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Trinket Box

7/26/2021

I don't know if you saw my post on making Harry Potter wands but they were pretty awesome sauce if I do say so myself! The box I used for them came from a gentleman at work who likes to give me random things to use for my crafts. Well, he gave me some of the same style of box but they were double the width (if that makes sense). So I had to come up with something to do with them! I have a lot, so it will take a few different crafts to use them up, but, to start, I came up with this simply pretty trinket box!

Supplies I used:

Cardboard box
Book pages
Mod Podge
Paint brush for glue
Scrapbook pages
Scissors
Printed quote
Vinyl/fabric piece
Various embellishments

I had some of our staff at work help me with the prep for these. I had them paint the outside and inside of the lid as well as the inside of the box white. I did this because I knew the paper I was going to be using on the top wouldn't completely cover the green and I thought was a little too much to show through and thought white would be a softer choice.

If you noticed, I didn't say the outside of the bottom part of the box. That is because I used a decoupage method with book paper to cover it instead! I ripped up pieces of old book pages that were nice and yellow looking! Then I put a think layer of mod podge on the box, section by section, and laid the pages into the glue. I brushed over the pages as well to make sure they stuck to to the box completely. I also covered the bottom of the box completely with book pages as well.

Next, I chose a few different types of scrapbook paper that had fun and bright patterns. I measured and cut them into pieces that could be quickly glued onto the different areas. I started with the inside of the box, as I figured that'd be the easiest, and again, laid down some mod podge to glue the paper on. I had this cool vinyl fabric (also from my donating buddy) which on the back had a soft fluffy backing and decided I wanted that for the inside of my box. I glued this down with hot glue to make sure it stayed in place unless someone purposely rips it out!

I decided to cover the outside and inside of the lid with two different types of paper which I thought was really fun. If you attempt this project or something similar, make sure when you glue paper down that you get the air bubbles out and really smooth it out with something! It will settle better when it dries verses what it looks like when wet!

The next part is the really fun part! So, I did this for a virtual work program. This means that I made up prepacked "craft kits" that the participants picked up ahead of time. This included the box, soft vinyl, quote pieces, and embellishments. The quote I made for the box reads, "wherever life plants you, bloom with grace". I ended up adding another quote for the side of the box that read, "be humble and kind". I wanted these to be a little bit nicer than just gluing copy paper on the box, so I first glued them to a thin matt board and cut them out. Adding changes like this adds depth and texture to projects! The embellishments I included in the boxes ranged from all sorts of mismatched stuff such as: buttons, lace, ribbon, floral leaves, jewels, stickers, clip art, broken jewelry, feathers, etc. People are also always encouraged to add things they may have at home too.

I laid out my quote pieces until I had them where I thought I liked them and glued them down with hot glue. I then started playing with my embellishment pieces. I have to say... this was shockingly hard! I could not decide where I wanted things and kept moving items back and forth and back again! Slowly, I started feeling happier with what I picked out for each item and began gluing them down, although apprehensively!

Essentially, to finish the box up, just keep fenagling with it until you feel happy! You can also always add more items later too, especially if you have something that is uniquely special in some way. Thanks for reading & crafting!

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Realistic Pet Portrait

7/12/2021

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I was asked to work with another library branch at work and create a "Pop Pet" Portrait class where people would bring in pictures of their pets and we would rock the Andy Warhol style of bright colors and large images. I had never done one of those before but said "sure, why not!". I decided to practice a bit ahead of time with my childhood dog Ginger aka Pinge, Ginge Pinge, Pinger, etc. you get the picture. You can see the results in my previous post here.

At the end of last year, I was asked to teach a class for The Little Birdie Wine Nest in Parma to help people "realistically" paint their pets. Again, I had never done that before, although I had a little experience with the "pop" style, but "realistic" would be a little bit different. Again, I decided to practice ahead of time! I watched a variety of YouTube videos on what other artists do and adapted to those techniques. Below I will walk you through those steps!

So this here is the majestic and royal Simba. He is small but mighty in personality, just look at that mane! He deserved a pet portrait to show off his strength up close with power, am I right?!

All I need to get started with these pet portraits is a photo. Preferably a good photo. I'm talking nice and clear, close up, and a good angle. This one was perfect!

Yes, I can choose to just sketch this out freehand but... I have found the best way to get his basic shape down first and that is with a projector! I save the picture to a flash drive, plug it in to my projector, and project it onto a canvas in order to sketch out the animal. That way, all the features are the right size and shape and located where they're supposed to be! Because.. you know.. that's kind of important.

I do want to address here something essential to painting a pet. So when we talk about our animals we might say "I have a black dog... a white cat.." but do you really? If you really study your animal's fur, you will see that your black dog has some copper brown hair in some spots, or your white cat has some grey undertones. Pay attention to these areas because they will come into play while painting your pet! We work from darkest to lightest colors and then go back and forth to create more detail towards the end.

So, as most of the tutorials I watched, I start with black paint! No matter what color the animal is, I always start with black. I honestly think this terrifies people, but trust me! Black is used to address all the "dark" areas of the animal. If your animal is mostly black then, yes, you are going to end up covering a lot of the canvas in black but NOT all of it! But, we'll get to that in a bit.

Now that we've addressed those dark areas, I choose my next darkest shade. With Simba, I went with a dark charcoal grey. As you start to add these layers, you can start painting in the direction of the fur too. This could be wavy, curly, straight, short, long, "whispy", etc. When I use the next darkest color, I slightly go over the black areas with this color to start overlapping and filling in more surface area.

Following this same pattern, I then choose my next lightest shade which in Simba's case was a lighter grey color. Again, I work in the direction of his fur and overlap the previous color. Adding these various layers represents the variety of colors, shades, and shadows in your pets make up.

Keep in mind, that every pet is different, so in turn, painting every pet is different too. You will most likely never use the exact same colors as the person next to you painting a different animal and your animal may have 6 different colors verses just 3! With Simba, I felt like I had used the main colors I wanted, but he looked blocky and unnatural. So I went back in with some black paint again to thin up those blocks of color and begin to make it look more like hair.

After the basic colors are done, I kind of start hopping all over the place! I worked a bit on Simba's mighty chest which is all white but using a bit of black, then grey, then white. Next, I focused on his snout which is a bit tricky! The key here is just to make sure they don't end up looking like pigs! Which seems to happen a lot :)

At some point, I address the eyes. I never do this at the beginning and always wait until closer to the end. The animal always comes alive once you take care of the eyes! So take a look at your animal's eyes, what colors are in there? It's probably not much but using that color to slightly add into the eyes, brown in this instance, does wonders! Paint in the pupil with black. And the final touch is highlight with white. Use the white to lightly mark where light is shining on the pupil and where there might be some lighter hair around the eyes as well.

To finish Simba up, I went around with a bit more black again and then finally with white to highlight his crazy fur! I used it to address his "whispy" (I use this scientific term in all my classes too) pieces of hair, his whiskers, and his ear hair too of course. I like to add a little white to the noses too so it highlights the "wet" nose look.

Oh, lastly, you can choose to paint your background before or after you paint your animal but I find it best to do it at the beginning and get it out of the way!

I hope this helps break down the steps of painting your own pet realistically! It takes a little bit of getting used to at first but you will get the hang of it, practice practice practice, right?! If you try this out share it below so I can see what you create!

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Trinket Box

Realistic Pet Portrait

Rebecca Myers

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