Bee Sweet Cupcake Painting & Music Room Mural

"Bee Sweet Cupcake"

I added this little painting to my eBay auctions last night.

I've had two of these large bees flying all over my deck trying to get in the house and they gave me this cupcake idea. 

This cute little bee knows what's sweet and delicious when he sees it. Landing atop this lovely cupcake piped with aqua frosting, the "sweet" scent has brought a smile to his little face. Black and white checked ribbon is wrapped around the edges of the canvas and tied in a perky bow on top.

I came across this photo and wasn't sure if I had shared this with my readers.  I did this mural in a local home a few years ago.  The homeowner wanted me to paint this banner in her music room. 

It was fun to paint, but I'm not as good on ladders as I used to be!

Needless to say I don't do this anymore. 

I'm linking this post to:

Savvy Southern Style

Banner Painted in Music Room

Yesterday I was flipping through the pages of an old album I had put together of some of the work I had done in homes for clients. I had completely forgotten about this one and I thought I'd share it with you. I painted this in the music room above their built in storage cabinets. You can click on the photos for a closer view. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Creative Concealment

I know that many of you have already seen photos of my faux rug before, but I thought I'd share it again because Melissa at The Inspired Room is asking everyone to share their ideas for creative concealment. Hop on over there and check out the neat ideas!

When we moved into this old house 7 years ago the floors in the room were in pretty bad shape. I didn't want carpet and didn't like the idea of making a mess with sanding, so I decided to paint a faux rug and also added some faux slippers. I admit that it has gotten scratched and chipped over time, but I don't mind because I think it adds to the old cottage feel to this room. If you think you don't have the talent to do this, check out some of the stencils that are available online. You'll be surprized by what's available now. My favorite is Royal Design Studio . You'll be looking for hours at their beautiful stencils.
Below is another concealment project that's coming soon. This old cedar chest (my hope chest) really needs a makeover. The black Naugahyde is about to be permanently changed with this fabric that matches the headboard and I'm going to paint the outside with a cream color. Paint can conceal many problem areas and is a lot cheaper than carpet!

Decorating Your Mantel

While reading all my favorite blogs this evening, Kari & Kijsa's blog, Designing for Life , made me run for my camera and photograph my faux fireplace. Jump on over to their blog for great information about decorating your mantel.

I shared this room with my blog readers back in Christmas of 2007. When we moved into this house 7 years ago, I couldn't figure out how to arrange my furniture in the living room. I didn't want a t.v. in this room and there was no fireplace to arrange the furniture around. So, I grabbed my brushes and a fireplace was born. I decided to go all the way and paint a marble one. My husband made the mantel and hearth and attached them to the wall. The glass fireplace screen hides the logs I painted inside. I had a friend of mine make the pediment that hangs above the fireplace and I painted it and then attached the concrete greenman in the center. It used to be decoration for my booth at tradeshows, but works nicely above this mantel.

A twig swag with white berries fit perfectly along with some candlesticks that I painted to match and then some glass ones on the opposite end. You can click on any of the photos for a closer view.

Decorating Children's Rooms with Paint

I painted these rooms for two sweet young ladies. In Megan's room the walls were painted a light cream color. I painted a wide border at the top of the wall and then lightly sanded it to give a distressed look. The verse was painted pink and I added bows and pink flowers around the doors and windows.

Looks like my daughter was sneeking through the door as I took this picture.
There are also tiny little pink roses painted between the words.

Megan's room is painted a light pink with pink striped ribbons and roses.
For a closer view, click on the individual photos

Designer Show Home Benefiting Breast Cancer

My daughter, Amber, and I did the wall finish and stenciling above the mirror for this designer home a few years ago. We taped off and ragged stripes in the bedroom, and then stenciled the tassels and added some extra freehand details to the stenciling. This stencil is available from Royal Design Studio.
This is a photo of the sink area where we taped off and wragged painted these faux panels.
You may click on any of the photos to get a larger view.

Using Paint to Decorate Your Home

In a previous post I showed you a verse that I had painted in my kitchen. In this photo which is shot from inside my living room looking through the entrance and into the dining room, you can see a verse that is painted above the doorway. I asked my son, who is great at writing to help me come up with a saying and this is what we came up with: "Like the vines in a vineyard the ties of family grow." This coordinates great with the grapevines that I stenciled in this room. The stencil is available through Royal Design Studios. Click on the photo for a closeup view.
Be creative with your lettering. Here I've painted a verse on the stairway risers leading to my son's room on the third floor. His room is decorated in a beach theme and the verse leads you there.

Ceiling Stencil

We've lived in this old house for 6 1/2 years now. The blue striped wall paper was already there so I decided to paint my table top (not an antique) to coordinate. I then tackled the cabinet in this photo by painting it to match the table and made it into a clock. 

Next, I stenciled a design on the ceiling. We had come from an old ranch house that had sprayed popcorn ceilings which I hated and was anxious to do some painting on a ceiling. In this photo you can see the blue stenciling along the edge of the ceiling.

I also stenciled around the light fixture. I wear trifocals and being that close to the ceiling, I had to tip my head back so far that this was torture on my neck. Therefore, I decided to wear my glasses upside down! This stencil came from Royal Design Studios.

Decorating With Paint Around The Home

Want to add a little something special to a room that is inexpensive? Paint a verse around the walls near the ceiling. You can type the verse on your computer and enlarge the letters. If you have a banner program you can use that. Find the center of the wall that you are putting the lettering on and mark it with a watercolor pencil or chalk. Lay out your verse and tape it all together. Fold the verse in half to find the center. Tape the center of the verse to the mark on the wall using blue painter's tape. Slide graphite paper (comes in white or black) under the verse and trace with a stylus or empty pen. I use calligraphy strokes with paint, but if you don't have that training you can fill the letters in with flat or round brushes and craft paint. Mine happens to run around the corner of the room, but you can center it on one wall only if you want. Just play around with the size of the lettering to make it fit the area you want. Next time I'll share a photo of some lettering in my living room that is centered over a doorway.
The painted pieces on the shelf are from some of my instructions books. The large painting above the shelf was a gift from my children on Mother's Day a few years ago.
In this corner I've painted a scene from my husband's grandparent's farm in Missouri on this wood clock. The cabinet was a project that I painted for a seminar. There is a verse that I wrote and painted around the border on the door that says, "Enter through the garden gate, where minds can dream, while hands create."

Textured Wall Finish

I'm currently working on a 16 x 20 Christmas village painting, but in the meantime I thought I would share with you one of my wall finishes. This is a textured wall that I did for a friend that also has an embossed stencil at the top of the wall. We did this in a small powder room and it really gave a Tuscan feel to the room.

Faux Painted Rug and Slippers

This is another view of the faux painted rug and slippers with the furniture now in the room. This is the guest room that I fixed for my inlaws when they would visit from Rockaway Beach. At the time I was painting this floor my mother in law was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I thought this would help cheer her up on her visits to our home. She got to stay in this room once it was completed only a 2 or 3 times. But, she really enjoyed the slippers on the floor. We dearly miss her.

Folk Art Floorcloth

No it's not Christmas yet. I just wanted to share a photo of the floorcloth that I painted for my entrance. Also, you can see the stairs as they looked before I removed the carpet and started refinishing them. I'll continue to update you with photos of the stairs as I decide what to do with them. It was quite a disappointment when I removed the carpet and saw the paint spots that where there. There was blue paint, white paint, and drywall mud all over them. The main stairs were just pine boards, not oak as I had invisioned. Last night when I removed the carpet from the landing at the top, guess what? No oak hardwood flooring, just plywood! Then the last two steps above the landing, believe it or not, actual oak treads!

Wall Mural at Garden Shoppe

This is the beginning of a wall mural that I painted at our local Old English Garden Shoppe. You can click on each picture to get a larger view. Note in the next photo that this plaque is painted above the door.

This is an actual door that I painted green and then painted a flower basket on the door.
This is an overall view of the mural. It's hard to see the topiaries that are painted on each side of the door. Guess I should have take pictures before they put their merchandise in the store.
This is a closeup of the cat painted on the stone wall. I tried to disguise the lightswitch plate by painting the ivy down onto it.

Faux Rug

I won't have another painting done until the first of next week so I thought I'd share a photo of the faux rug and slippers that I painted on the floor of our guest bedroom. The floors where in pretty rough condition in this room so I thought this would help disguise the defects.

Faux Fireplace

I'm running a little behind on my painting so I've decided to share a photo of the faux fireplace that I painted in the living room of my old house. The room didn't have a focal point to arrange the furniture around, so out came the brushes and I created one myself. The mantle and hearth are real and were built by my husband.