Painted Rocks

Here are a few ideas for painting rocks. They can be simple or more detailed. You can paint an Easter egg with Polka Dots or a watermelon slice or a flower blossom. How about painting a strawberry or a rocket. It all depends on the shape of the rock and what you see in it.

The first thing to do is look at the shape of the rock and imagine what it can be. It might just jump out at you when you look at it. A couple of these rocks are shaped like hearts. One day when Grandpa Wes and I were looking for rocks, I looked only for smooth rocks that looked like hearts. I founds quite a few. You can paint on smooth or bumpy rocks, just make sure they are clean and dry when you start.

So look at the rock, picture what it is and paint away.

Magazine Strips Box

You can create all kinds of looks with this technique. All you need is a wooden or paper mache box and lots of old magazine or printed pictures like calendars or travel brochures. A little paint for the inside and you are set.

The idea is to think of the magazine pictures as color and patterns rather than what is in the picture. I choose a very warm pallet for this box but it could be any combination of colors. So start by tearing out colors from the magazines and separate them by colors. You can use advertisements and big background color too. Remember we are looking for color and pattern.

Once you have all the colors you like, you can start tearing them into strips. It's best to have several strips done before you start so you can just concentrate on the design and gluing once you get started.

Now it's just a matter of covering the box in your own design. After it's covered, you can paint the inside like I did. I painted it a dark orange and then covered it with a gold paint and wiped it off to create an antique look. Then added a faux jewel on top to finish it off.

Painted Fabric by Art Day Kids

Here are some examples of the fabric painting the kids did at Art Day. Each with their own personality.

Little Painted Fabric Book

Well, I wish I could claim this little book for my own but I found this idea in a craft DVD about fabric painting. I thought the kids would love painting fabric and they did! We used all kinds of stamps to make the patterns. Some of the kids just painted the fabric and enjoyed pinning them up on their walls. A couple of the older ones made this little journal with the patterned fabric.

I gave the kids one yard of muslin fabric and told them to pick out 3 or 4 colors of acrylic paint, and told them to paint 4 different patterns in the 4 quarters of the fabric. Some did some didn't, but it all worked out great! Take a look at some of the results above.

The book is made up of 2 chip board pieces (4" x 5") for the covers, covered with the pattered fabric and leaving room for the spine, about 1/4 inch. Use Elmer's glue or similar glue. I water the glue down slightly so it's easier to spread. Then 4 pieces of writing paper (7 1/2" x 4 1/2") for the inside signature. Fold in the middle to make a signature. The signature is simply sewn in through the spine and knotted in the center spread. Use any kind of strong thread or book binding thread. A button is attached to the cover using wire through the button then the chip board and curled on the inside cover and trimmed short. A few fibers gathered, a loop is made at one end and measured to fit then tied to the button at the other, wrap around and loop around button to close.

NOTE: Acrylic paint when dried on fabric is like plastic. As long as it's not too thick, it won't wash or rub off.