Tags ala Coastal Bohemian

I spent Tuesday night making mixed media tags for fun and stress relief too.

I use up some old cardboard packaging cut into tag shapes.

I had this ream of colorful print paper and glued several pieces to some cardstock. 

Then I stamped these pretty flowers onto the colorful paper and cut the flowers out.

I used stencils and inks to achieve a background. (In this one I've inked the stencil onto a watercolor paper I had made. )

These papers were made using the bright colored papers and applying bleach using a paint brush.

You can see bits of the paper used behind the flower here. The string I used here, is a strand from a Dollar Tree mophead. The cotton is very absorbant and will take color from spray inks and inkpad color.

With all the painting I do, I have started to use the paper towels that mop up all that pretty color. They make pretty additions to mixed media art. You can see I use some for the background of this tag. Lots of mod podge  gets the paper towel adhered and then I  can embellish . 

This is a cluster. It's a layering of bits of paper and sometimes some bits of fabric. I use white glue to lay down my pieces and then when it's all dry I ink around the edges to make them look old and vintage. I use these for paper crafting and journaling but wouldn't they be darling on a package?

Here's a cluster I made and it showcases the same flower stamp on fabric. The inside is made from air dry clay balls I had left over from a project and under the beads I used bit of frayed fabric.

You get the idea. 

Here are a few more to help you get inspired to take an evening making some tags.

Frayed denim for a tie.

Distress inks to color the ribbons and cotton and to stencil the backgrounds 

Painted music paper. Easy to do. Lay down some paint on a piece of deli paper . Spray with water. Use music papers to soak up the paints. Let dry. Use for fun and games.

These were fun and I thank you for playing along with me. 

With love and gratitude,

Michele

Find me partying here all week, at these link parties, with some great bloggers.

If you are in Myrtle Beach come on down and visit us at the Coastal Bohemian Studio or Follow us out on Facebook, Pinterest , Instagram, Linkedin, or Bloglovin .

Funtastic Friday #283

Let's get right to Funtastic Friday!

Greek Style Chickpea Pasta Salad with Chicken #Glutenfree

I heard about this chickpea pasta that was being sold at Costco a few months ago and picked up a package. I was very skeptical about using it, I had recently made a red lentil pasta that tasted like sidewalk chalk. This however, has a great taste and it's gluten free, hello. I will be using it for my pasta dishes moving forward. 

Ingredients.

2 Chicken Breasts- cut into small chunks less than 1"

1 Cup chopped fresh baby spinach

1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes- chopped

1/2 cup Kalamata olives- chopped

1/4 lb Feta cheese- crumbled

Olive Oil -4 Tbl

Lemon Zest- from one lemon

1/2 Lemon -Juiced

1/4 Onion- finely chopped

1 box Barilla Chickpea Rotini- Cooked

Pignoli Nuts-1/3 cup (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Add 1 Tbl of Olive Oil to a Saute pan. Add a few pinches of salt and pepper to the chicken and saute the chicken in a saute pan until lightly browned and cooked through.Cool.

2. Mix the remaining ingredients.

3.Serve cold or warm. Add pignoli nuts as a tasty little garnish.

This is a perfect picnic salad, maybe with a glass of white wine, definitely with a glass of white wine.You can heat through and serve this, as a one bowl, summer supper. The lemon zest in this salad  brings all the flavors to life. It's simple and easy to create and feeds 6-8 people easily. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe and share it with your friends.

With love and gratitude,

Michele

Find me partying here all week, at these link parties, with some great bloggers.

If you are in Myrtle Beach come on down and visit us at the Coastal Bohemian Studio or Follow us out on Facebook, Pinterest , Instagram, Linkedin, or Bloglovin .

Funtastic Friday #282

Can't wait for your links in this week's Funtastic Friday....

Let's get to it!

Funtastic Friday # 281

Welcome to Funtastic Friday . It's always so exciting to see the variety of busy bloggers and their recent creativity each week.  It has been especially helpful during this time of self quarantine. Thank you for continuing to inspire us all. Party on folks!

Glistening Pearl Paint Over Coastal Blue Water Walls DIY Bathroom Make Over

We live on the Emerald Coast of Florida, in the Panhandle, on Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach. The waters look crystal green and blue like the Bahamas. We bought our condo 3 yrs ago and it has taken me all this time to do over the bathroom walls.  The blue waters above is the new color and the yellow below is the old wallpaper. I painted right over the wallpaper.

The makeover plan was to paint the color of the water onto the walls creating the subtle hombre effect of the water as it makes it's depth change. To pull it all together, I planned to use the Valspar Pearl Paint over the top to give the sense that the water was sparkling , glistening bright and blue,  in the beautiful Florida sun.

 

I'm happy with the way it turned out. 

Here's what I did to paint , blend and pearlize the walls.

First, I chose the colors that best matched the look of the water. 

Then I painted the bottom with the lighter color and the top with the darker blue. I did not create a straight line across where the two colors met. I wanted to show the curved changes you can see when you look out at the Gulf of Mexico.

The towel rack and the outlet covers were painted in order to 

help them blend into the visual of the water.

I knew the stark contrast of the colors would need to be toned down with some blending and eventually, the pearlized paint. In order to do this,I laid down a line of paint, at the water change mark,

in each color and blended them back and forth with a damp brush.

In some spots the brush marks were softened with a damp cloth. 

For the finale, I 

ragged on the diluted pearl paint. I actually over diluted the pearl paint for the first coat and had to redo the ratio of paint to water on the second coat. 

Rag painting is like sponge painting, you use a damp rag and pick up some paint and blot the rag

on some newspaper and then stamp a small section at a time. All the while you'll be turn and twisting 

your wrist to change the look of the rag. This part is important because you want to avoid the same look from the rag. Overall the constant stamp change keeps the eye from noticing anything exact. It becomes a subtle finish to the whole look of the water and softens the lines of the paint.

 

I've placed an order for a new a shower curtain that has white and turquoise stripes, reminding me of a beach cabana or beach umbrella.

What do you think of the stripes shower curtain idea? 

Can't wait to see it all come to life with the stripes.

Keep painting.

With love and gratitude,

Michele

Find me partying here all week, at these link parties, with some great bloggers.

If you are in Myrtle Beach come on down and visit us at the Coastal Bohemian Studio or Follow us out on Facebook, Pinterest , Instagram, Linkedin, or Bloglovin .