Football Diamond Art

I'm not a sports fan, but Steve and all of my inlaws are rabid 49ers fans. They were thrilled that the 49ers were in the Super Bowl, but obviously not particularly happy about the outcome. Maybe next year! 

If you or someone in your life is a football fan, you're definitely going to want to check out the NFL series by Leisure Arts (affiliate link here and throughout the post). I used the 49ers kit, then framed it with a wood panel and poured paints by Plaid. 

I started by completing the Diamond Art kit, which was straightforward and relatively quick. The kit includes everything you need. Next, I cut out away the background fabric with my microtip scissors. I LOVE them. 

My goal in cutting away the background fabric was two-fold. First, I wanted to be able to fit the design in the square panel, and second, I wanted to have a less busy background. Cutting out the basic shapes was quick and easy. 

Cutting out the inner parts was not. It took a really, REALLY long time to carefully cut away all of the inner fabric using a sharp craft knife and a self-healing mat. 

Once everything was cut, I turned my attention to the frame. I mixed the pouring medium into Folk Art acrylics (yellow, red, and black) and drizzled them over the frame until I was happy with the marbling. Once the paint was dry, I added the cardstock and the Diamond Art pieces with Supertite.

Now that this is done, I'm looking forward to starting my next Diamond Art project. What to make though? I have a few kits I could start (including this one that I love), or I could do a freestyle design. So many options!

Dirty Pour Coasters

Have you tried paint pouring yet? I've shared two paint pouring projects in the past (here and here) and it is so much fun! If you haven't done paint pouring yet, I hope this Dirty Pour Coaster project finally inspires you to try it. Affiliate links below.

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Dirty Pour Coasters

Materials:

• acrylic paint (the newest shades of Apple Barrel, in this case)
• Apple Barrel Pouring Medium
• stirring sticks
• gloves
• Plaid wooden coasters
• plastic cups
• protective surface (we used a pizza box and newspaper)
• sticky back black felt
• scissors

Steps:

Pick up to 5 paint colors for your project. Pour equal parts of paint and Pouring Medium into each cup, and stir gently to combine. Learn from my mistake and do not introduce bubbles into the paint.

Protect your work surface and wear gloves (trust me). Elevate each coaster by putting it on an upside down cup.

I've titled this project Dirty Pour Coasters, but I'm not actually doing a dirty pour in the photo above. That's the first step to a Puddle Pour. To make a Puddle Pour, pour the first color into a puddle on the surface. Pour the second color into the center of that puddle, and repeat for each of the colors. Then pick up the coaster and tilt it to allow the paint to flow to (and eventually over) the edges.

For a Dirty Pour, add each color to a separate cup.

Pour the paint onto the coaster and let it flow over the edges. This is a basic Dirty Pour. Instead of pouring the paint, you can place a coaster upside down on the cup of paint, then quickly invert the two. This is called a Flip Cup, which is a type of Dirty Pour. Lift the cup and let the paint flow across the coaster.

We experimented with each technique.

A Dirty Pour tends to create more marbling than a Puddle Pour, but no matter how you make them, they're really pretty. 

Trevor and I had issues with bubbles, which I believe is because of my overly aggressive mixing of the paint and Pouring Medium. We each left the bubbles on some of our coasters, hoping they would go away on their own (spoiler: they didn't) and used a toothpick to pop the bubbles on the other coasters. This was tedious. Better not to introduce bubbles in the first place. 

We let our coasters dry for 48 hours, then removed them from the cups and painted undersides and any exposed wood on the edges. When that was dry, we cut self-adhesive felt to size and stuck it to the underside.  

I highly recommend getting some paint and Apple Barrel Pouring Medium and giving paint pouring a try. Obviously, you're not limited to making coasters, but I think they're a good beginner project. They make a great gift, too!