Vintage Music Vase

Spring has come with it's lovely breathe of brand new life and dreams and whispers of music. Music that giggles over the stream, flirts with the daffodil, and wafts in my window. The music of robins and raspy stretching throats in small round nests.

I wanted to bring a touch of music into our apartment, so when I stopped at a second hand bookstore one rainy day, I checked out their music section and found the perfect thing....yellowed, mellowed, sheet music.

An empty maple syrup jar, Modge Podge, and a small paint brush, completed my project. You can either use real Modge Podge or make your own by mixing one part Elmer's glue with one part water. The homemade stuff tends to be slightly inferior to the real stuff, but it does work.

You are ready to start! Tear your sheet music into pieces, and brush the back side of each piece with Modge Podge.

I like rather long narrow strips best, where you can actually read some words. Small pieces are nice also, if you have no words.

Cover the entire surface of your jar with music pieces, overlapping their edges.

Super simple. Super fun.

Tie a bit or burlap string, ribbon or lace around the neck. I put a flower in mine to add some color, but since you won't want to wash this vase, branches or artificial flowers would work best.

                        Dreaming of summer

                           Happy crafting! 

 

Crackle Painting With Elmer's Glue

    I heard it could be done. This thing of using Elmer's glue to crackle paint. I was very skeptical. But what's the harm in trying such a simple, cheap little project?
    I had a lovely 16x20 photo of our favorite hunting ground in Dillion, Montana that I was aching to frame. By the way, I got if FREE! :) (Shutterfly does nice things like for their customers once a year.)  I wanted a special frame that went with this photo and since Montana is full of unique, country, original goodness, I couldn't bring myself to buying a brand spanking new frame off the shelf at the craft store. I poked around in the frame section at Goodwill and found this old brown frame still in good shape for about 3 bucks. It was truly ugly. 

   You know those 'not antique but plain old' frames, tinted by years of hanging  that have merged them into a muddy 'something color ' between orange and brown.
   I brushed on a generous coat of thick white glue. A thick coat of glue, like you see below will cause wider, bigger crackles. A thin coat will cause smaller, finer crackles. The staples in the back of the frame kept it from laying on the newspaper 'dropcloth' :)

I Allowed it to dry until the glue was tacky to the touch. My finger left a bit of a print on it instead of coming away dripping wet.

 It doesn't take real long. This took about 10 minutes I am guessing. 

    Now you're ready to apply your top coat of paint. I used regular acrylic craft paint. Use smooth brush strokes in one direction if possible. You don't want to brush over it more then necessary since it smudges the strokes and looks muddied and rough. I put on a medium layer of paint . Not super thin and not globbing thick.

 The fun part is watching the transformation! It continues to crackle by itself over the next half hour. Of course you want it to dry completely before handling it. But it is seriously SO MUCH FUN to watch it develop!

I usually use spray- on clear acrylic sealer to preserve the paint .

The next step was to polish the glass and pop the picture on the frame.

My husband came home from work, took one look at it, and said,                 

"I know EXACTLY where that is! 

This is where we camp. 

This is where the trail runs..." 

Good memories! It's about an 8 mile hike from where we park our truck to where we set up camp. Way back in the bowels of the uncivilized Montana Nature. Back where the elk's bugle and squirrels chatter and whoosh of bird wings are the silence breakers.

I will stop before I bore you with more details :) because if I keep on, you may see a trail of dust and my wave in the rear view mirror. 

If only life would be that uncomplicated! :)

So now finally...Here's the result....

    And a closer shot for a bit more detail.

This is another project I did with the Elmer's School Glue as a crackler. I got  better results with the glue then I did with crackle medium I tried that is 'the real thing' :) 

I'm so excited about this technique! I even used it on our salvaged microwave stand. It turned out quite rusticly lovely!

Happy crackling.