Fall Is In The Air

Hi all!
I know my super talented Creative Team members are able to deliver great projects every time... but today we have a special treat for you! Not one or two, but five (!) creative ideas from John, who is taking all the best things from the Fall season and taking them to the next level - check it out!

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I have to admit, Fall is my favorite season of the year – the changing colors of the leaves, the crisp mornings, and for those of us here in the States that also means Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Instead of presenting just one project this month, I wanted to share with you a variety of Fall themed projects to show you just how easy and versatile it is to use the wide range of Finnabair products!

Many of these techniques can easily be adapted to so many different projects through out the year, just change the colors.
Many of the items that I’ve used in these projects can easily be found at most craft stores pretty inexpensively.

Magical Pumpkins

What says Fall better than pumpkins?! I’m the first one in line at Starbucks at the beginning of each September to get my hands on a Pumpkin Spice Latte and Thanksgiving dinner isn’t complete until a nice slice of pumpkin pie for dinner. Of course there’s always pumpkin carving for Halloween. 

To create a more 'traditional' pumpkin, I started by making a custom color of orange by mixing Red and Yellow Rust Pastes together. Using a brush, I stippled the paste onto the pumpkin and then heat set.

Next I highlighted the pumpkin with Yellow Rust Paste, then dry brushed with Sparks Ginger Magic to give some shimmer and shine to the pumpkin.

To finish the pumpkin, I painted the stem with Metallique Dark Forest.

For a more 'fancy' pumpkin that has some real glitz, I mixed together Pumice Stone Effects Paste with Brass Patina Effects Paste and Rust Mica Powder to create the base color and texture.

While the paste is still wet, I first generously sprinkled Gold Mica Flakes and slightly massaged them into the paste to ensure that the were adhered.

I then added Bronze Micro Beads to add another touch of metallic color to the pumpkin.

Spooky Skull

For those who are looking for some spooky fun for Halloween, one idea would be to decorate an inexpensive plastic skull.

For a base layer, use a brush to stipple on Snowflake Paste and heat set.

Once dried, I dry brushed Violet-Green Opal Magic over the Snowflake Paste.

Using my finger, I highlighted the skull with Antique Brilliance Amethyst Magic Wax, followed with Metallique Brushed Iron Wax.

To add a little more texture to skull, I used Snowflake Paste as an adhesive to hold the Art Stones in place.

With a detail brush, I then colored the Art Stones with Metallique Dark Forest.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

I found this inexpensive wood box at the craft store with a spider cut out in the front, but when I saw that it also came with a LED light that changed colors I just had to buy it!

For this project, I painted a quick base layer of Black Heavy Gesso, followed with a layer of Sparks Raven Black and a highlight layer of Sparks Iris Potion.

Along the base and top of the box I spread Graphite Texture Paste and heat set. Once dried, I dry brushed Sparks Fairy Wings to add a little more color and shimmer to accent the spider.

Hocus Pocus Bottle

For those of you who follow the Finnabair blog on a regular basis, you know that I have a little bit of an obsession with decorating bottles! Many people like to create 'Magic Potion Bottles' for Halloween, but I wanted to decorate a bottle that I could use as a decor piece through out the year. And for those of you who are curious, this is an empty Jack Daniels bottle (no, I didn’t drink it LOL). 

You can use any bottle for this project, I just happened to fall in love with the shape of this bottle. And because of the shape of the glass, I decided that I wanted to have some of the glass be exposed but you can most certainly cover the entire bottle especially if the shape isn’t as interesting as this bottle or you need to cover up blemishes or labels.

Because I wanted to leave some of the glass exposed, I used painter’s tape to mask off areas of the bottle that I didn’t want to be colored and textured.

To begin decorating this bottle, I used a palette knife to spread an even layer of Graphite Paste directly onto the glass and then added the paper clay embellishment (centered).

While the paste was still wet, I sprinkled Pitch Black Glass Glitter followed with Bronze Micro Beads and then heat set.

I colored the paper clay embellishments and lace piece (around the bottle neck) with a base layer of Metallique Black Berry, then highlights with Metallique Steampunk Copper.

And because EVERY project needs a touch of the fabulous waxes on them, I added Antique Brilliance Amethyst Magic Wax then a light highlight of Copper Mica Powder.

I hope that these projects have inspired you to create your own decor items for the home to help celebrate Fall!

xx
John











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