Crafty Little Life of Melody: July 2023

Hey everyone! I'm back with my first blog post in FOREVER!!! I've been out of commission for a bit between a few surgeries and a 10-week out-of-state work trip. Plus, I just bought a new house so between moving and getting settled in, things have been a bit hectic! Have no fear though...even though the majority of the house is a total disaster, the craft room is almost completely set up!!! 😂

When I got home from my work trip I was sooooo excited to see two Tres Jolie Kit Club packages waiting on my doorstep! As soon as I got enough stuff put together in my craft room I ripped into the July kit and got started making this altered paint brush! I love altered paint brushes! They are so much fun to make and they make a super cute gift for special friends (or, in this case...one of my sisters-in-law!)

Below is the finished product in all of it's glory!!!

I started this project by doing what I normally do for altered paint brushes and applied a coat of white gesso. This isn't really 100% necessary for this type of paint brush as the porous wood and bristles generally hold color and pigment really well, but using gesso helps make all of the pigment have a more even appearance overall!

Below is a close up of one of the paper mache stars I covered in gesso and then colored using inks from the kit. You can also see where I used some Lindy's Stamp Gang spray to splatter color over one of the flowers I applied to this project!

I used a piece of chipboard from the Tres Jolie store. It is one of their black chipboard pieces. Even though I used white gesso on it, you can see plenty of the black on the edges of the chipboard and even in a few place where the gesso was applied lightly. I knew I was using two shades of purple that were fairly dark and I love their black chipboard in general, but having some darker tones on an otherwise girly and light project was a super cool effect!

Check out the chipboard below along with some Renea Bouquet Beautiful Beads in "By the Sea."

Finally, below you can see where I applied one of the stars to the top of the paintbrush to use as a "hanger." Normally I just hang these brushes by the hole in the top of them, but using the star was a new "technique" and I really liked how it turned out!