Junk mail into a landscape canvas guest post by My Creative Chaotic Life

I am a huge fan of mixed media pieces and I love using what I have on hand to create art.

Which is why I am so excited today to introduce you to my guest blogger Nikki today from My Creative Chaotic Life as part of my small blogger guest post series.  Nikki is going to show us how to take junk mail and turn it into a landscape portrait.  Pretty cool right?!

Hi there guys! I'm Nikki, and I take 

inspiration from the chaos of my everyday life and create ART! 

And how do I go about doing that? Well, let me show you how I turn this:

plus this:

into this!

 

 I have a series of canvases I have been creating that uses my junk mail and turns it into landscapes of the area I live, and I was asked to share with all of you how I do just that! So, sit back and enjoy the process!!!

 Of course, the first step in anything is to create a background. I used acrylic paint to make the background sky and clouds. BUT, the grass needed more texture and depth than I could get with paint. Instead I found a piece of a credit card application and added some paint using a template to add shadows and interest. I also added some different shades of green using misting sprays.

Once the paper was dried I crinkled it up to add more texture and used Golden acrylic medium to glue it to my canvas. 

You can see that there are a few different layers of greens to help add to the piece. I did the same thing using grey to add some boulders to the base of my garden.

 As you can see in the photo, the garden is surrounded by pine trees. Looking for a way to create the texture of the pines I used some corrugated cardboard, removed one of the paper covers and colored it using some glimmer mist and glimmer glaze paints. 

 

 Once the paint was dry I used more of my acrylic medium to adhere them to my canvas, using bits of cardboard as well for the trunks when needed. 

 The focal point to this garden is the butterfly house, and I really wanted it to stand out, and how better to make something stand out, than to make it literally stand out? I used a catalog printed on newsprint to fold the butterfly house. 

I first added gesso to the piece to add some strength and a wood grain texture to the paper. Finally, I added bits of cardboard to create the roof. 

Once my butterfly house was completed I used acrylic paint to add the decoration and glued it down to anchor my garden bed.

 

 Finally, I needed to add in some of the more airy plants to help tie the garden all together. To achieve this I used some pages from a plant catalog. 

I tore the pages into loosely shaped 'fingered' shrubs. Once the pieces were torn I added them to the canvas, being careful to arrange them in a way that they had depth and interest.

  The final step? Sit back and enjoy your creation! I hope you enjoy seeing the process behind creating these textured up-cycled pieces. To see more of my creations check out my blog "My Creative Chaotic Life". Would you like to see my art pieces I have for sale? Check out my Etsy Shop : Creating Amidst Chaos In the meantime, I hope you can find a way to create from your chaos! 

Thanks Nikki!  I am seriously inspired!  I can't wait to start digging through my recycling bin!

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Hello Navajo! Giving new life to a foot locker

I am so excited to be introducing you all to Dora from Dora the Restorer.

 I have admired Dora's work from the moment she brought it into my favorite shop, Persnickety's Awesomeness Emporium.

Dora is amazing!  What you see, is an amazing piece of handcrafted furniture.

What you don't see, is the {sometimes ugly} unloved piece of furniture that is headed for the trash pile.

Dora has a gift for seeing the potential in what old cast offs really could be.

Take it away Dora!

 I love giving new life to old furniture. 

One of my favorite things to upcycle and repurpose are military footlockers because they are built to take a lot of abuse (which I like to call character) and they are a great size for so many uses. 

This one even came with the inside tray. 

Footlockers can be found inexpensively at yard sales and thrift stores all over the country, and paired with a thrift store frame, it might be the statement piece you are looking for.

Navajo has always been a timeless style for cabins and lofts. I love the old fashion turquoise color of the traditional Navajo style, and it goes so well with the modern contemporary decor.

 I started by putting 1 x 4's on the bottom of the footlocker so the screws would have something to grab onto when I put the casters on. After a light sanding, priming, and painting, it was time for the finishing touches. 

I added the stencil to the front, then sanded again lightly and topped it off with antiquing glaze. The stencil came from a book I ordered off of Amazon titled "American Indian Cut & Use Stencils" by Ed Sibbett, Jr.

For the top, I hot glued a piece of 2" thick foam to a piece of 3/8" plywood cut to fit the lid. Then I took batting and wrapped it around the plywood and secured it with hot glue, and did the same with the fabric. 

I clamped the cushion to the lid to keep it in position, until I could get it secured with screws (from the underside of the lid). Last step, was adding the casters, and then I moved onto upcycling the thrift store picture frame into a coat rack.

I loved the style of this thrift store frame -- a little bit Mexican, a little bit Navajo. I started with the same paint steps as the footlocker - sanded, primed, painted and antiqued. I cut a piece of 3/8" plywood to fit inside the frame and painted it in "desert sand" craft paint from Americana. I chose a sunburst paint design to mimic the carvings on the frame. 

I started out by drawing lines down the center in both directions and measuring off of those lines. I applied the painters tape from corner to corner, and painted one color at a time.

  The small mirror in the center is from Ikea, and the hooks were salvaged from another project. I layed the mirror frame in the center of the plywood, and made pencil marks for the sunburst design. I repeated the taping and painting steps from above. After the painting was complete, I screwed the mirror to the plywood from the back and attached the hooks. The final step was installing the plywood into the frame.

This is such a fun, easy and inexpensive project (this was less than $50) that can be customized to fit any style, and takes very little DIY skills. Don't let these character filled footlockers end up in landfills and burnpiles, think of the stories they could tell.

Supply List:

• Military Footlocker
• Sandpaper
• Stencil
• Thrift Store Frame
• Ikea Mirror
• Coat Hooks
• Fabric, batting, and 2" Foam -- I used "Panama Wave" from Waverly for the fabric
• 3/8" Plywood
• 1 x 4's
• Casters (set of 4)
• Paint -- I used "Backstroke" from Valspar, and the accent colors were all craft paints.

See?  Didn't I tell you she was ah-mazing!  Who would have thought?!

Dora exclusively sells her creations at Persnickety's Awesomeness Emporium.  You can also follow her at her brand new blog ReUse, RePurpose, Upcycle.

Thank you so much for dropping in and sharing this amazing transformation Dora!

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