fashion friday- thread wrapped sandals

It's sandal season and what better way to spruce up a pair of plain sandals than with embroidery thread and glue! Simply wrap the straps with colorful thread, adding glue here and there as you wrap.

The end result- a colorful pair of sandals with a boho vibe!

driftwood mirror

As most of you out there know, I LOVE finding creative ways to use driftwood and figured it was time to create a sunburst mirror with driftwood.

While I have seen a variety of driftwood mirrors I haven't see any with painted drift wood so I got busy painting stripes on my driftwood.

Using Gorilla Epoxy I glued the driftwood to the edge of a round mirror.

I added a hook to the back (using epoxy).

The result is a really fun little mirror!

peony season

rug tote

I have this habit of browsing through the rug section of just about any store thinking, boy the pattern on that rug would make great fabric for a purse. And it finally dawned on me- why not just transform a rug into a purse?!? So I picked out a small rug and got busy turning it into a tote bag.

I bought a small rug and some fun purse handles. 

First I trimmed the edges off the rug and folded it in half.

Instead of using the sewing machine I used my favorite fabric glue-Fabric Fusion to attach the handles with two panels of rug (I used my scraps).

I closed up the sides, turned the purse right side out and VOILA...a super fun tote!

lamp revamp

I love that with a little paint you can pretty much transform anything. Recently I decide to give one our pole lamps a big bold, colorful makeover!

I purchased a wood pole lamp from Target a couple of years ago and to be honest, it was  a little bit boring for my taste but I loved the shape. So with a little paint I decided to transform the lamp and combine my two favorite things- stripes and floral print.

I started by painting the lampshade. I wanted big bold and expressive flowers so I added color quickly with different sized paint brushes.

Then I added simple details over the top of my color. Again, I wanted the floral design to be expressive so I only added enough details (dots and lines) to create the "feel" of flowers.

Last, I painted black and white stripes on the pole.

The result is a really fun and whimsical lamp that is more my style!

fashion friday- denim cut offs

source 1  2  3  4  5  6

chalkboard garden markers

1 bouquet 4 ways

My latest online class Flower Power starts on Friday and while I can't give everything away, I thought it would be fun to give you a little peek inside one of the lessons today! 

In my opinion there is no right or wrong way to draw a flower. In fact getting creative and using different techniques is a really fun way to push yourself creativity. Often times I will grab a bouquet of flowers and challenge myself to come up with different ways to capture the flowers.

                                            1 bouquet 4 ways from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

Simple line drawings are something that I use when I am sketching on the go or have limited time. I try to capture the essence of my inspiration in the simplest of ways, often using fast line drawings. I always challenge myself to fill the page, sometimes I add color while other times I leave it simple. 

Using loose expressive color is one of my favorite ways to capture flowers on a page. This technique lends itself to using paint (either watercolor or acrylic) and is great way to let go of perfection and embrace expression.

I love to incorporate inspiration that I find in flowers into my doodles. Instead of doodling in a literal way, I like to use the shapes of flower petals, the pattern on leaves and the details found in my bouquet to build a unique doodle that contains elements of flowers.

When I have time to sit down and draw I enjoy capturing details. And while my style of sketching is more illustrative and whimsical, I still challenge myself to spend time capturing lines, pattern and details.

sun print tote

Sun prints are typically created with special paper or fabric treated with cyanotype (a solution of potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate that can be exposed to a UV light source to create a print).  Kinda sounds complicated right? While you can buy paper or fabric treated with cyanotype, or even light sensitive paints and dyes, there is a much easier and cheaper way to create the same effect on fabric.

If you have spent time playing around with surface design techniques, resists or using leaves on fabric, it is likely that you may have discovered that you can place objects onto a wet painted surface. Once they dry they will leave an imprint of the object. I discovered this years ago when I was painting outside on a sunny day and leaves and grass got stuck to my wet canvas. Recently (when we had a heat spell) I thought it would be a fun technique to share with Lucy. It is a really easy way to create a simple sun print and a perfect project for warm sunny day!

Using acrylic paint, cover the surface of your fabric. I prefer to use watered down paint (or even dye). Thick layers of paint will not work for this technique.

TIP- Use fabric paint or dye if you are creating washable fabric

Next, press flowers, leaves or just about anything onto the surface of the wet fabric.

Let everything sit in the sun for 1-2 hours or until dry. While it is drying the leaves will be absorbing the wet pigment.

Pull leaves from the fabric and you are left with a beautiful print.

And of course I couldn't resist using my fabric to create a simple tote!


Looking for more ideas for creating your own unique fabric? Check out more of my posts- glue resist fabric, fern fabric, scratch foam prints, stenciled fabric, stamped fabric