posts in category out of my comfort zone

5.17.2012

step outside your comfort zone...with Shelley of Crazy Wonderful

It's time for another installment of Step Outside Your Comfort Zone! Yay!

This time around the amazing Shelley from Crazy Wonderful is here sharing her project. Shelley has magnificent taste and her design style makes me wish I lived closer to her so that I could have her come rearrange my living room. I find it hard to believe that there is anything she feels challenged by...

If you're a new reader, let me give you a quick rundown on this series...

As crafters, diy-ers, moms, (dads?), humans, we often get stuck in our "comfort zones." We find a place in our lives where we're comfortable. And we stay there.

This series challenges bloggers to step outside their comfort zones (hence the catchy name), to try something they don't normally do...to do something that may scare them a little, frustrate them a little...whatever.

I think it's good for us to shake things up a bit...it keeps things from getting stale...and it keeps us on our toes...

So, let's meet our challenger, shall we?

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Hello everyone! I'm Shelley from Crazy Wonderful, and I'm ubber excited to be here posting for Outside My Comfort Zone!

I've done a couple pieces of art in the past, but this time I wanted to try something different that didn't involve paint.

Here's what I came up with!

Supply List:

silver leaf
metal leaf adhesive spray
plain paper (I used a few sheets of computer paper)
background paper (I used a thicker paper so it wouldn't buckle)
pencil and object for tracing
scissors
glue stick

What I did:

STEP ONE: Spray your plain paper with the metal leaf adhesive spray. A light coat should be sufficient.

STEP TWO: Start laying down the sheets of silver leaf. Cover the entire piece of paper.

STEP THREE: Flip the paper you just silver leafed over, and trace circles using the lip of a glass. If you want a smaller circle, a large circular punch would make this much easier and save you the tracing and cutting out time.
STEP FOUR: Cut out your traced circles.

STEP FIVE: Use a glue stick to coat the back of your cut outs.
STEP SIX: Arrange circles onto your backing paper.

Frame and you're done!

My favorite part about this piece is how it changes at different angles. These aren't the most glamorous photos, but it shows you how different it looks when you see it's reflection in the mirror.

So, another use for good ol silver leaf!

Thanks for having me over today, Maggie. I had fun, and definitely enjoyed stepping outside my norm!

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*If you love Shelley's art, please Pin It! But first, please head over to Shelley's site and pin it from there to ensure that she gets proper credit...thank you!*

Thank you so much for sharing your project, Shelley! I LOVE the way this looks. It really reminds me of something you would see in a high-end gallery...it's just gorgeous. And I can't believe you cut out all those little circles by hand...they look perfect! Great job!

Do you have something you'd like to try that is outside of your comfort zone? Just contact me at msgirlblog@hotmail.com and I'll set up a date to feature you!

3.01.2012

out of my comfort zone..."chalkboard" art

Well, today's the day...the start of the "Step Outside Your Comfort Zone" series! Yay!

For a quick recap on the premise behind this series and a summary of my comfort-zone problem, click here...

Can I tell you a secret? After I wrote about the start of the series I was wondering why I did it. I kept thinking..."I don't want to do this - this is dumb...why would I want to spend time doing something I can't do? What a waste..." I even told my girl, Jaime (whom I met in real life last weekend...and let me tell you, she is a doll! I adore her...), that I hadn't started my project - I didn't even know what I was going to do yet! - and I was really trying to find a way to get out of it.

BUT, there's nothing like a self-imposed deadline to kick me in the butt...and, when I saw this post by The Nester last week I knew exactly what my "step outside" would be. If you didn't see the post, Nester featured some amazing chalkboard art by Dana Tanamachi...have you seen this girl's work??? Here are just a few beautiful examples...

Unbelievable, right? That's chalk...yep, chalk...I still can't get over it...

I really really like the look of the chalkboards...but my issue was using a paint brush, not chalk (although that's another problem area)...so I decided to make my "chalkboard" art a little more permanent. Here's the Dana Tanamachi piece that I was most inspired by...

I started by painting 1/2 of an Elmer's Foam Board with flat black spray paint. Then I took a white tailor's marking pencil (I'm sure any white pencil would do, I just used what I had around), laid out a rough design and started sketching my design.

This part was really fun for me. Here's a photo when I was a little further along...

When I was all done with my sketch, I picked up my little paint brush and 2 bottles of my DecoArt paint...one in Snow White & one in Lamp Black (to cover up all of my mistakes). That was the best part of this project - when I made a mistake...and believe me there were plenty...I just covered them up with black paint and started all over. As it turns out, my painted design varied only slightly from my original sketch...

So...what do you think? Honestly, it was A LOT more fun that I thought it would be. And, after using the paint brush for a while, I actually started to enjoy what I was doing.

It's certainly far from perfect...in fact there are some spots I may still change...but I like it. I really do. And I know exactly where I will put it (as soon as I get that project done, too).