Windows, Windows, Windows

I have been busy painting a custom order window for a special customer of mine. She has asked me to paint a window for each season and I just finished the Summer one this afternoon. She hasn't seen it yet, so I am hoping it is to her liking. What do you think?

I found these 8 pane wood windows at a yard sale about 4 years ago. There were about 15 of them stacked in a corner. Very dusty and dirty, I got them for a great price.

The sunflower window was another custom order. I refuse to do yellow again on glass. I had to base coat these sunflowers way to many times!
Pumpkins for fall and.....
Snowmen for winter.

Blessings~

Doris

Skunk Baby~

This cute little guy was born on January 25. We have had this cow for several years now and the majority of her babies are mostly black with a little white here and there. This year she has almost a spitting image of herself.

She has always had the name of SKUNK....not a pretty name for a Bovine, but she is very easy to spot in the heard of black!
Don't know what we will call her son. He is a cutie.

FrUsTrAtEd!!!!!

I thought I would add another step to the lighted suitcase post and ended up spending 5 hours re-doing my whole blog.....AAAAARGGGG! I learned a lot. Especially, not to hit the delete button!!!

Oh well....now I must get to work!

For those that left comments about the suitcases....Thank you so very much! Unfortunately I deleted your comments. :(

Blessings!

Doris~

Lighted Suitcase (A TiMe To ShArE)....

Over the past few years I had accumulated a supply of vintage suitcases. I had painted mostly winter scenes on them for shows and they were good sellers. I then had an idea to put lights in them and how cool that the chords would be hidden from view. They look so pretty when lit up and have a warm winter glow. The ones pictured above are a few I painted last season.

So start collecting those vintage suitcases this spring and summer so you will have plenty of time to get them ready for this next fall/winter season.

Once you find your suitcase, wash with soap and water to remove any dirt and oils. Then use an all purpose sealer and apply to the area that you want to paint. Let dry for 24 hours.

Then base coat the area you are painting. This may take 2 to 3 coats. Then paint the design you have chosen.

I have chosen this design for this smaller suitcase. I wish I knew the artist to give them credit. If anyone knows, please fill me in! Once painted, add a sealer. I use a spray matte finish.

Most suitcases have a lining in them and this will need to be removed. This case came this way.

Then you will need to drill holes for your lights. Depending on how many lights you have, be sure you only drill the exact number of holes per light. I always drill from the outside in, it seems to make a nicer hole. You want to be sure not to drill holes further apart than what the distance is between lights on the strand. Suitcases that are made of cardboard are very touchy when drilling. Just go slow!!

The lights I use are silicone bulbs. They have a much warmer glow to them. You could use regular lights as well. I get them from shopcwi.com

They come in strands of 10 and 20 lights.

Then starting on one end, push the lights into the drilled hole. It should fit snug. If not, you can use a glue gun on the inside of the case around the hole.

Position the rest of the chord so it comes out of the bottom of the case. If you have a larger cases, the chord will not reach all the way to the bottom. The chord is small enough that should close just fine.

Ta Da!!!! I also add stippling of yellow/gold paint around the hole of the light. This gives the light more illumination.

I then add little extras on the handle depending on the scene painted. This one I added homespun around the handle, a hang tag that says, "Blessed" and a wood star with rusty tin wire and little bells.

The ideas are endless for this!!!! I hope you come up with some great ones of your own!

If you have any questions, I would love to help you out!

I will be posting this design for sale on my etsy!

Blessings!

Doris~