good ole acrylic paint.  One thing I love about these is you can get every shade you ever imagined.  It is, by far, the best choice of color you're going to find.  You've probably all seen it...it looks like this:

This is the display I saw today at Wal Mart, so I took a pic.  They are .49 cents, some are .97, and the big bottles, I believe, are $2.97.  This is a very small display as far as color choices and displays go.  Find these paints in a craft store, and you'll be looking at an entire aisle full of choices.  As far as my personal experience goes, these will get the job done, but usually take 2 or 3 coats.  I've painted furniture, canvases, wood, you name it with this stuff.  I suppose you could say it is the tried and true of acrylic paints.

Probably my favorite acrylic paint in these little bottles to use, because it is a little thicker, is the Martha Stewart brand...but they are about $2.00 a bottle, so I try to only buy those when they are on sale and I get a 20% off coupon as well.  (Michaels has the best selection and sales on paints, in my opinion.)  They look like this:

If I were to pick the paint of my choice to do backgrounds on rocks with, I would pick this brand, sold at Michaels, and is on sale a couple times a month for 2/$5, I believe.

This gets the job done in one coat, at least in most colors.  I use this white a lot to do a base coat, even before putting some colors on.  A lot of them, though, one coat is sufficient, and it takes *very little* of this paint to cover a rock.  Very little.  This is one coat of white:

As you can see, one coat is really all you need.  However, on some of the other colors, you just have to use your judgement on whether to put a white coat down first (If you want a more brilliant color, I would suggest doing this.) or you can put multiple coats of the color on as well.  (This lends to a darker shade of the color.)  Here is an example of only one coat of a color that needs either multiple coats or white underneath:

In the tube, it looks bright orange, but as you can see here.....not so much.  I did not put white underneath as I thought that the orange would vouch for itself, but not the case.  I ended up painting this one red, but the coat on there allowed the red to be a brilliant shade instead of darker, so it's all good.

Another thing I love about this paint is that it comes in shiny colors.  Check these out:

Did I mention the beautiful jewel tones these paints provide???

Another option would be to spray paint your rocks.  If you want a lot of background colors, this probably isn't the best method, but if you want to coat them quick and have a base coat, it is an option, and one that wouldn't be too expensive.  You can get a can of white "primer" paint at the Dollar General store, or Wal Mart for .97, I believe.  Can't beat that.  I personally don't love the painting surface it lends, but I know a lot of people opt for this technique.  

OK-tomorrow I'll be providing links for the fun part...the designs we want to put on our rocks.  

July Rock a Day

(Yes, this is my hand.  Today.)

So, I know I love to have a go-to list of inspiration or ideas or challenges...and I created a daily list for myself, but I thought I would share.  As always, this is not the "Bible" to what you should do each day, but rather, a supplement if you are feeling idea-less here or there.  I also find it gives me more motivation to "art" each day.  

Without further ado, here is my July list:

1.  Camo

2.  Red, White, Blue

3.  Encouragement

4.  Patriotism

5.  Favorite Word

6.  Water

7.  Fruit

8.  Vacation

9.  Favorite Thing

10.  Pattern

11.  Sunshine

12.  Represent Your City

13.  Hero

14.  Sport

15.  You are the _____ to my _____.

16.  Night

17.  Americana

18.  Star(s)

19.  Fishing

20.  Picnic

21.  Cross

22.  Favorite Color

23.  Leaf

24.  Black and White

25.  Heart(s)

26.  Nature

27.  Summer

28.  Baseball

29.  Balloon

30.  Red

31.  Zip Code Day

Please be sure and post to 615 Rocks Sumner County as you make your rocks, because I'm sure we would all like to see what each other come up with!  Thank you in advance!  :)

Rock on!

Lesson 3

(Artwork shared in this post is a collaborative effort of Anna and I...mostly Anna.  She likes to put color on color, like red on red, etc....so I outlined some things, and wrote over her wording here and there so it could be seen.)

Before we go any further, I want to share with you some shopping tips...

Download the aps to your phone ASAP for the following:

Michaels (Always offers a 40% off coupon for any one regularly priced item.  Sometimes offers 50% off, and additionally, every once in a while, offers a 20% off your purchase as well.)

JoAnn (Always offers a 40% off an item, often they do 50% off an item, and usually offer $5.00 off a purchase of $30, $10 off $50, and $15 off $75)

Hobby Lobby (Always offers a 40%, everything in their store goes on sale at 50% off about twice a month.  Never pay full price for anything at Hobby Lobby.  If it's not on sale this week, you can bet it will be next.)

Each of those places offers excellent clearance pricing, so always be on the lookout, and each of them also shares their sale paper for the week on their ap.  **For the 5 of you who still have flip phones and aps are not an option, you can still get on their website and print the coupons from there.**

Michaels and JoAnn have mailing lists.  You should get on them as they send special coupons out on fliers to your mailbox and it's like crafting Christmas when they show up.  Who doesn't love Crafting Christmases?

There are some things that hardware stores are good for and crafting stores just over price.  The number one thing that comes to my mind is spray paint.  I try not to use definitives like "always" and "never", but I'm pretty sure that I always buy my spray paint at hardware stores, and I never have bought any at the craft stores because they are at least twice as much moolah...and that's moolah I could be spending on other products!

Painter's tape...gorilla glue...E6000...shop towels, the blue paper towel-looking ones...paint brushes (larger ones, not small, detailing ones)...all of those things are less expensive at the hardware stores.

Brushes...for tiny detail work, I use nail brushes.  I'll be offering a set of those for cheap very soon...they are the ones I love more than any others and use all the time.  I think there's like 20 brushes for $5 or so...I have that on my "to-do" list for this weekend and I"ll be sharing what that is right here in a future blog post.  :)  Don't spend a lot of money on special brushes at the craft store.  Use your 40% off coupon and get a set of 10 or 20 for $10 or so.  I've found that they all wear out at about the same rate.  Also, don't get the bristle-type ones that look like a broom.  They are no bueno.  Get the ones with either brown or white bristles...they are the best.  (In my opinion.)

I know I'm rambling, but I'm trying to think of things and share them as I mentally go through my craft supplies.  Mod Podge.  Don't buy it at Wal Mart.  Buy it at one of the craft stores and utilize that coupon.  You can use a coupon each trip you make there.  They usually change them weekly-on Sundays.  Oh-you can also get a coupon out of fliers in the SUnday paper if you get those.

Back to hardware stores, if you want to paint a lot of rocks, you can pick up an 8 oz little jar of paint for $3.00 at the paint counter, offered in a few prominently-used colors, but you can also check the "oops" paint at both Home Depot and Lowes, and often times, you'll find the same size jar for .50 cents.  I love those.  And the paint is a great, thick quality.

As I think of other items of note, I will share with you, and tomorrow will be a post all about paint!

Rock painting? Not so much....

We had a sad happening last night here on the home front.  Because it's what I think is best, I will not be telling Anna about this, so if you are someone that would happen to bring this up to her, PLEASE DON'T.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

We got Anna last night after work and went and had ice cream at MOTOWN PIZZA, the best ice cream ever (you should go if you haven't been and you are near Westmoreland), played at the park (after unsuccessfully going to a creek to rock hunt), and took her back to her daddy's afterwards...they leave in the morning for a weekend trip to Chattanooga (she has rocks to distribute while she is making her way around town).  To keep this story short and sweet and to the point, we had a cat-astrophe, in a very literal sense when we got home.  Sadly, our lil girl was very injured on her way to greet us, and when Mr. Rock picked her up, she bit him and he had four fairly deep puncture wounds.  Fast forward out of the sadness onto today...as the day went on, his wrist got stiff, his middle finger is somehow not right, and the wounds were beginning to get red.  Fast forward again...after a bag of antibiotics, a tetanus shot, a steroid shot, and some griping from the patient, we are now home...got here at 10:30.

The point of this story?  Life got in my way today, lol.

I'm not good at *just* talking about one thing, ya'll.  I always have strange stories to tell...that are true...funny things to share, photos that make me smile, quotes to cheer and encourage...you just never know.  As much as I love rocks, how fun would a blog about ONLY ROCKS be after...well, I dunno...because to me it would always be fun...but heck, I like to talk about a lot of stuff.  But I'll try to *mostly* remain on-task, since that's what this is supposed to be about.

To make this into a rock post, I am including a rock that Anna drew on and asked me to add to it for her Chattanooga trip.  However, my little dear heart is so excited to leave them around that this one ended up at Chik-fil-a in Gallatin, and she called me to let me know that she left it on the way in, and on the way out, IT WAS GONE, MAMA!!!!!  :) :) :) :)

Thanks for making it this far, and rest assured that Lesson 3 will take place tomorrow!  This gal is going to bed!  G'night, Peeps!

Rocking Lesson 2

A warning about *some* rocks that I should have posted in Lesson 1 is that if you get a bag of rocks from a craft store, the dollar store, etc, and they are polished, DO NOT START PAINTING ON THEM.  That shine doesn't like to hold paint at all.  Alas, there is a fix for this, so don't despair.

Now that we know what kind of rocks we have available, we need to know what to do with them!  Sometimes, as with the rocks that are smooth from Home Depot, nothing is required.  You can just start painting on them.  *Guilty*  You can wash them or soak them, but be sure that you let them get GOOD and dry before you try painting on them.

Many people put a quick, light coat on their rocks with the Triple Thick Clear Glaze from Krylon that we are about to discuss.  Just something over the "smooth and shiny"or "grit and grime"  to help the paint hang on.  I've seen this clear coat suggested by SO MANY talented "rockers" that there was no question to me about getting it...at $4.00 or less for a can, it's not a huge splurge, but for the results vs. the .97 can I was using, it's WAY worth the $4 to have a can.  You don't use as much, and it lasts a good while.  It also will keep your drawings and artwork from running.  Wal Mart, hardware stores, many places offer this, so it's a pretty accessible "tool".  I actually purchased mine on Amazon when I got some of my markers, just because it was easy and I could.  You have to be VERY CAREFUL about what you coat your work with....it WILL run and fade and then you'll be sad, and rock painting is definitely on the opposite spectrum of sad and should stay that way.  While we are talking about this spray, let me tell you that a couple coats on both the top and bottom of your rocks will protect them for a good, long while.

Mod Podge.  It's wonderful for so many things.  We will actually be doing a couple lessons later down the road in which we will be using this stuff.  You don't need a huge bottle.  Really, you don't.  It lasts a long time, and I use mine a lot!  You can use Mod Podge as a clear coat, for a base coat, or for a top coat.  (And some other things we'll get into...) BUT, in my humble opinionation, I would choose to use the glaze for both of the above-mentioned options.  I have been using my Mod Podge, because it needs to be used, and because this is the "hard coat" version...but I'll be spraying mine once this bottle is empty.  *Note*:  Mod Podge comes in a variety of sizes, types, and for a variety of purposes.  It can be purchased at Wal Mart, Target, any craft store.  If you really wanted, you could hop on Pinterest and find a recipe to make your own.  I think it's really something simple like glue and water.  

While we are on the subject of Mod Podge, these little sponge/brushes are what I use for backgrounds when I paint on canvas, and also when when I use the Podge.  I always have a stash of these laying around, and when I'm in the mood, depending upon the abuse I have put them through, I will wash them...if not, they go in the trash.  The link below was the only ones I could find that are what I was talking about, but the ones I buy come from Michael's, and I only get them when they are a whopping nickel a piece.  I get like $5.00 at a time.  Get some.  You won't be sorry.

http://www.michaels.com/artminds-1-inch-foam-brush-set-4-piece/10009265.html

(I don't know why that isn't click-on-able, but just search for foam brushes, or if you go to the store, they are with the paints and brushes; in that area.)

Another way to prep your rocks is to sand them.  Obviously, this would be only to rough up the surface if they are polished, shiny ones, or to smooth out any parts that are smoothable to make painting easier for you.  To sand, I recommend the "sanding sponges" that you can find if you click the link I am providing you with below.  These also work in mega mode if you get them wet before you start sanding.  You have been warned.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-4-5-in-x-2-5-in-x-1-in-Fine-Grit-Block-Sanding-Sponge-3-Sponge-Pack-CP001-3PK-LG/203212459

Another thing the sanding sponges are great for is to give a little shabby/country/rustic look.  I just could't make this flower "right".  My motto when something doesn't quite make it when I am working on it is to keep painting until it does.  That's the beauty of paints...you can just keep going until you have an eye-pleasing piece.  I didn't want my rock to be as shiny as it was...so, I took the sanding sponge to it.  If you look close, you can see the rock showing through in the middle, and through the petals here and there, and the shiny gleam is gone.  I have not coated this one with a finish yet, so it will look smoother and shinier after I do that, but it's still definitely got a "rusty" finish to it.  I'm pleased with it now.  *note* If you use your sanding sponge wet, you will want to rinse it out until the water comes through clear.  These things will last for eons if you take care of them.  Again, you can find these at Wal Mart, or any hardware store.  

Either tonight or in the morning, I am going to make an informative post, not really a lesson, on shopping.  Of this subject, I have a vast knowledge....which probably isn't a good thing...eek.  I'm going to tell you what to get where, what not to get where, and the least-expensive way to purchase items you need.  I'm also planning to post Lesson 3 tomorrow as well.

Don't forget - if you want to add to anything I've said, please do.  My experimentations and knowledge is by far never going to be complete, and I love learning.  If you have questions, if I wasn't clear, whatever the case may be, please say so.

I want to know how many are reading to the bottom of the post, so if you've made it this far, please comment and let me know if you found the hidden words in the flower posted above.