Great News!!! I'm TEACHING at the #collagelabspringfling

Keep calm and put the bacon on! Hello friends! The time is finally here and I am so excited and thrilled to tell you the NEWS!! I've kept this post brief, so please read to the end. This is my first EVER announcement of this kind and I am bringing it to YOU, my blog readers first. XOXOXO

It's a rare occurrence that someone catches me in a photo. This one surely speaks for itself! I have a new workshop that I am teaching... and I invite YOU. Grab some scissors, a glue stick and a pile of your paper scraps, magazine clippings & ephemera and join me!

While in-person engagements are still limited, the magic of technology has made it possible for me to teach online -- and I have been invited to teach at Collage-Lab's SPRING FLING Virtual Retreat!

The BEST part is EVERYONE is invited to join the fun!

Join myself and 14 artists from across the globe at

the Collage-Lab SPRING FLING Virtual Retreat!
It all begins March 1st, 2022. 

Get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday and focus on mixed media collage for a bit. For the entire month of March 2022, Collage-Lab will bring you a variety of online classes, Zoom gatherings, and a whole assortment of collage projects and techniques.

Treat yourself to a gift while supporting
your artist community... a WIN-WIN!

SIGN UP TODAY for the low Early Bird Price of $100 and unlock all of the adventures of this unique Mixed Media Collage Retreat from the comfort of your own home or studio.

For all the details CLICK HERE.

Full Disclosure: the Collage-Lab SPRING FLING Virtual Retreat pays its instructors. By using my affiliate link, bit.ly/SpringFling_withSB to sign up, I will receive a small commission which goes towards continuing my efforts to bring creative inspiration to you for FREE here in webland. I am so grateful to all of you for supporting me and my creative adventures.

I hope you will sign up and join me! It will be the best gift ever!

Sending you all many {{ BIG Crafty HUGS }}
:) Sb

Fun in the Sun with Tropical Faux Batik – Rainy Day StencilGirl® Collaboration/Challenge

Disclosure: This post contains amazon affiliate links for supplies I am referencing in this post. This means that–at no extra cost to you, I can make a commission on a purchase you make if you use my link.

Hello friends! What is the old phrase "April showers bring May Flowers"... well Spring has sprung, right?! Here in South Florida there's been no rain for weeks and weeks and it seems we have skipped from March to AUGUST.

Today I am participating in a special collaborative project hosted by Tina Walker where she challenged a group of creatives to art up umbrellas using StencilGirl® Stencils.

I'm inspired to make something Impressionistic
with a beachy, tropical feel.

For my umbrella I have used the StencilGirl® Products

design Mimosa 6 Stencil S126.

I start out I spraying the umbrella with a base coat of Green Apple Ultra Painter's Touch® Ultra Cover Rust-oleum®. This paint acts as a paint and primer in one.

With the base layer completed, I sprayed through the Mimosa stencil building up an impression of a continuous pattern -- alternating between Rust-oleum® Gloss Rich Jade Green and Satin Ink Blue Painter's Touch® Ultra Cover Rust-oleum®.

I kept going around and around alternating colors and building up layers. When completed I have 6 layers of stenciled colors woven in and around the umbrella surface.

The layers have a beautiful impressionist feel,
similar to a tropical batik fabric.

I have to say my even stencil looks quite lovely!

The paint did not sink through the fabric -- and the design texture is visible as the light shines through.

"Tropical Faux Batik"

One would never know that I didn't purchase the umbrella this way, except for the small spritz of green on the under side when a gust of wind picked up my umbrella and tossed it over mid-spray.

The resulting design has a painterly feel and is quite impressive!

CLICK HERE to jump over to see more of the beautiful creations made for the Rainy Day StencilGirl® Collaboration.

Thanks for dropping by! What household object would you stencil up on a rain day?! xo Sb

Products used:
StencilGirl® Products - Mimosa 6 Stencil S126
Totes Umbrella - Amazon
Rust-Oleum® Painter's Touch Satin Green Apple - Amazon
Rust-Oleum® Painter's Touch Satin Ink Blue - Amazon
Rust-Oleum® Gloss Rich Jade - Amazon

Disclosure: This post contains amazon affiliate links for supplies I am referencing in this post. This means that–at no extra cost to you, I can make a commission on a purchase you make if you use my links.

Flippin' a CREEPY, Crawly Switch... Halloween Crafts with Designer Crafts Connection

Good morning friends! October has arrived and today brings a new bloghop with the Designer Crafts Connection focused on "HALLOWEEN CRAFTS". So today, I am sharing how to make some spooky home decor for the spooky holiday season.

What do you do with a blank light switch plate and some of last year's leftover Halloween party favors??? You create a spooky lightswitch plate!

Supplies needed: a light switch plate, hot glue gun, your choice of halloween favors {I'm using skull rings and spiders, scissors, masking tape, acrylic paints, silver Rub n' Buff®, Amazing Mold Putty and Creative Paperclay®.

I wrapped torn pieces of masking tape onto the light switch plate to add texture, making sure to wrap around the backside and burnish edges. I cut off the rings sections on the skulls, then using hot glue, I adhered skulls to the corners and finished off with a plastic spider. ** A TIP ** Be careful when applying hot glue to plastic parts... it's very easy to melt them.

Now for the FUN to BEGIN! I got out my Amazing Mold Putty to create a mold of my altered switchplate! To see how-to of mixing Amazing Mold Putty please click here. I begin by taking equal parts of Amazing Mold Putty parts "A" and "B" and gently mix together both parts, working quickly so that the colors are evenly mixed together with no striping. Press the Amazing Mold Putty around the switch plate gently pressing it around the item and sides.

I let the mold sit and cure for about 15 minutes, then the mold is ready to fill with resin, polymer clay or paperclay. OH... did I mention that Amazing Mold Putty is FOOD SAFE. It can be used for custom candy molds, ice cubes, cookies, fondant shapes... and so much more! What creepy, tasty treats can you dream up?

I pressed some Creative Paperclay® into the mold, leveling it out flat to meet the edges of the mold. I let the mold dry overnight before attempting to remove. 

I gently removed casting from mold then let paperclay fully dry out {being in hot and humid South Florida... this took a couple days}. It looks like something that might be found at some ancient ruins - the texture and detail is captured beautifully. Wouldn't it be so fun to make a whole bunch of these and let the kids join in the fun of decorating?

While cutting out the holes, I dropped my lightswitch plate and one of the corners broke off. Along with the cracks from drying, this just added to the charm of this ghoulish lightswitch plate. Time for the transformation! By adding some acrylic paint this switchplate came to life in minutes.

Flippin' a Creepy, Crawly Switch...

I really love the distressed plasterlike texture that you get from the paperclay. I've rubbed casting with some acrylic paints and silver Rub n' Buff® to create a rusty, grungy patina. I dipped my screw heads in paint to match, wrapped some faux barbed wire trim and affixed to the lightswitch next to my front door... this is so creepy cool. I'm working on a resin variation to affix outside onto my doorbell to really scare the kiddies on all Hallow's Eve.

Thanks for visiting! Continue on the Designer Crafts Connection "HALLOWEEN CRAFTS" Bloghop by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below. Sb :)

Designer Craft Connection

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For the LOVE of a Man... and a GOOD PRANK!

It's April Fool's Day and I'm sharing a little devilish project today! All last week social media was buzzing with ideas and photos of creative pranks for April Fool's Day. I came across a cute prank which involved painting a bar of soap with clear nail polish to seal and replace in the soap dish... resulting in soap that doesn't work. LOL!!!

This is so hilarious...

and I'm taking it one step further!

I certainly don't have the patience to sit and methodically paint a bar of soap with nail polish - BUT - with my Amazing Casting Products... I could pull this one off! I thought this would be the perfect prank against my husband. Timing couldn't have been better! Over the weekend I hijacked our halfway used bar of soap from the shower.

I have my Amazing Mold Putty at the ready to mold a dummy bar of soap casted in a mixture of Amazing Casting Resin, Alumilite Pearlescent Powder, and Fluorescent "FLO" Green Dye.

Can you tell the real from the FAKE???

Before molding your bar of soap in Amazing Mold Putty – make sure that the soap is dry and totally free of moisture {meaning not fresh from the soap dish}. I prepared a batch of Amazing Mold Putty following the easy instructions and pressed around my bar of soap. Then I prepared a batch of Amazing Casting Resin mixed with Alumilite Pearlescent Powder and two drops of the Fluorescent "FLO" Green Dye... when cured, this gives a perfect minty green with a bit of variagated swirls – just like a real bar of soap. In about 15 minutes my cast resin duplicate was cured and ready for it's debut!

After a little sanding with emory board, I sprayed the resin piece with olive oil spray, then buffed with a towel to mimick the sheen of the soap and to gloss up the sanded edges. It even weighs about the same as my used bar of soap original.

I'm really impressed with how real this fabulous FAUX soap looks and feels. I made the swap and replaced the faux soap in the shower. Bahahahahahhahaha! It totally fooled the hubs. It's not often that I'm the one pulling off a prank... there's nothing like some good harmless fun!

Thanks for dropping by... hope you have a fantastically fun day! Sb ;)