{Tutorial} Stenciled Tray & Tea Light Votives -- NEW Martha Stewart Crafts™ Decorative Paint Line

I'm so excited to introduce you to the Martha Stewart Crafts Decorative Paint Line, brought to you exclusively by Plaid Crafts. I was one of the lucky crafters chosen to get a preview of the line before it was released to the public!  If you are a fan of Sew Woodsy on Facebook you got a sneak peak of the amazing box I received a few week's back. It felt like Christmas morning when I started opening the box. There were so many amazing craft supplies from this first-of-its kind decorative craft paints for ALL surfaces! I had a million project ideas racing through my head. Too many ideas and not enough time in the day for crafting. 

The product is exclusively available at Michaels stores in the United States and Canada. When I stopped by my local Michael's last week I saw the full display. Did you know they have chalkboard paint? In multiple colors!!! 

There are 160 paint colors in five finishes (Satin, High Gloss, Glitter, Pearl, Metallic).  All paints come in 2 oz. bottles and are non-toxic which means this paint is even safe to use with children! *And when wet wipes off without a problem! 

This paint is formulated to work on all crafting surfaces including wood, metal, glass, ceramic, terra-cotta and fabric.  It is indoor/outdoor safe and dishwasher-safe on glass.

Now, let's get on to the project! 

I chose to make over a wooden tray that I use often in our house, and a few glass tea light votive holders. I wanted to test the paint on both wood and glass surfaces.

Supplies:

1 wooden tray

3 glass tea light holders

Spray Paint Kit

Drop Cloth

Paint colors of your choice: 

Carrot (orange), Jonquil (yellow), Green Curry, 

Peridot (green glitter), Peppermint Bark (pink)

Foam Pouncers

Stencil Brush Set

Adhesive Stencils, Fair Isle Dots 32271

Large stencil, Arabesque 32266

Painters tape

Water & Paper Towels (for clean up)

First you will want to pick out your color, lay out your drop cloth, and begin prepping to spray paint your tray. 

Mr. Woodsy was intrigued by the Spray Paint Kit. He wanted to give it a try. Follow the instructions on the back of the box. The spray paint kit comes in satin and gloss finish. In my case I received the satin finish kit. It is suggested that you only use satin paints with the satin spray medium, so that's what we did.

Mr. Woodsy spray painting the top of the tray. * Make sure you spray paint where ever you would normally spray paint a project. We spray painted outside like we would normally do with spray paint.

Once your tray has dried you can begin to layout your stencils and paint. 

I waited 24 hours before stenciling. 

Here are two of the six stencil brushes you get in a package. These brushes are ideal for painting on textured surfaces like fabric and wood. 

Before I began painting on my tray I wanted to try out the stencil on a piece of paper. 

Here was my finished product... I was very happy with how easy it was to use the stencils. You'll notice the large glob of paint. A little paint goes a long way. Learn from my mistakes. Make sure you conserve! 

Next you will want to tape down your stencil, and read the directions on the stencil package. 

Make sure your stencil is taped down good to prevent it from slipping and paint from getting in the unwanted areas. 

Next, you will want to start painting your stencil on to your tray. Each stencil pack comes with step-by-step detailed instructions. On my first stencil I used the stencil brush. I placed a small amount of paint on the brush and dabbed/brushed a thin layer of paint onto the stencil. 

While the paint is still wet carefully peel the stencil away from the tray. This is what my stencil looked like after I was done painting.

I'm in love with the foam pouncers. These little gems are amazing. Not only are the pouncers easy to clean up (the sponge can be removed from the plastic handle), they give amazing end results.  These foam pouncers have totally transformed the way a sponge brush is used.  

After the first stenciled design dried, I secured two more stencils on to my tray. I then used a medium size foam pouncer to dab the paint on to the large design. 

Using my new favorite paint tool, the foam pouncer. 

Both of the colors have been applied, now they are ready to be peeled off the tray. 

As each stenciled design dries, repeat until you have the desired pattern. 

*I used a small pouncer to dab the Green Curry (gloss) on to the stencil. Followed by a light dusting of Peridot (glitter).

After I finished the tray I decided to add a painted pattern design to a few glass tea light votives. I used the small adhesive stencil; Fair Isle Dots 32271. 

These adhesive stencils can be removed multiple times for multiple uses. The texture of the adhesive stencil reminded me of a bandaid. These are most ideal for curvy surfaces like a round votive. 

I chose two different patterns to wrap around my glass votives. 

I used Peppermint Bark and the smallest foam pouncer to paint on to the glass. You may notice that you might need a few coats of paint. Use a small amount of paint on each coat to ensure paint does not seep into unwanted areas. 

As you can tell there was a gap left that was not painted. Carefully remove the stencil. Once the paint has dried completely, line up the pattern and paint the remaining unpainted patterned surface. 

Don't worry if you get paint outside of your stencil (pictures above). Take a paper towel with water and carefully rub off the excess paint. Be careful not to rub off the painted pattern.

I followed the same steps for painting the larger glass tea light votive. 

Take a look at the pattern. I'm not sure if anyone would notice that I painted on the pattern myself. It came out perfect! 

 Just like the small votive you will need to let the paint dry completely, line up the pattern of the stencil, and paint the remaining unpainted surface area.

Here is an arial view of the glass tea light votives. I'm in love with them, and I think I'm ready to start stenciling more glass surfaces! 

I love the detailed pattern. The color matches the tea light perfectly! 

These glass tea light votives took less than 20 minutes to complete. 

I love my newly revamped two-toned tray, the detail of the stencils, and the glass tea lights.

I'm ready to do a little entertaining (or throw our bills and magazines on the tray).

A view of the glass votive tea lights. 

An arial view of my newly revamped tray.

In case my sneak peak of this amazing new product wasn't enough to get you excited--here is  Martha Stewart herself to talk about this first-of-its kind paint for ALL surfaces.  

I hope I've inspired you to go try this revolutionary product! Michael's has a coupon available for 40% off one Martha Stewart Crafts Craft Paint of Craft Paint Accessory that's good until tomorrow, Tuesday, August 30, 2011. *I plan to buy chalkboard paint with my coupon.

Disclosure: Full post disclosure here.

Dead Ivy...

... well it's not really dead--I just wanted to make it look dead! I have rather large kitchen cabinets, and absolutely nothing that sits on top of them all year round *minus christmas when I put up beautiful vines of pine with white lights*. I wanted to do a similar but creepy effect for Halloween. That's when I decided I would spray paint perfectly green ivy and make it look "dead". 

Supplies: 

-Black Matte Spray Paint

-Vines of Ivy

-Painters drop cloth

Lay a drop cloth out, and start spraying your ivy black! 

That's really all that's too this super easy project!!! 

Here is the finished product 

(sorry for the bad lighting... but it kind of gives a creepy feel)

I decided to add my various Halloween statues above the cabinets as well! 

LOVE the look. I'm so pleased with the finished product!

Here is my gargoyle over looking the kitchen! 

{mini tutorial} Bloody Bathroom

Enter if you Dare... 

*Guest bathroom from last year*

In my attempts to create cool inexpensive decorations last year (and now this year) I had stumbled across this website that had a Horror Movie shower curtain and bath mat. But at $20 each I knew I could make my own! 

*Picture from ThinkGeek.com 

For a whopping $20 I was able to transform my whole bathroom from normal every day to creepy scary!

This is how I transformed our guest bathroom for $20:

-white plastic shower curtain $1

-Clear plastic shower curtain hooks $1

-red paint (I had)

-old white towel (for bath mat)

-2 Fluorescent Screw In Black Light Bulb $7/ea at Home Depot

-1 package of plastic fake blood splatters $3

-foam core & spray paint (mirror/already had this)

-double stick tape for foam core mirror panels (already had this)

-skeleton face sticker $1

*picture from last year*

*picture from last year with the flash on so you can see what we did to our mirror. 

For the mirror we cut out white foam core and lightly painted it with black spray paint. We then applied double stick tape to the plain builder grade mirror which held the foam core together. We also applied the skeleton face sticker onto the mirror. *Sticker peals off relatively easy and you can reuse it for years to come.

*picture from last year*

For the shower curtain, I laid it out on the grass and splattered red paint on it. Then you will want to dip your hands in red paint and dragged them down the curtain (make sure someone is home and ready to open doors for you so that you don't get red paint everywhere... not that this happened to me ;). The same goes with the bath mat (splatter paint, dip your feet in the paint and step on the mat)! I use plastic hooks on the bloody shower curtain, so that I don't have to unhook my normal every day curtain. I literally pick up the curtain holding all the hooks and hang it in our guest room closet. Super smooth transition! 

As you can tell the lightbulbs were the most expensive part to this project, but added to the creepy impact! We just unscrewed the other two light bulbs so that they wouldn't turn on but didn't remove them completely. *If you haven't purchased any now--you may be out of luck! These tend to sell out the month of October at all hardware stores. You want the expensive ones too because you can package them up and use them for years to come, plus they are much more powerful then the crappy .99 ones! 

 Our guest bathroom was the biggest hit of our party last year, and everyone wanted to spend there time in the bathroom under the black lights rather than in the rest of the house!  Since we upgraded our guest bathroom a few months ago we have some new surprises in store, but we can't reveal them until after our Halloween party (since some of the people who read this blog will be at our party)! 

I made the cut! The CSI Project: 

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{Tutorial} Halloween Silhouette Plates

 

Recently, I've scene quite a few blog post on making silhouette plates. I love the concept, but it just isn't my style... until I realized I could make HALLOWEEN silhouette plates!!! After this "aha" moment I experience I was off to the thrift store to find me some plates! 4 plates for .69 cents and one plate for $1.99 and I was ready to start this project! I already had the spray paint at home, and I knew I could find more than enough cool Halloween cut-outs via one of the three Halloween cricut cartridges I own. Since these were for Halloween I wanted to spray the plates black to give more of a dark and eerie feel. 

Materials Needed:

Black Spray Paint

Drop Cloth

Old Plates

Spray Adhesive

Adhesive Plate Hangers

Cut-outs for plates (using paper)

Picture hooks and nails

1. Clean the plates really well. Lay a drop cloth outside and position plates. Spray evenly with black spray paint until well coated. Then turn the plates over and spray the back *trying not to spray in the middle circle. 

2. Next, you will want to cut out your desired silhouettes. With spray adhesive spray the paper cut out then adhere it on to the plate. Once the plates have dried transport them one by one. DO NOT stack these plates. I did this with one of the plates and ended up having to re-spray paint the plate! It will leave a ring around the plate. 

3. Next, you will want to adhere the adhesive plate disk to each of the plates. Follow the directions given on the package. The disc will need to dry 24 hours before hanging on the wall. After the 24 hours have passed test the disc to make sure they are sturdy enough. 

Hang the plates and enjoy!

*Big thanks to Ashley for allowing me to come over and make a few larger cuts on her cricut!!!

I entered the CSI challenge: