A Lesson Learned From Art Class

I made a mistake!  Oh no!  And it's too late to fix it, what should I do?

I was loving how everything was turning out on my paper.  In art class the other day we all got to play around with watercolors. The flower I was painting was slowly taking shape as I added on each layer.  An idea came to my head.  My flower needed outer petals.  I dipped my brush into the red and mixed it with some white until I had the perfect shade of pink.  Without much thought I placed my brush on the paper and painted more petals.  

Let's just say the picture I had in my head is not what happened on the paper in front of me.  I tried to make it work.  I added more paint and  then I tried to get rid of the extra paint.  Nothing worked, I messed up. 

Refusing to just push aside this piece as a mistake and try again I took out my pens and attempted to save my work.  I blended the pink colors into a background wash and added pen to make the flower stand out.  It worked! 

The painting didn't end up how I had originally planned it to turn out, but overall, I love how this piece turned out.  I couldn't resist adding a simple quote with hand lettering!

My art teacher even came over and commented on my work.  But the first words that came out of my mouth as she looked at my piece was; "This was a mistake."

She quickly told me that it was not a mistake, nothing in art is a mistake.  It may not have turned out how I wanted it to turn out, but it wasn't a mistake.  She pointed out how I was able to use my creative mind to solve the problem and still create a beautiful piece of art.  She also said if I keep trying to get the desired effect I will only get better as I practice.

Encouraged, I went on to play some more with my watercolors.  I painted more flowers and landscapes remembering to keep in mind that as I explore with art I'm not messing up or making mistakes, I'm making art.

As I reflect on the dilemma I had with my flower painting, I can't help but see a life lesson to learn from this experience.  So often in my life I find myself in situations that are similar to my messed up piece of art.   

My life is like the painting on the paper in front of me.  As each day goes by a new layer is added to the painting.   I make choices for my life each day.  I have dreams and hopes.  I have an idea in my head of what I want the painting to look like whens it's done.  

But, let's face it, things happen and my life takes an unexpected turn.  Maybe it's a season of pain, or heartbreak.  Maybe it's a prolonged season of waiting.   Hard times come and I start to wonder what happened to the beautiful picture?  It was turning out just how I wanted it to, but now...  The brush suddenly slips, the paints spill on the canvas, the beautiful painting is no longer perfect, it's messed up.  I made a mistake.

What my teacher told me about my artwork is true of my life as well.  There is no such thing as a mistake.  Maybe my life isn't turning out how I want it to turn out, but I must never allow myself to forget Who holds the brush.

God is the painter, I am a the painting.  God doesn't make mistakes.  When God has me go through hard seasons in life I can trust that He knows what He is doing.  Even if the painting looks like one big mess right now, I'll just keep trusting God.  I know that in time God will turn it into something beautiful.

Birthday Time ~ DIY Wrapping Paper

Well, today was a very special day for a very special brother. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful brother and I can't believe that today he turned eighteen! He's officially an adult now. I'm not ready for this. Why does time have to fly by so fast.  Anyway, there is nothing I can do about the time but just enjoy each moment and make the most out of each day.

Last night I realized I still hadn't wrapped his present and as I was digging through all our wrapping paper all I ended up finding was piles of Christmas paper. We have all the Christmas wrapping paper we could ever need but when it comes to birthdays, well, the choices are very thin.

Of course it's like ten o'clock at night when I get the idea to make my own wrapping paper. Using my new Aquash Water Brush and my watercolors I created a simple design on a big sheet of paper.



Once the paper was dry I wrapped my gift with my one-of-a-kind homemade wrapping paper. Can you guess what my brothers favorite color is?



To finish off the present, instead of a bow, because to be honest, I'm just not a big fan of bows, I tied a piece of twine around the box and tied it in a nice little bow.

And Wa-La! My gift was all ready for my brothers birthday!

I think that anything homemade, even if it's wrapping paper which will only end up being thrown away in the end, is so special. It's just a simple way to tell that special person that you love them.

Have you ever received a homemade gift before? Have you ever given a special friend a homemade gift?

DIY - Painted Mason Jars

Recently I bought a set of water color markers and gel pens, but I didn't quite know where to store them.  

I'm in the process of adding ice blue/mint green accents to my room so I knew that I needed to either find something or make something in that color that would work for storing my art supplies.

I love finding things you can re-purpose for new uses.  Painted mason jars has been on my list of DIYs to try and they just happened to be a perfect solution for organizing my art supplies. Another plus is we always have lots of mason jars because my mom loves to use them for storage. So a trip to the store was not necessary for this simple project.

I found three mason Jars, two big ones and one small one, and mixed up some DIY chalk paint (I used the same paint I used for my DIY Crackle Picture Frame). I decided to mix some white paint into my blueish green paint to give my jars a lighter pastel color.  

I only did one coat of paint but if you want a smoother and thicker look to your jars I would recommend doing two coats.  I was going for a rustic vintage look with my jars.  

Once they are dry you can decorate them however you desire.  I used sandpaper to rub off the paint over the brand name. I also used white chalk and rubbed the chalk over the paint to add a little extra color and texture.  Lastly I finished off my jars by adding some burlap and lace to the big jars and leaving the small one plain.

Once they were all finished I divided my pens and markers into the jars and found the perfect home for my jars on my bed stand.  I'm really pleased with how my jars turned out and was surprised at how easy it was to make these jars.

This is a fun and easy project for anyone looking for creative ways to organize and decorate.  

DIY ~ Lace Headband Tutorial

Today I made these cute headbands and they are so easy to make and don't take much time at all.  I was able to make one in fifteen minutes. I thought I'd try making a tutorial.  This is my first time making a picture tutorial so I know it's not going to be perfect but I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

Step One: Cut a piece of lace about fifteen inches long.  Or wrap it around you head and cut the lace long enough to reach to the end of your ears. (I actually used a lace headband I bought last year but was too small for me even though it said one size fits all.  I was pretty bummed that the headband didn't fit me because It wasn't really cheap.)

Step Two:  Cut a piece of elastic that measures six inches.  I think I used 1/4'' or 1/2'' elastic.  I just used the only elastic I had so the width of the elastic doesn't really matter.  You may need to cut a longer strip depending on how loose you want your headband.  I usually prefer my headbands to lay loosely on my head because I hate it when your headband slowly works it way off your head.  SO ANNOYING!

Step Three: Find a coordinating fabric and using your elastic strip as a guide cut the fabric about 1/2'' wider than the elastic on all sides.

Step Four: This step is optional. I took my fabric and trimmed it so that it was not as wide in the middle to give it a more fitted look.  

Step Five: Fold the ends down on both sides and sew the fabric together right sides together.  When you finish is should look like the above picture.

Step Six: Now turn your fabric right side out.  You now have the casing for the elastic.

Step Seven: Sew the elastic to the lace.  Make sure you go back a forth a few times to add extra support.

Step Eight: Slip casing over elastic. 

Step Nine: repeat step seven with the other end of the elastic

Step Ten: Lastly sew the end of the fabric to the lace.  I went backwards and forward a few times for added support

And that is it!  Your done!   Wear your new headband with pride! 

Let me know what you think of this tutorial.  I'm open for any advice and tips.