Don’t keep your creativity in the dark; shed some light with a collage of color! Crafty Chica Tango Permanent Fabric Makers are perfect for taking a boring old lampshade from drab to fab; add spicy accents with Crafty Chica Little Chica Paint Packs and Paint Writers and display anywhere that needs a pop of personality!

• Crafty Chica Paint Writers
  
  
• Crafty Chica Tango Permanent Fabric Markers
  
  
• Crafty Chica Little Chica Paint Packs
  
  
• Miscellaneous
  Pencil
  Lampshade
  Foil
  Paintbrushes – flat, round, liner
  

Instructions

1. Use the Tango Permanent Fabric Markers to draw and fill in blocks of color around the entire lampshade. Let dry.
2. Squeeze a puddle of the Crystal Paint Writer onto foil and use the flat paintbrush to brush a coat of glitter paint all over lampshade to make it sparkle. Let dry.
3. Use a pencil to sketch desired wording and designs onto color blocks. Squeeze puddles of desired colors of Little Chica paints onto foil then paint over designs with round and liner brushes. Let dry.

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: collage/paper, lights, paint

Every time I'm at Target and I walk past the Converse sneakers, my hands shake. I can't handle seeing boring white shoes. Canvas shoes. I couldn't take the craving, I had to get my fix.

Supplies

1 pair of white canvas sneakers
Crafty Chica™ Tango Permanent Fabric Markers™
Crafty Chica™ Little Chica Paint Packs™
Crafty Chica™ Mojito Papers™
Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage™
Small circle stickers (found at office supply store)
Paint brushes
Awl or hand held rotary tool

Directions:

1. Remove the shoe laces, color them black.
2. Color the shoes (and the tongue) with the markers and/or paints. Let dry.
3. Use the Collage Pauge Sparkles to affix the images from the Crafty Chica Mojito papers.
4. Create holes around the top of the shoe all the way around.
5. Thread the shoes laces around all the holes.
6. Coat the shoes with Collage Pauge Sparkles. Let dry.

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: paint, shoes, wearable art

Many schools are teaching students about Dia de los Muertos and are on the hunt for cool crafty ideas. This is a good one that is often found at many muertos fiestas - face painting!

But we're not talking Disney characters or sports logos. This is much more meaningful. This is a chance to explain about the cycle of life and how Dia de los Muertos relates to it.

Using face paint found at the costume store, paint half of a face like a sugar skull and leave the other half alone. This represents that in this life or the next we will always be "alive", our spirit is eternal! I've seen all kinds of faces painted in this style and it is inspiring to see the variations on how the skull portion is decorated. You can use black and white, or lots of color and even glitter!

If you are a painter, why not volunteer at a local school or local muertos fiesta and paint faces? Or at least have your face painted, it's fun. It tickles!

Coming soon, I'll post a video on how to do it!
**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: Day of the Dead, Halloween, paint

This is was an unplanned Halloween project. I had foam pumpkins in my garage from years past that I couldn't use anymore - I wanted to make new ones. I had already decorated both sides of all of them and was ready to send them to Goodwill.

But then an idea popped in my head!

I was all hopped up on a quad venti pumpkin latte and decided to mix and pour colored resin over one of the pumpkins. I thought it would look shiny and brilliant, but after it cured it didn't. It ran and the colors became very thin. I was not about to give up.

I then used acrylic paints and dripped them down. I let the colors dry in between coats. In a split-second decision, I squeezed multi-colored liquid glitter over all of it. That is my only regret. I wish I had thought it through better and used CLEAR liquid glitter so the colors would show through from underneath. I also wish I had glittered that spider black.

Oh well!

Play around with your pumpkins, do something different, they don't all have to have faces on them. And they don't have to carved.

Check out Alisa Burke's Messy Pumpkins! She even has tutorials!




**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: Halloween, paint

Collage canvases are a great way to express yourself and add a pop of color and design to your surroundings. Check out Google images for calacas to use as your focal point. Keep in mind, most images are copyrighted, but you can use them as long as you don't sell them!

Supplies:
Blank canvas
Crafty Chica Tango Fabric Markers
Aleene's Collage Pauge
Tissue Paper
Assorted images, stencils, stamps
Crafty Chica Paints

Directions:
1. Write a poem, phrase, or random words on the canvas.
2. Coat with a layer of decoupage medium and add a layer of tissue paper, add a coat over the that. Let dry.
3. Add images, stenciled designers, stamped words.
4. Add glitter accents if desired.

TIP: Add painted designs to highlight certain areas.

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: collage/paper, Day of the Dead, paint

This is an exclusive project I designed for http://dead.azcentral.com.

Click here for the printable directions!

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: Day of the Dead, paint, sewing, wearable art

Can you believe this purse started as white? I used Tulip Cool Color Spray as the base.



But - I didn't spray it. I wanted fine control and high intensity color so I experimented. I poured the paint into small cups and found that it was light, yet had a lot of body and a rich texture. Somewhere between watercolors and acrylics. Truth is, they compared to the high end fabric paints that come in those teeny bottles. I used make-up sponges (see below) and smoothed the paint all over the panels of the bag. Perfect! And it only took one coat.

I used chalk to sketch out the flowers and then my Crafty Chica Tango Markers to fill them in. I added embroidered accents, stitched on some buttons and even threw on some glitter!

The moral of this story: Always experiment with your supplies to find new uses. It's just another way to cook up secret methods that will further define your own signature style! Oh darn, I just spilled this one, didn't I?
**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: fabric, flowers, paint

Spray paint that is meant for glass. But it works really well on fabric for a translucent, shiny look too.

Buy some white silk/faux roses and some spray paint meant for glass. Spray on top of the bunch. Not too close or the paint will drip. I think this would really neat to use different bases flowers with contrasting paint, such as orange flowers with red paint, or purple flowers with blue paint. you could also sprinkle some glitter over the tops while the paint is still wet!

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: flowers, paint

I never tire of decorating wood boxes. Recently, I was making some for a wholesale account and decided to try something different than the usual flat decoupage style.

Supplies:

Crafty Chica Paints
Crafty Chica Glitters
Crafty Chica Loteria or Inspiration Cards
Wood boxes, paint brushes
High gloss varnish
Aleene's Original Tacky Glue

I painted the boxes as usual, and then coated the tops with my Crafty Chica Glitters. I then glued the main image on top. In some cases, I cut out a portion of the picture, glued down the background and used cardboard to the back of the cut out piece, so it popped out. I then coated it all in high gloss varnish. They look so juicy and shiny! And now they are for sale at The Phoenix Art Museum too!
**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: Latin-inspired, paint

Recently while at Duncan Enterprises/ILoveToCreate.com, I was able to play around in the ceramics department. Can you say good times?

To make this, I started off with a round bisque box. I took the "la estrella" card from the Crafty Chica Loteria set and blew it up about 10%. I then cut out the shape and used it as a template so I could paint the design on the box. I used orange for the bottom and white to add polka dots all over.

Here is how I could have made it better - and I'm sharing this so that next time you go to a paint-on-pottery place, you'll remember my words of wisdom. The goal in ceramics is to end up with a smooth, even texture, almost free of brush strokes. In my case, you can see my strokes all around the shape of the star. It still passes as a gift for my nana or best friend, but for a truly professional look, I should have added an extra coat in an opposite direction to make it all blend in. Plus, blue is a color that REALLY shows the strokes.

My little star box is not in traditional red, white, and blue colors, but I think it is cute for any star-spangled theme fiesta!

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: paint, summer/4th of July

Here is a project Patrick was working on. He took blue painter's tape and cut it into pieces and then sponged watered-down Crafty Chica paint over it.

You can use this technique on all kinds of fabric projects, or use Crafty Chica markers for hard surfaces.

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)
**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: paint

This is a project from my Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul book. These are 8x10 canvases that I painted, and then cut out my own stencils for the words, put them over each canvas, and then used dimensional paint over the stencil to give the letters a "raised" look - almost like stucco!

You can do the same concept with an image or other words or any other kind of design!

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: home decor, paint

I recently bought a bulk load of adorable mini-canvases. But because I'm a chica who loves function, I decided to make something useful with them, like this little pencil cup!

Supplies:

5 mini canvases
Crafty Chica paints
Crafty Chica Glossy Gloss Varnish
Hot Glue
Strand of party beads
Four wood doll heads (balls that are flat on one side)
Tulip White Glitter

First paint your canvases, and then add a coat of Crafty Chica Glossy Gloss Varnish and while it is still wet, pour on some clear glitter. This will give it a cool, sugar-look! Use one of the canvaes as the base of the box. Add hot glue to the inside bottom frame and attach it to one side of the base. Continue all the way around. There will be gaps on the side seams, add a bead of hot glue to seal these. Hot glue the party beads between each side and along the top. Paint and hot glue the balls for the feet.
**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: glitter, home decor, paint

My dad is one-of-a-kind. He is on dialysis, lost his leg to cancer, wears a pacemaker, and recently fell and hurt his back.

And he still keeps active with what he loves to do!! He has garage sale every so often to weed out his tools. He has hundreds of tools that he has used since he was a teenager for woodworking, car body repair, metalsmithing, jewelry making, and all kinds of other mantastic activities. Every Saturday, DeAngelo goes over to help him. Last Saturday after dropping off Deangelo there, I checked out my dad's buffer thingies (name?? heavy tabletop machines that have two wheels on each end - a buffer and a sander/grinder), which I've always wanted for my own workshop. As I scoured through the hammers and anvils, I noticed him sketching something.

Tired of his boring marker-on-foamcore signs that he set in front of the house, he decided to upgrade his promotions and make a sign from wood. I watched as he drew the block letters and then talked about how he was going to use latex housepaint.

My hands began to quiver...

"Can I make your signs?" I asked.

"Sure!" he said. He handed me pieces of wood and I asked how he wanted them painted. "Just make sure the letters are even and that they are colorful."

Ooooh, little did he know that left it wide open for me to go to town! I used my Crafty Chica paints for the background and letters and then I outlined them with Tulip 3D Glittered Fashion Paint. I added a background of polkadots and then sealed it all in with high gloss varnish.

I dropped them off, and my sister took them and goes, "Wow, these are colorful."

"Dad said to make them COLORFUL!" I shot back defensively. (My parents house is decorated in nuetral shades.)

"No - I mean they are really cool, he'll like them!" she said.

I had so much fun with this project that I'm going to make my own version for my front door. It won't say "tools for sale", but something more like 'Home Sweet Home' - something along that line...

So next time you need a yard sale sign, pick up some light wood fromt he craft store and give it a paint job. You can nail it to two stakes to insert into your lawn, or a folding stand if it is for the sidewalk. Have fun with it - if your sign looks exciting and happy, it will increase the chances of people stopping by. Everyone likes happy, right???

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

P.S. Check out my new book and product line!
**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: home decor, paint

I recently discovered the art of making linocuts and prints. Yes, I am well aware that I am tardy to the carving party, but better late than never, correct?

This is just a sneak peek of my first attempts. I'll have a full tutorial coming up soon, along with a project to use these on! I was just so excited, I wanted to share my first try! VERY happy with the results and I'm excited to take it to the next level!

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

P.S. Check out my new book and product line!
**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: linocut, paint, paper

After juggling so many chores, duties and responsibilities, we all need a little bit of indulgence, don't you think? I do. That's why I made this box to remind me of that. I took a plain wood box and decorated it with paints and glitter and used the "indulge" card from one of the Crafty Chica Inspiration Decks.

After you have based coated the box, glittered the edges and glued down the card, add a layer of Aleene's Original Tacky Glue over the image and around the seams of the card. This will prevent seapage of the next step, plus make everything melt together for a polished, finished look. Now add a couple coats of high gloss spray varnish to seal it all in.

So what do you put inside the box? This is what I do - I write down little notes of things I like to indulge in and fold them up and put them in the box. Things like "Go get a fruit smoothie!" or "Go ask Patrick for a back rub!" "Step away from your current task and read one chapter of the book you are currently reading."Go take two bites of whatever dessert is in the fridge." "Go for a walk around the block for fresh air."

You get the idea. This is a fun project to make for Mother's Day too! In fact - make one for you and your mom!
Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

P.S. Check out my new book and product line!
**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: empowerment crafts, mother's day, paint

At CHA last January, I was sitting at the events dinner with my fellow crafty amiga Candace Marquette, and her sister-in-law, Jaime Gaydos Fletcher. Jaime decorates iPhone covers with ultra-flashy, fun designs, and it inspired me to dive into mine and work a little magic. I can't believe I didn't think of it before! I mean, I've decorated my work beeper back in the day, and my other cell phones. Why not my iPhone case?

I knew I wanted to resin coat glitter on it, and I wasn't sure it would work. I bought a cheapie hardcase cover to experiment on (eBay, $7) . I lightly sanded it, and basecoated it black with my Crafty Chica paints. For the back side, I glued down a fabric image of a sacred heart and sealed it all over the top and around the edges with Aleene's Tacky Glue. After it dried, I accented the design with Aleene's Paper Glaze and my Crafty Chica glitters. I covered the background with green glitter and added black polka dots to the green background.

I then lined my workspace with wax paper, mixed the resin, and coated the cover. For the front, I added small painted accents. I let it set for 48 hours and then use a craft knife to remove any resin and/or paint from the ridges so it would snap back in place.

I love it and am excited to make another one! Thanks for the inspiaration, Jaime!

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

P.S. Check out my new book and product line!

Labels: glitter, paint, wearable art

It's time to get crafty! Jazz up any room with a colorful Crafty Loteria Wall Clock, decorated with Crafty Chica Little Chica Paint Packs, Loteria Game and Picture Charms, adhered with Aleene's Liquid Fusion.

• Crafty Chica Little Chica Paint Packs
  
  
• Liquid Fusion Clear Urethane Glue
  
  
• Crafty Chica Loteria Game
  
  
• Crafty Chica Chunky Glitters
  
• Crafty Chica Charms
  
  
• Crafty Chica Glossy Gloss Varnish
  
  
• Miscellaneous
  Basic wall clock
  Scissors
  Assorted paintbrushes
  Fine-grade sand paper
  Foil
  

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

P.S. Check out my new book and product line!
**

Labels: home decor, Latin-inspired, paint

Here is the FIRST craft project I ever made for the newspaper that was published. 1999. I had given it to my Aunt Connie years ago and her daughter (my cousin), CeCe, begged to let her have it for her patio. When I was at CeCe's for a party recently, I saw this birdbath and gasped! I forgot about it!

What you do is take three graduated sizes of planters, plus one large saucer. Turn the pots upside down and stack them. Use a chalk marker to make a line where they will meet and then decorate. Let them dry, stack them and then set the saucer on top, also painted. Make sure to use a heavy all-weather varnish over the entire surface so it will last for years to come!

If you don't want to use it as a birdbath, you can use it to hold anotherplanter, as seen in the photo, or anything else you want!

Peace, love, and glitter!
Kathy :-)

P.S. Check out my new book and product line!

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: garden, paint

When Patrick and I first started to craft professionally, this flower pot was our top seller. We made hundreds of them for Bloomingdales, as well as Hallmark and many other stores. They were featured in Gourmet Magazine, Sunset Magazine and Latina Magazine! One difference - we used the Loteria cards from Mexico. Little did we know back then that someday we would have our own game that we designed ourselves!

• Crafty Chica™ Little Chica Paint Packs™
  
  
• Crafty Chica™ Loteria Game™
  
  
• Crafty Chica™ Chunky Glitters™
  
  

  25694 Glamour Queen Green

• Aleene's® Original Tacky Glue®
  
  
• Crafty Chica™ Glossy Gloss Varnish™
  
  
• Miscellaneous
  Paintbrushes
  Scissors
  Terra cotta pot and saucer
  

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: garden, home decor, paint

Here is another project making use of items I found in my art room! This is an old bric-a-brac tray I bought for fifty cents at Goodwill many, many moons ago. I dusted it off and used Aleene's Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage Glossy, old stamps, handmade paper and Crafty Chica rose paper to line the insides. I then used Crafty Chica paints on the outside and the edges, covered the paper with a layer of ATG, and then sealed it all in high gloss varnish!

Now I have a happy tray for my workspace there I can store my favorite writing utensils and such. I really dig this idea because office desk supplies are so bland and expensive at the store. This way you can go to the thrift store where they have stacks of these wood trays, and decorate them in your own style!

**
MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter".

See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009.

Labels: paint, paper, recycled

This is a dinnerware set my kids painted for our Heard Museum exhibit. So many people loved it and said they wanted to visit a local paint-on-pottery place and make a set. How fun would it be to surprise grandparents with a set painted by their grandkids?

Or a mom and dad painting a set for their grown-up kids?

Better yet - make a set for yourself! Fine china has nothing on this!

To do this, you'll bisqueware, ceramic paints, glaze, brushes and a place to fire it all. Look in your local directory for a pottery place to do all this! If you don't want to go freeform, you can use stencils.

Special thanks to Duncan Enterprises for springing for all the supplies, bisqueware, and paints!

***
Don't worry, be crafty! Buy Crafty Chica books & art supplies at Amazon.com!

Other links:
STORE * BOOK * T-SHIRTS * MY SPACE * FLICKR

* All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2008. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com * for awesome crafty resources check out DuncanCrafts.com

Labels: food crafts, home decor, kids, paint

Today I was using my Crafty Chica Flocked Skull Iron-on Transfer - which is flocked (velvety texture). After I ironed on the design, I looked at the backing plastic and said "Hmmm..." it is all outlined with the flocked stuff - it is the outlined of the design. So I sprayed on some Tulip Cool Color Spray over it and pressed it on a piece of fabric and this is what came out! The best part, is you can keep using it over and over. I'm on deadline for another project at the moment, but when I get home, I'm going to experiment even more!

***
See my new product line at select Michaels stores or buy online at Amazon.com!

Other links:
STORE * BOOK * T-SHIRTS * MY SPACE * FLICKR

* All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2007. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com * for awesome crafty resources check out DuncanCrafts.com