Do you remember growing up and having Saturday Chores, when all you wanted to do was watch cartoons?

I do, but it was my sister who got to do the chores, I got to watch her and cartoons! (me-sticking my tongue out)

Well, now that I have grown up and have a home of my own, those chores need to be done regardless of what cartoons are on.

I set out one Saturday morning to clean the stairwell that leads to our basement. It gets alot of traffic, this is known as “The Bat Cave” and my batty husband spends the majority of his winter down there. Well, needless to say, with the nitty gritty dirty salty dusty residue that collects on the shelves and the walls. I had pulled all the junk out of there, and was all set to clean it.

I realized, I didn’t want to clean it, it needed something else. So, out came the paints and five hours later, we had Buck’s Beach. This was done in all Acrylic Craft Paints, I put some real sand in the paint to give it a bit of texture, as if you are looking out at a beach. Done on the 3 walls that encase the stairway, it gives a brighter look to the “Bat Cave”

So, when you are not up to cleaning.. I say paint it!

I also ran across a new RSS Feed Site today, you may all want to check it out!

http://www.rsshugger.com

~ Soul to Soul

Lights Out!

But not for these bad boys that I had found in the summer months during junk days!

These are light switch covers that I found in a box, there had to be over 50 of these switch plate covers at the curb waiting for the garbage truck.   Waiting to end up in the land fills.

Metal, Ceramic and Plastic switch covers, from one slot to four.  I took the ceramic one and had my husband sand it down, and I put a base coat of flat white spray paint on it, and I added the tropical sunset to give it some flare, using enamel craft paint by Anita,

I mixed solid black with an amber red to get the dark water’s.  The three slotted light switch has silica sand embedded in it, and gives a bit of a glow in the evening so that you can actually see where the switch plate is at.  With beads of real sand and a bit of texture, it is a beauty in any sun room.  Using several tones of blue for the water, and combining white gives the depth as the beach scene meets the horizon.

I shot them with a glossy lacquer to give them more protection from wear and tear in rooms that are have more frequent traffic. 

I love finding items that have been disgarded that I can bring back to life by giving them a unique look and turning them into works of art.  There are many different forms of recycling, and if you are unsure if there is a recycling collection center around, check out Earth 911.

I can only say..FREEZING here in the suburbs of Chicago.. this piece was out of the archives.  It now resides somewhere in Canada, where it can be quite possibly colder than Chicago.  Not a pretty thought.

This is a window that came out of an old barn in Elgin, Illinois. (Thanks Aaron) I wanted to portray “freedom” and as I was told by the gentleman who purchased it, thats just what it said.  It reminded him of his weekend  ride down in Florida.   This is one window that I did not leave in tattered state, it was cleaned up and painted with outdoor oil paint, semi-gloss white.  The mullions were in terrific shape! I used a recycled piece of cardboard for the canvas, and painted the ocean, streets and palms.  The canvas was painted with acrylics by Anita, and I painted the front of the glass in enamels, giving it a more of a 3D effect.  I used silica sand to mimic the waves crashing on shore. 

When I look at my pieces that are tropical themed, they immediately take me somewhere warm, which by the way is not the suburbs of Chicago, where there is now in my opinion way to much snow on the ground!