Painted Umbrae Card

I created this simple thank you card with some paint I happened to have on hand. I used a sky blue, colbalt blue and black (which I combined with the cobalt blue to create navy). I just used a paintbrush to layer the colors onto the paper, starting from the lightest color to the darkest color to create an umbrae effect.

At first I thought I could just paint the paper (that was already cut down to a greeting card size) and then I would be finished. But the paper I was using just wasn’t strong enough to hold up to the wetness factor of paint and water. The paper started to curl on the ends and paint seeped onto the other side of the paper (which wasn’t very attractive).

So instead, after I let the paint dry, I cut the painted sheet to the size I wanted. In this case, the greeting card itself (which I just made myself) is 5.5 inches wide and 4.25 inches high, and I cut the painted section to 5.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches high. I used double-sided permanent tape to stick the painted paper to the card, and then in wrote “Thank you” in pen. And it was done.

DIY: Hex Nut Beads

I thought I create jewelry using hex nuts as beads. The easiest way is just to use the hex nuts as is and not paint them, but paint them if you want a pop of color.

DIY: Button Magnets

I bought a bag of cheap plastic black and white buttons and thought I could make button magnets with them. Of course if you like your button as-is then all you have to do is glue the button to the magnet; I wasn’t excited about my nondescript buttons so I wanted to dress them up a little bit with color.