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Spatula Painting

Do you ever look at something and know you must cover it in paint?  A cardboard box spoke to me.  Once I had the painted the cardboard the tree die cut started whispering that it was just what I needed. Once I had the tree things just started jumping out at me. Oh, my, this makes me sound a bit unstable…Good thing you understand about things talking to me…

I had such fun painting the cardboard, I thought I’d share the process with you.  I cut a box apart so I had big flat pieces.  I had just been to the dollar store and bought this pack of spatulas – for just a $1.  I knew they would be be stiff and that is what I wanted!

 

 

 

 

 

I squirted 3 colors of paint onto the cardboard.

 

 

 

 

I used a spatula to spread the paint around.  The spatula was firm but not quite as firm as a credit card so it allowed me to spread the paint but it didn’t blend all the paint the way a brush would have.  The spatula is my new painting friend.

 

It was still dark so I added a few drops of white while the green paint was still wet.  Once the paint was dry I ran it through my die cutting machine to create the trees.  I experiment with different colors and types of paints.  A bit of metallic paint adds a fantastic shimmer.

 

This tree was dressed up with some green glitter and vintage gems I bought at Tinsel Trading Company.  This let me get a vintage feel to my painty tree to go with the photo.

 

{ 15 comments… add one }

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  • Cat @ sea.sky.stone. December 19, 2011, 10:12 am

    Ooh, I love the Christmas tag art…and it’s so nice in these non-traditional colors! I’m officially adding the dollar store and spatulas to my errand list–I have a stack of whispering cardboard of my own 😉

  • Melisa December 19, 2011, 11:05 am

    Pretty! I especially like the purple and blue one on top. I”ll have to try painting with a spatula, too!

  • Terrie -Creative Explorer December 19, 2011, 12:41 pm

    What a creative idea!! And what a cool tree shape – I love the irregularity of it. Nice pairing with the old looking photo. Happy Holidays!

  • Musings December 19, 2011, 12:41 pm

    Wow! You have such a beautiful blog and you are so very artistic. It’s really fun to see your creative process.

  • AJ December 19, 2011, 3:42 pm

    I love that you used the vintage photograph, I’m really like those old black & white photos, who’s the cute, happy baby?
    Big love
    AJ

  • Christine December 19, 2011, 4:14 pm

    Nice trees, sort of like painting with a palette knife I would imagine, not that I ever have!

  • Andrea December 19, 2011, 8:20 pm

    Great idea! And I really love those raindrops with all the writing on top! Seems like a ver relaxing piece to work on!

  • Rita McGregor December 20, 2011, 12:11 am

    You are so creative! These turned out very nicely. I get a kick out of the purple tree. 🙂

  • Nigel December 20, 2011, 3:48 am

    A simple yet effective idea – so I shall just have to steal it 😀

    Thanks for the inspiration 😀

  • Gwen December 20, 2011, 7:20 am

    I love your new toy and packaging and boxes also speak to me. (I hear one calling from the panty just now. ) I have my white paint ready and I may have to steal a spatula from the kitchen; thanks for the inspiration. Your trees turned out brilliantly!
    xx

  • Pauline Leger December 20, 2011, 8:16 am

    this is great! Thanks for sharing the process…. spatulas, huh… mmmmm… you just never know what has to potential to become a painting friend. 🙂
    Merry Christmas to you too!! xoxo

  • sandy coleman December 20, 2011, 8:26 am

    Fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing this.

  • Ginny December 20, 2011, 9:05 am

    This sounds like so much fun and it turn out beautifully. Thank you for sharing the whole process. Now, I am off to buy some spatulas. Have a wonderful holiday.

  • cynthia eloise December 20, 2011, 10:08 am

    spatula? i’m going to have to try this, i like the results. happy holidays.

  • Valerie-Jael December 21, 2011, 4:08 pm

    GREAT IDEA! Love using boxes, too! Valerie