Painting Pumpkins

My October Reflection:

Painting- not my favourite past time. And yet I love how easy it is to give something a facelift with a simple coat of paint. Maybe what I don't like is the waiting for things to dry part (patience is a virtue I do not have in abundance- and I use up what I do have with my son and husband- and really lets be honest, just my son- husband gets the short end of the stick on that one). Either that or needing the space for a mess, and usually needing to be quite careful and precise aren't my favourite things about painting. So the projects I chose to do this month didn't require perfection (not even close) and my garage was already cleared out from my September project so it worked out well!

I found the acrylic pouring technique took a little bit of fiddling with. My first pour didn't have enough pouring medium mixed with the paint, so it didn't pour nicely, more just blobbed and fell. After that one I figured it out: just keep adding the medium until the paint pours easily (easy as that). I added in a little flicking technique on a couple of the pumpkins circa grade school art classes- a nice touch I thought. The only thing I would change, was I would've got a better top coat for the pumpkins as they are outside. I am finding the mod podge top coat is flaking off in this chilly wet weather. So if you decide to try this, look for a clear top coat that can withstand being outside. Check out the paint project page for some of the videos and photos of both the pumpkins and canvas that I painted using this acrylic pouring technique- it was a lot more fun than I thought and the imperfection of it all is what I loved most about it.

The other bigger events of the month were Thanksgiving and my sons second birthday! They fall on the same weekend, so I combined the events in a large gathering with classic thanksgiving foods, way too many hot wheels cars, and friends and family from all over. If you would've talked to me 5 years ago, I would've said "hell no" to hosting something like this, but now the only thought going through my mind was "I just love this chaos". The kids running around, adults trying to visit over the noise and not trip and break something on a mini car rolling by, people watching football, good food and eating it in every room in the house even sitting on the floor from lack of space! At the end of this day I was tired, but my heart was full because we packed this house with love. Of course the main goal for me was keeping the kids happy. The kids party theme was "Two Fast Two Furious" hence all the cars that were zipping around and in keeping with my painting theme I decided to make a car shaped Photo Booth out of cardboard, and spray paint it red. It turned out super cute, and spray painting has always been my go-to paint method when I had to paint. I always have a few cans of it in my craft room just in case. It is by far the easiest form of painting in my opinion, and extremely versatile.

After officially launching this website and instagram account I have been so encouraged by close friends and family. It was all a little nerve racking but so far so good! I look forward to sharing some of our little European adventure in a months time! So wish me luck- and Auf Wiedersehen (hint for where our adventure will take us).