Route 66

(Tap, tap, tap.  Is this thing still on?  Hello?  Bueller?  Bueller?  Anyone?)

It has been quite a while since I last posted. Really, I have no excuses, unless you would like to consider both kiddos in cross country, the Oldest Kiddo simultaneously in flag football, working everyday and just all around general fatigue that makes taking and editing photos seem more like a chore than a joy to share, haha!!

I'm really not complaining. I'm enjoying every minute that I can of the Oldest Kiddo's last year in high school. I've just put blogging in the freezer for a while!!

A couple of weekends ago was the annual fall fair. This year, the Youngest Kiddo's teacher made a friendly wager with another classroom mom that her class would win the "Best Fall Fair Booth".

Ha!  No pressure to come up with an awesome design. The teacher kept saying it was all in fun and she didn't care what the out come was.

Did I mention that this teacher has also coached for many years and EVERYONE knows she is competitive, lol?!!

I was recruited to help determine the booth's theme. This year's theme was Route 66  The internet and Pinterest gave lots of inspiration.  We decided to base our booths on this old gas station.
We placed both our booths side by side and made a false front with large sheets of cardboard.  Two old window frames were wired onto each side of the "door" (basically, a screen door leaning against the front of the facade).

I painted two large gas tanks to go in front of the gas station. These were about  6x2'.  I snapped a few photos of the creative process:  All these photos were taken with my phone.  I don't know why I never actually grabbed my camera. Too lazy, I suppose!! LOL! So. less than stellar photos ahead.  Bad, bad blogger. I was also too lazy to transport the pictures and do some basic editing.  BAD, BAD, BLOGGER. On the other hand, I did take photos that I am sharing, and figured you'd rather actually have me post sooner than later, lol. YAY me!! One or two points in my favor!

Youngest Kiddo giving the thumbs up for the job finally completed

This picture shows a bit of the "windows" that we used for taking orders.  Anyone for an ice cold root beer, churro, pretzel or shaved ice?!

The facade door can be seen in this shot. The roof tarp and name of the gas station can also be seen in this photo.  After the initial set up on Saturday night, I decided that the pumps need that last final touch of the actual pump handle.  I think these little details really added to the completeness of this booth.  We also swapped out that little gas can for a larger one.  

Notice the Mobilgas horse and the Coco-cola bottle on the front of the booth?  Those were done by one of the girls in the Youngest Kiddo's class.  I informed K that she is going to do help out more with the painting embellishments in the future!! She did an AWESOME job!!

The Toad got into the spirit of things and was willing to don a pair of borrowed overalls, sit on the bench with his oil rag and a bottle of root beer, playing the part of  "Willard " (the namesake of the "gas station" )

And yes, we won the contest. An extra $50 from the Home and School were added to the classroom coffers.

Next up, the Youngest Kiddo outshines both his parents with his photography skills.  Stay tuned!! 

The Winner!! And: In the Library

Since I know that you are all itching to find out who won the HoneyPop Stamp set and coordination Honeycomb Paper, I'll be nice and get to that first. 

Hopefully, you'll stick around for a tour of the Library. 

Ok....ok!!  The winner from my blog is (insert drum roll here___________)

True Random Number Generator

Min: 1

Max: 60

Result:

32

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Marilyn! (newfiecrafter)

Marilyn, contact me at offroadtoad@msn.com (subject HoneyPop) and I will give you the information on how to collect your HoneyPop prize!!

********

Yesterday, I spent the entire day standing on a ladder in the Library. 

Nope.  I wasn't looking for a book.

I was painting books.  Yep.  I spent my day painting books and other knic knacks in the Library.

Easter is upon us once again, and our church is putting on a production, Once Upon an Eternity.  I have NO idea what the premise is of this production.  Except a very small sneak peek I got when I was talking to the gal who was in charge of the backdrop leads me to believe that the idea is making a favorite story come alive. 

I'll have to get back to you on what it actually was.

ANYHOOS!!  My friend Jen asked if I could help with the painting of the backdrop.  She actually did the majority of the work.  First, she built Library shelves out of some VERY large pieces of cardboard and added some decorative molding.  Then she did some painting.

pictures sent from Jen's phone

Jen wasn't happy with the lack of dimension on her painting.  She claims that adding shadows and such are not her thing.  I personally think she could do it.  But, being the good friend I am, I helped out.

Now here is the  hard part about painting backdrops: You can't get picky about the FINE details.  You know, all the perfect shading that makes a Trompe L'oeil painting so realistic.  One needs to keep in mind that A) one is painting on a piece of CARDBOARD, that may, or may not, be save in storage for another time.  B) the fine details are lost when viewed from the back of a church, auditorium or other large gathering place.  C) one is painting on CARDBOARD and how much time does one really want to invest for a temporary illusion? (about 5 1/2 hours it would seem in my case.  geesh!)

Some of you with sharp eyes will also notice that only the top three shelves of the bookcases were done.  That is because the  3-4 narrators sit or stand in the Library the entire time (the story takes place on the stage that is to the right of the bookcases).  I did not feel that it was necessary to "waste" my time painting an area that will not been seen for the most part.  And also, because, the viewer's eye is not drawn down towards the actors feet, but at their upper bodies.  Again, one must keep in mind that this is a cardboard backdrop!!

That's about it for me today!  I hope to be back with a b-day card for the Toad in the next day or so.  If not, you'll know that he has a flakey wife and that she didn't get it done! BHWHAAAAA!! 

'Till then........................

Happy Trails....

Hey Peoples!!  Believe it or not, I've been creating for HOURS over the last couple of days. AND today I finally came to the end of the trail!!

Every year our little private school has Grandparent's Day the last day of school just prior to spring break. Grandparents or Special "grandparents" are invited to come to the "Pit" and enjoy presentations from
K-6th graders, an art display of work from all the students and a light lunch.  They are then welcome  to go to their grandchildren's classrooms and see the work they do there.  The Home and School committee usually picks a theme and all festivities are planned accordingly.  This year the theme is Happy Trails.  Somehow I got held at gunpoint (ok, ok....I made a deal with the President of H&S.  If she accepted
 the presidency (which I declined faster than a branding iron), I'd help with the planning and decorating for Grandparent's Day.  In all honesty, I got off with the better deal).

Sooooo, the travels begin in the Pit area (this is the central meeting area for the school) which is approximately 9 x 30 ft.  First you start with some bright orange paper

 Then you add some bright red paint and some spotches of purple paint

Then add a few pieces of black paper over the top for a silhouette

And you got yourself a cowboy at the end of the trail.  (I believe you can click on any of the pictures for a larger view)

As simple as this looks like it should have been to do, it took me 6-7 hours of working time (that does not include set up for the painting or cleaning up).  Lucky for me, the second grade teacher is very artistic and helped me get the projector positioned correctly to kinda trace the cowboy onto the paper.  She then helped me make the horse look like a horse vs a cow (it would seem that after I drew out the original cowboy on his horse and took him down to trace around without all the lines, I CUT the wrong scribbles and made my horse shorter, squatty and basically a cow. By that time I was tired, sore from all up/down off the scaffold and HUNGRY.  I could not for the LIFE OF ME get things to line up correctly with all the separate sheets of paper.  So a HUGE thank you to Mrs. S!!!! She rode in and saved the day!!)

The high school has asked that this be left up as the junior class would like to use it for a special announcement.  I believe it might be for the upcoming junior/senior banquet, which I heard rumors that it will be a western theme. I don't know for sure.  So, the work will be appreciated by more than one group.  Which is nice when you spend hours creating something that will eventually end up in the trash can (the harsh reality of doing this type of art work!! LOL!)

Papercrafting on a LARGE scale, hehe.  And "pawdner's, I'm done.  Stick a fork in me and turn me over"

'Till next time!

Rome Wasn't Built in One Day....

......but parts of it got painted in 4 hours!!

Tonight is the beginning of VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church. This past week, the main backdrop to Rome was built and painted by various talented families (yours truly was was not involved in that portion of the set design/work). But the final buildings of Rome didn't get completed until yesterday afternoon/evening. Which means that the portion that I WAS asked to help with needed to be completed TODAY. No time for detailed work. Just slappin' some paint to give the illusion of pillars.

Please excuse the poor pictures. The lights had been turned off and I didn't feel like wandering through the "underground church's" passageway to try and find the main switches (the hallways have been blacked out so that the "leaders" of the different age groups can take the kids to the underground churches that the believers worshiped in). I had a hard time getting a decent angle as the "flags" have already been placed along the main church aisle that designate the different age groups. In other words~~~ these are lousy pictures and I'm not in the mood to try and take more!! LOL!!

The first picture has too much of a glare on it. I'd like to think that in real life the "roundness" of the pillars shows up better since the faint shadowing on the other side of the pillars has gotten washed out in the picture (by this time, the gal that is/was in charge of the set design was tired and HATING all things VBS and just wanted a little bit of paint. Preferably paint applied by someone else. She told me to leave my perfection at the door and just slap on some paint. I tried......)

I'm not sure what those nice circle glares are in the last picture. Who knows?!!

Here's the kicker to the whole project. My oldest DS has "outgrown" VBS and doesn't really want to be a "staff" member. My youngest wants to be with his older brother (which means he does not want to go to VBS either). Sooooo, I'm just going to hope that this qualifies me for a special jewel in my crown (and for those of you who know me....yeah, I know, I need all the help I can get in that department!!)

I'm still working on DH's father's day card. I just got the stamps Saturday night and haven't finished coloring the image. Luckily for me, the man is a gem and will only give me a hard time about my late offerings for the rest of my life (sigh..... or until I'm late with the next card for him!!)

Thanks for stopping by again today!! I'm off to do some coloring!

Journey to Jerusalem

This weekend our church put on a "Broadway-style" musical titled "Alone at the Alter". The musical starts with Abraham and Issac at the alter that Abraham was suppose to sacrafice his son on. It then moves to the highlights of Jesus' last days.

I was asked to direct the painting of the backdrop. The set was built last Sunday afternoon. We began the painting on Monday. It was completed on Wednesday. There is NO WAY that I could have completed this project on my own. There were many volunteers who were willing to listen to my "suggestions" (or bossing as it probably was!) as to how to paint the details. So I will take the responsibility of the mistakes too!! (and I will point the BIG one that I made that DH noticed right away in the first draft of pics that did NOT get fixed due to lack of time). When looking at these picture, keep in mind that I have a cheapo-point and shoot digital camera. And that I am the worst at editing my photos in my whateverprogram that I have. BUT!! I wanted to give you an idea of the set.

This is a 3D creation. It is actually framed and covered with huge sheets of cardboard. Here is the overall view (I think you can click on the picture to enlarge...no guarentees!)

And some close up shots starting with the right side of the scene and then moving to the middle and left side.
Some little details that are hard to see in the photos: the "beams" sticking out of the two houses are actual small beams.
The doors have 3D handles and hinges that do not really show up from a distance (but look great up close! hehe)

And here is my BIG mistake. Now in all honesty, most people would not notice this. But there will be a few who do. Notice the shading on the window on the "rocked" house? IT'S ON THE STINKIN' WRONG SIDE!! No one to blame but yours truely for that one!! I was doing the shadowing on the right side of the stage and even mentioned to everyone that we needed to change the shading to the other side once we got past the center house. GUESS WHO DID IT WRONG?!!! Ahhhh, geesh!! I literally had nightmares about this stupid window!! But to change it would have been more of a nightmare. We had run out of the "base" color paint to put over my mistake and that left the option of me having to put some Kilz (primer) over the window to cover the dark shadowing. No big deal, except that would have meant another trip to Home Depot or the paint store and we were running out of time. So, here is our story: The person who lives in this house put their large oil lamp on that side causing the shadows to be on the "wrong" side!! BWHAHHAAAThe stones over the archway have shading too, but again, my photography skills are sorely lacking!!

Most of my "mural" paintings have been for household rooms or smaller public areas. I learned that it is REALLY hard to get little details to show up from the back of a church!! But, we are hoping to use this set again for VBS or other smaller venues and then the small details can be appreciated more (of course, I just might have to fix that window before it gets used again!!)

I want to acknowledge all of those who helped in this painting endeavor. As I said prior, there is absolutely no way I could have gotten this job done by myself. Jen and Tres Hoffer (set designers), Jennifer Gorton, Stephanie Church, Laural Haglund, Caroline Kim, Rhonda and Rob Wilson and

Collette Carr~~if I missed anyone, please know that your efforts are not forgotten, just my brain is mush!!

Looking Back on Other Types of Creativity

Well, I'm still kickin' (but the cough is ready to either expel a lung or cause me to herniate a disc in my back!!)

Today I was doing the base work for some faux painting at a friends house. A couple of years ago, I decided that I needed a break from Physical Therapy and thought that I would enjoy going into the Faux Painting/mural business. Yeah...well, here is reality. I like to paint. I like to faux paint and paint murals. But I DON'T like having to do it for a living (snort). Painting is a LOT of work. Up TALL ladders. Reaching/balancing where one should not try to reach and/or balance (at least not ONE who has developed a thing about heights in her old age...) Anyway!! I digress.

Now, I love the look of a very subtle faux finish on a wall. It covers a lot of construction sins and even painting sins (or as the case may be at my house, lots of little boy handprints along EVERY wall that they pass). But there is one problem with trying to photograph such a subtle look with a point and shoot digital camera. Doesn't work. Or I should say, I can't get a photograph to show the slight details that make the paint job a "wow" when you enter the room. So, today I thought I would share a project that I did during this exploration of being a painter. This is a Trompe L'Oeil project for a little girl's secret room. The mother wanted it to be like her own little secret "house". Now the goal was to make this something that she would continue to enjoy even as she got older~a "retreat". So, I tried not to make it too "cutesy".

You enter into the "house" by going into the closet (the room was just a storage room over the attic~~ ONE little light bulb....no other source of light). The first picture shows the "front door"(painted to look like it has panels) and the "brick" of the house and the planter by the door

(this was a slider closet...not much room to try and take a good picture!) The next picture shows the inside of the "front" door

The little girl wanted her house colors to be purple and yellow. So the "wall paper" was a very light lavendar with yellow roses on it (also a request) The next picture shows the "bedroom area. The chest was painted to look like a ruffle of a bed (the mom was going to have a cushion made for the top)

The next photo shows the "back door (just a door that goes over the garage).

Close up of the potted flowers that are on the "back porch"

And the fireplace that is next to the door. Now, there is a couple of cool details about this fireplace. One: the "logs" are truely dimensional. I painted some paper and then rolled the logs and glazed the goop out of them to make them stick in the fireplace. Two: That is a REAL little shelf/mantle over the fireplace. At Christmas time, the girl hung garland over the mantle! Too cute!

(Again, I apologize for the glare. I had to use my work light to try and get this picture. )

The favorite part of this whole room for me was the "breakfast nook". I just loved how this window turned out.

(since the fireplace was going full blast, I had to have this be "early spring" with some snow on those hills!)

A close up shot of the hills (horses were also a request) ETA: I think that you can click on any of the pictures to get a better idea of some of the Trompe L'Oeil details)

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you didn't mind this little detour from stamping. Like I said, this blog is exploring different mediums of creativity and painting is one of those creative worlds that I do enjoy.

I will return with a card on the next post!!

Seven Foot Stork Invasion

Remember the baby shower that won't go away? Well here is another little project that I did for it.

All of this was done using the large rolls of paper that every school has to cover bulletin boards. I was asked to decorate the "Pit" area of the school for the shower. To give you an idea of the size of this~the Pit is approximately 9 ft x 30 something ft. Now, it would seem that since this was a fairly simple decorating idea that it wouldn't have taken so long to do. But, of course, things never go as planned!! Originally, I thought that I would take an hour or so and put up the blue background while my oldest son was in his Lego Mindstorm class (something to do with building a robot that will perform certain "missions" during a competition). Ended up pulling staples out of the wall for probably an hour first. Grabbed a couple of 5th graders to help me by holding up the paper while I add more staples to the wall. Bless their hearts, they did try...but 5th graders cannot hold still. At ALL. Sooooo, after removing staples again and re-applying the bottom layer, I found a mom to help me (amazingly, we got the next two sheets up in about the same amount of time that it took for the first sheet! Kids~~ya gotta luv 'em!!). The clouds took another hour and half to "draw" (hahaha) and put up. They are kinda outlined. Kinda.

Drawing the storks was another matter. My wonderful husband has been gracious enough to dedicate one wall in the garage for such artistic endeavors. Seriously, that is a HUGE sacrifice for him, as the "office" (which all my stamping/craft stuff has seemed to somehow made its home) was to be "his" space. Now, all he has is his garage for all his "manly man" stuff. So, for him to give me a wall to practice faux painting techniques or to draw 7 ft storks is a biggie!! Anyway, back to the subject of drawing the storks. I am not one of those type of "artists" that can just draw "out of her head" (and I'm sure it has NOTHING to do with the fact that I don't practice!!). I find several pictures and take bits and pieces and adapt them to make up my own drawings. Fine. Except that the stork that is "taking off" didn't fit in my space (he was horizontal to begin with) so I had to adjust and draw him vertically. Which is kinda scary since I can't really tell if my lines are going to look right once he is positioned how he is really suppose to be (which, as it turned out, was no big deal since he got stapled in a more vertical position).

Painting the storks was done with my vast collection of acrylic tubes of paint (did I mention that SOMEONE forgot to check her supply from the last LARGE painting project? Yeah....let's just say it is a good thing that I don't have a problem mixing multiple shades to get my colors!!) Here's a couple of "close ups" that let you see the details a little better

There is subtle shading done with my copic marker on the storks defining the feather areas and where there would be shading normally, but my cheapie digi camera didn't pick up that important detail!!

Overall, I was very pleased with how this turned out. One of the other teacher's has asked if she can try and take the storks down to be used at her daughter and daughter-in-laws baby showers. Which is just fine with me. I'd like these things to get more use before they are thrown in the trash.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll share more projects for this shower tomorrow! (I still get giddy about how those turned out!! Geesh~~ I REALLY hope that I didn't use all my allotted creativity for the month on these!!)

Starla

P.S.....the baby bottles were a hit too. This same teacher mentioned above took the one's that no one took to be used at her showers. Which is nice. I really don't need them and kinda had a sick feeling in my stomach about them just getting tossed!!