Bees & Butterflies Welcome Creation/ Bee Nice or Buzz Off Sign

Hello my crafty tribe, this is Artsy Maddie and let's get creative. So today I'm starting off with these three wooden signs from the Dollar Tree, and this one paper, cardboard type sign that's from the wedding section of Dollar Tree, and then two yard stakes. Those are from Dollarama, however you can easily just replace that with some paint sticks. So I'm just getting all the staples, labels off, give them a quick sand around the edges so there's no slivers or any little jagged parts sticking up, and then I used a little bit of polyfilla to fill the holes and the staple holes on the one sign. So I just went through and primed the signs that will be painted instead of stained, so just giving them a nice coat of primer so I have a good base coat to work on. And then I'll be staining a couple of the smaller ones, so just leaving those bare wood. So this is just a watered down burnt umber with a tiny bit of black, just so that it dries nice and quickly and doesn't smell, it's just a nice easy faux stain. And then for this green sign I wanted it to look like stained so I'm just using a wet damp paint brush and then just dipping it in a little bit of acrylic and just getting that streaky stained effect on it. Just be sure to go in all the same direction so you don't have a lot of brush stroke lines. And then for the smallest sign that's going to go on top I just whitened some sunny yellow, so I just added a little bit of white to make it even lighter. And I'm just working on all the sides, I'm trying to be more productive and not have to wait for paint to dry so I made myself a little drying area. And then for these I just did them on end so they can all lean against something and dry on both sides at the same time. Just be sure to keep adjusting the bottom as they're drying so it doesn't stick to the paper underneath. And then for this reception word I just wanted to be sure it got covered really well so I just went in with a dabbing sponge just to get lots of paint onto it and cover up that word so that you're not seeing that through the paint. So just a nice good base coat of white there. And then I found this at the thrift store and I thought this is going to be so handy for doing florals so I picked it up for $2. Of course just use craft foam, I don't expect everyone's just going to happen across one of these but if you do see one in your travels I think it's going to come in handy. So I just shaped the bottom a little bit just to fit right down tight into the bottom of this little pot. This is just a plastic pot from Dollar Tree that I found there in the spring and it has kind of that wood grain texture on it that I thought was really nice and the shape of it too I like. So just giving that a primer coat. If you have some chalk paint though you could go ahead and just chalk paint it as well I'm sure that would work just fine too. So I'm just trying to work with those grain lines because I want to still leave that wood effect on that pot later that I'll show you. So I'm just going to go through with a bunch of stamps. I feel like as crafters we all collect our own little collection of stamps right? So these are from Dollar Tree but I think they're from quite a while ago. I haven't seen any of these in recent years. I want to guess they're probably like four or five years old from Dollar Tree but they're definitely handy if they do put those out again that would sure be great wouldn't it? So I just want to say welcome bees and welcome butterflies on these two little narrow strips that you could just use. These are garden stakes or just the painter sticks as well. And that little collection of butterflies and bees and stuff that was from Dollar Tree recently. So if you see those again definitely pick those up too. This is just some old packs of stickers that I have around or stamps that I have around. So I know this isn't going to show very well with this green but I thought this would help me paint onto it without having to use a stencil or transfer or anything like that. So I'm just going to be painting right over top of it but it kind of just gives you something to paint and match all your lines up with so it worked out pretty good. So just going in with this lime green acrylic paint. That butterflies, that was a collection from Michaels and I believe that was last summer. A whole bunch of those went on clearance for a really good price so hopefully some of you guys pick those up as well. I was really excited to find those. And then I got a bunch of these stamp pads too at a thrift store. So obviously someone had given up on their stamping hobby and I was lucky to be able to inherit those for a good price so just making some use of them which is fun. And then this sunflower stamp. I was very lucky to find that at Dollarama a few years ago. It is a discontinued stamp but I know IOD, the Iron Orchid Designs, they have the most beautiful sunflower stamp right now. I'm drooling over it so much I might have to just cave in and buy it because man is that a pretty set of sunflower stamps. And then they also have the molds as well for the clay to make dimensional sunflowers as well. So this one, this stencil is a recent purchase. I just fell in love with it, I saw it at Michaels, used my coupon, I know the coupons aren't as good as they used to be but it was only about 11, I want to say 11 or 12 dollars Canadian so definitely under 10 American and then with the coupon it helps too. And I'm loving these adhesive stencils, you just, like they stick down to what you're doing so you hardly get any bleed through at all. And then you just rinse them off and they become tacky again so I don't know what kind of magic this glue is but I love it. I absolutely love this stencil, I can't wait to use it in more projects. So I'm just writing out the word daisies and I thought this was so cute, the green with the white, just so summery and happy looking. And then the word dandelions. So this is my message to everybody, we're just going to let those dandelions grow. I feel like we just need to change our perception of them and realize what an important flower it is, that first flower of the spring and how important it is to the bees, they just depend on it as their first flower to get them going in the year. So I know they're not the prettiest flower but I think it's just our perception. And they're also delicious, they taste great in salads and super healthy for you so I feel like we just need to change our mindset about them. So I switched to a bigger brush and found a little brush that was the perfect width for this transfer of font that I did onto there and it just, easy peasy, two coats. And then these are some foam letters, these are from Dollar Tree from years ago. They are so old that they are no longer sticky so I had to just paint some tacky glue on the back of them to get them to stick but at least we're making use of them, right? And then I just dabbed some white just onto the top and I love the way that the edges are still green. So you just kind of get that little hint of green from the sides, kind of fun. And then for that little wooden planter pot that we're going to be using, I just want to give it a wooden treatment. So I just want it to be a lighter wood so I'm going in with glaze which is one of my favorite things to use. It kind of works a lot like antique wax, like the wax that I see you guys use. So I'm just going to use five parts glaze to one part paint. I wanted it a little bit deeper so I just went in and added a little tiny drop of burnt umber to the cashmere tan. And then I just painted on with the grain of the wood, that faux wood design that's in this pot. And then I'm just going to use a shop rag, those blue paper towels that they sell at, you know like for hardware, like to kind of have in your garage and they don't have any lint on them so they're really good for this, like they almost work like a lint free cloth. And then same thing, just went around the lip of the pot as well. You guys will have to let me know what you think of this, does it still look like wood to you? And then for that foam, I'm going to be putting down a big branch into this foam to put all these signs onto. I just kind of wanted that fun, whimsical, natural branch look so I got my husband to find me a nice fallen tree branch down in our local park that we have here and for this pot, just in those little ridges, I just went in and added a second coat of the glaze. So just to deepen those little grooves a little bit. And then I didn't wipe that off, I just let it dry right on there. So I just scuffed up the bottom so that the hot glue will stick to the foam a little bit better and then just put the whole branch inside the foam down into this pot. So everything is just going to be a dry fit so to pack this away at the end of the year, I can just pull the branch out to make it easier to pack away. And then I'm just adding in some rocks from Dollar Tree just to give it some weight and fill in around those edges. And then I just found some pretty daisies. These aren't the ones from Dollar Tree but I do know they have been selling daisies all summer so hopefully you can still find some if you're wanting to recreate this project. And just stuck in a whole bunch of daisies. And then we're going to take a little break here and I get to tell you guys that today's video is my very first collaboration and I'm so excited about this. Ellie from DIY From House to Home organized the six of us to do a summer days Dollar Tree collaboration for you guys. So I'm going to have a link to the playlist in my description box and you can watch all six of our videos and we'll all have some really fun summery ideas for you and I can't wait to share them all and see what everybody else made. So here is some dandelions because I can't find any faux dandelions which again I think we just need to change our perception of so I'm going to make some. Luckily there were some great tutorials on YouTube. I found about four of them I think on how to make some faux dandelions so I just kind of watched them all. This is my own kind of like combination of the ideas I guess but if you want to see them there is so many cool paper flower tutorials on YouTube. I can't get over it like how creative some people are so super fun. I'm really addicted to watching those. So I'm just wrapping up this crepe paper. So this is just birthday streamer paper and I just cut down the top of it. I just happen to have some zigzag pinking shears scissors. If you don't have those though it's so not necessary that was just like a little added step but definitely don't have to do that and then I just cut up some green to look kind of like a like a pokey leaf type end on it and then just wrap that around the bottom of the yellow and then just going in with some floral tape to get it all kind of mashed down onto that little stem. It's just a wire a wire stem and then just glue it down at the edge and then for the leaves I had this painters tape but that was as wide as I had so I'm also going to use some duct tape just so that I have a wider leaf as well. So I'm just sandwiching two pieces of tape over top of a piece of wire so you just run a piece of wire down the middle and then sandwich the two pieces of tape together and then we're going to make our leaves with these. So I just did a whole bunch so I'd have a few leaves for each each dandelion that I worked on just same thing with this painters tape you just fold it over and sandwich it over the wire cut off the edges and then I just actually pulled some dandelions from my backyard just to kind of trace out the shapes of them they're so unique such a funky little leaf that they have on them so I just used this to kind of stylize some leaves and then I gave them to my guinea pig and he was super happy because dandelions are one of his favorite things to eat. So just get them all cut out takes a little bit of patience but not too bad just one of those projects you can kind of cut out mindlessly while you're watching something or listening to an audiobook and then I just got them all primed white so just a nice base coat so the paint will stick and then none of that blue or duct tape will show through so I just went through with a medium green and a darker green so just pounced a medium green all over the whole leaf and then if you run your finger down the wire it kind of wipes the paint off and then you see a little bit of that white showing through and it looks kind of like a dandelion stem I know they're not super realistic or anything but just kind of stylizes them like a dandelion leaf so you're just kind of blending that dark green in around the edges and then give it that swipe to show some of the white on the stem and then I'm just wrapping like three or four on each dandelion and just putting them on with that floral tape so if you've never worked with that floral tape before it just has a little bit of give to it but you're able to wrap stems really really tight with it it's pretty good stuff pretty handy to have for these types of projects anything floral anything with stems and then I just used a little bit of glue stick just at the end just to be sure the floral tape is nice and secure and then I just stuck them in with my daisies and then I actually decided to put in another little bunch of daisies in so I just cut them all down so they're all separate and stuck those in as well so I asked my husband to try and find a branch for me and he said well it doesn't matter if it's straight because you had a hard time finding a straight branch but I love that this branch is kind of a bit wonky and has some character to it so then I just decided to paint a little dandelion flower onto the dandelion sign as well so because I've just drawn out those leaves that shape is kind of hopefully it would stick with you like just the way that they're kind of shaped downwards almost they're kind of like a opposite type leaf and then just that little bright yellow for the dandelion and then on this sunshine sign I couldn't decide I knew I wanted to incorporate some sort of Sun but I didn't want to get too carried away so I decided just to do this shadowed like a little bit of a deeper yellow and just with some water so I just kind of did a fade of a little bit of a deeper yellow and then to make this sign easier to put away at the end of the year I'm going to use command strips so if you haven't used these before I got a huge pack of these velcro ones at Costco on coupon and they're just so strong it really amazes me I love what 3m kind of comes out with they make such neat products so it's like two pieces and it looks like they're the same well they are the same like the hard side of velcro but they stick together so well so this worked out pretty great and then I'll be able to take the sign pieces off and the stem out of the bucket and put it away in a Rubbermaid for the for the season as we move into fall and winter coming up I know it's like still half a year away but people are getting pretty excited about fall decorations and Christmas decorations and it's hard not to jump on that bandwagon too soon so just getting them all put onto the branch here we've had such a hot summer I'm I'm sure many of you have to from what I'm seeing just like record hot temperatures here so it's kind of nice to still be doing some summer decorations cuz man is it hot here so this is the finished finished product I'm not really sure what to call it it's like a little quirky sign sign in a daisy bucket and then for the final product project today I found this placemat and it's like a placemat for your pet food bowls like that you would put on the floor to kind of help with any mess they make but I loved the shape of it and I loved the little white border around it so I just traced it down onto some yellow poster paper that I had and then I'm using just a regular size popsicle stick to trace inside of the edge so that I will have the same size as the inside of that little white frame that it has if that makes sense so I'm just the width of the popsicle stick all the way around just as smooth as I can kind of curve it around the edges and stuff just to get that exact size and then you'll see like it just fits right inside of that white placemat so then I had seen this sign on they sold this at Walmart and on Amazon this really funny be nice or buzz off sign and it was quite small so I just enlarged the preview to be like two sheets and I can share that with you guys on Google Drives after I can put a link to that if you need the two two pieces to print out and then I just trace them down on top of this but this yellow and white polka dot wrapping paper is just from Dollar Tree as well and I saw it and it's just the prettiest yellow with the sweet little polka dots and I was just like what can I do with this so this is what we're doing with it so I just glue sticked it all down to the paper I thought it's just paper to paper I'll just use a glue stick and it worked out great and then just trimmed around really neatly around all the edges and then I just did the old-school trick where you rub some graphite over where all the letters are just do it on a window so you can see where all the letters are just on the back there and then I just traced down all the letters and it worked out great and then I'm just going to fill them all in with some black acrylic paint so I'm actually able to get the deco art paint at Dollarama which is it just seems to be a little bit better than the one at Dollar Tree for sure so I'm not minding that one at all too much and then this cute little bee so this is actually just a preview too of they actually sell this it's a metal embossed wreath hanger they sell it at craftoutlet.com and I just saw this of course it's sold out who knows when they'll ever get it in again but the preview is quite nice and quite large so I was able to just print out the preview page and then I'm just going to mount it to some double-sided cardboard so I glued the two sides of cardboard together it's just white cardboard from the backing of a gift box and then I just mod podged the bee down to the front of it and I'm just letting that dry and then I just thought I would give this be nicer buzz off sign just a little bit of distressing just to make it look not quite so perfect just a little bit worn so I just went in and dry brushed some white paint on it and tried to stick with like a green sort of look like maybe it was painted onto wood so just tried not to get too carried away it's hard once you get going not to get carried away but anyway then there's these little raised footprints on this placemat so I'm just using those they're actually kind of gritty anyway you don't even need to sand them or anything and I just put tacky glue on some and a little bit of hot glue on the others just for a quick hold and then a longer term hold and now I'm just gonna go in and cut out this bee I decided just to leave a little bit of white around all the edges one just to make it a little bit easier to cut and two it just kind of makes it stand out a little bit like the frame around the picture so let me know what you think of that just like everything let me know what you guys are thinking I love hearing from you guys and definitely share any projects with me I had somebody share a project with me this week and it just made my whole week it was so awesome so keep that up I love to see what you guys are making as well so just got it all tacked down to the project here and that is it it's funny I was sorry for a hanger on the back I just scuffed up the back because it's really really shiny really slippery so I just wanted the hot glue to stick really well so just scuffed it up with some sandpaper put down a little piece of shoelace that I had kicking around here and two little pieces of wood just to keep it mounted down to the to the sign and that is it so my boys sure thought this was funny I don't know that I would say it to anyone but it sure seems funny to have on the wall so let me know what you guys think do you have a favorite project from today be sure to check out this playlist these are awesome girls that I'm in this collab with I know they're gonna have some awesome ideas for you guys so the link will be in the description box be sure to subscribe and like this video turn your notifications on I'm gonna have lots of fall ideas coming your way soon I've really been planning and purchasing a little bit of stuff for fall I can't wait to get started and let me know what kind of colors you guys are doing I'm thinking of adding in some untraditional colors into my palette as well this fall and I can't wait to share them with you guys so thank you so much for watching have a wonderful week we'll talk to you soon