DIY: Chalkboard box (photo prop)

I'm back!!

Photo prop DIY #2!

Supplies:

-Box or object to paint

-Folk Art Chalkboard paint

-Painters tape

-Paint brush of your choice

-Elmer's Painters Pen 

-Chalk

Dont worry about messing up your favorite brush, just as long as you 

clean it out right after you finish a coat.

Before:

This was the box before.

(I almost forgot to take a picture so you can see where I started painting, LOL)

I didnt take very many pictures for this tutorial, so i apologize for that!

Step one:

Tape off the edges around the area you want to paint,

Step two:

Paint 3-4 coats on the area you want to be chalkboard-ed.

Waiting 1 hour, between coats!

(WASH YOUR BRUSH!!!!)

After it looks the way you want it to,

leave the tape on!

paint the rim around the chalkboard, or the inside edge of the frame with the 

Elmer's Painter's Pen. 

After that remove the tape and 

WAIT 24 HOURS!

After you've waited for what seems like forever,

bust out the chalk and enjoy!! :)

This should be what you end up with!!

I hope this tutorial seemed easy enough, and if you try it go ahead and tweet me (@PandasNElephants) or email me (pandasandelephants@yahoo.com)!

Thanks for reading!!

xoxo,

Sami!!

Chevron Small Photo Backdrop - DIY!

Hey guys!

Today i'm posting about a small photo backdrop i mentioned in my last post! 

So lets get started! 
: D

-Teal-

-Pink-

Up close:

Measure up 2" from the bottom left (or right) corner and poke a hole.

Then measure 3 1/2" over and 2" up & poke a hole.

Then measure 2" on top of that and poke a hole.

(The scoring step is not necessary to make the chevron design but I added it for texture)

Score the foam core from the corner, to the bottom hole that is 3 1/2" over.
You could use a pencil if you want, but i prefer to score it because
sometime pencil runs when painted over.
(next 2 pictures should help you out in understanding what i meant)

If you look closely you can see the scoring...

I hope this made since, if it didnt please email me or leave a comment below 

and I will try to help you out the best I can! :)

I have another photo prop DIY going up either later tonight or Saturday,

So lookout for that! :)

xoxo

Sami!

Photography

Today's 

post is about my photography...

I'm not sure if i've mentioned it before, but I do LOVE photography.

I'm trying to become a photographer, but as a teenager

money isnt all that abundant, if ya know what I mean!

So combining my want to become a photographer, and my craft skillz (with a z),

i've been making some of backdrops, props, etc.

Thats what im going to be posting soon!
I'm kinda focused on making smaller backdrops because i'm thinking baby photography 

will be something i'll be doing first since my niece or nephew will most likely, 

be my first client! :)

So stay tuned over the next couple of days!

I'm thinking, photography Friday? 

If there is any budding photographers out there like me that have any suggestions,

of things for me to DIY, let me know! :)

Until FRIDAY!

xoxo

-Sami <3

I'm Back!

I'm Back!

So I don't really know what happened!

I think I stepped through some kind of portal that made July & almost all of August disappear!

But have no fear, I am back!!

I'm planning on doing some pinterest crafts soon and

doing alot more here on my blog! :)
Today I helped my mom set up her quilting blog, 

which inspired me to dust off the 'ole blog!

I cant wait to get back to blogging and creating! :)

Sorry this blog post is so short, and kinda all over the place, but I promise I will be back really soon!

xoxo,

Sami!

Pinterest-a-holic

Hello,

My name is Sami and i'm a pinterest-a-holic!

This is possibly one of the most dangerous things to be addicted to!

In order to become un-addicted to it,

on should create every project he/she has pinned!

Also, you should do the following to everything they've pinned

~buy every animal 

~Bake & Ice/Wrap in Fondant every cake 

~Throw every party you've

~Dress every child

~Give every gift

~Make every diaper cake

~Own every piece of fashion 

~get married and use every tip from pinterest

~build your dream home and decorate it

~make a bazillion things out of wooden pallets

~Achieve your perfect body

~Loose your perfect body because of all the weight you gain from cooking and baking

~etc.

Well that was fun to type!

But seriously, I think i need to become like a party planner

or a diaper cake maker, or a professional artist,

or a interior designer or something!

I've been loving pinterest!

I Havent forgotten about my blog, and ill be back soon!

Until then, if you want to leave my the link to your pinterest or to a pinner you love

i'd love to go check them out! :)

xoxo,

Sami!

Paint Problems!

Paint Re-cap/Oil Paint Problems!


So I painted a poppy flower last week!
the painting was a red poppy, with black outline, a stem & swirly things in the corner!
I posted it on my facebook and my Sister-n-law LOVED it!
So I gave it to her for her birthday. (which was Monday)


We went out to dinner for her birthday on Sunday night!
While we were at dinner her best friend (who is also a good friend of mine)
asked me to do a elephant painting for the bathroom she was decorating for her son!
So she showed me a picture of the shower curtain and i painted pretty much
the exact same elephant that is on that shower curtain!
It turned out great if I do say so myself, I even added a tree that is also on the shower curtain!
 BUT i did a bad thing...
I used a oil paint!! :/
Never do that! After i had finished painting it and everything else had dried EXCEPT
the tree trunk (where I used, said {evil} oil paint)
So I thought i was done for! 
(after having another accidental bad experience with another oil paint)
So, I went where?
GOOGLE!!!
I dont know what we would do if we didnt have the internet!!
I mean, 
we wouldnt know how long it takes for oil paint to dry
(or if there is a way to make it dry faster)
we wouldnt know the color payoff of that lipstick on the MAC website you've fallen in love with!
Or if that new BB cream that you wanted to try was worth the $13.. 
(that answer is no, thanks to YouTube)
And my personal favorite:
We wouldnt know if our favorite TV show was being renewed for another season or not!


Anyway!
I went searching for 
"how to dry oil paint"
Someone else had asked this question and there were multiple answers!
All of which said...dont dry it!!
Making it dry faster could cause the paint to chip off the canvas!
(which of course is the last thing you want to happen when you are making something for somebody,
and you're name is going to be on it!)
So the other part of this answer...
IT WILL DRY NATURALLY WITH-IN ONE TO TWO WEEKS!
...Not exactly what I wanted to find, but oh well!
So the painting is curantly finished and looks great, but it will be a few days before she gets it!
I showed it to my sister-n-law and she said she loved it
(I sent her friend a picture of it and she loved it too, by the way)
But she said that the wall is bigger than the painting, 
so, im going to make 2 smaller paintings to go on each side of the main painting!
Instead of doing more elephants or something,
im going to do one smaller canvas with
trees on it, and the other will have a bird on it!




Well thats all for now!
I promise i'm going to be back really soon with more posts!
I've got some new favorites for you guys, so be on the look out for that!
Talk to yall soon!
xoxo

-Sami-

Catchup!

Catch up time!

Well I totally failed at the pinterest thing...

so We're going to change it!

The first Friday of every month i'm going to post a

Pinterest Favorites!

Seems like the first week of the month is going to be a "favorites week"

each month will have a different "theme".

More favorites for the first week will be:

~Monthly Makeup Favorites

~Art Favorites(?)  

~Pinterest Favorites 

So other than that...I really dont have an excuse as to why I havent been blogging,

but I'm finished with school for the summer, and i've been 

sleeping in, and painting...

And totally overloading pinterest! LOL!

I've been so obsessed with it!

I found this on Pinterest:

Click here! :)

I had been searching for an idea of what to do on a 8" x 24" canvas

that I had...

I found this and I loved this so much and i thought I could do it on my canvas...

SO I did it! :)

And It turned out pretty good!