Mona Lisa Smile - make your own masterpiece

Have you ever wanted to pretend you are 

Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Vermeer or Claude Monet?

Smile,

 I have the most amazing book to help your creative, artistic dreams come true!

Paint by Sticker is a compelling new activity 

for crafters, doodlers and coloring book enthusiasts of all ages.  

It is a simple, fun mixture of stickers and paint by numbers.

It's relaxingly therapeutic and you'll be so proud of your creation.

So move over, Renoir -

put down that brush, give your painters' pallet a new job as a snack tray 

and make a masterpiece...

Select your work of art and the coordinating sticker sheet...

peel off a sticker...

find its place on your art page and put it on.

That's it.

Just keep some tweezers on hand for tiny stickers or tricky areas...

You don't have to be too precise though, it will look like irregular stones on a mosaic -

beautiful, classic, timeless.

You'll be amazed how a blank page suddenly comes to life...

With 12 iconic works of art, 

you will have a gallery of your own in no time.

Mona Lisa may not have much of a smile, but you will.

Do you want a chance to win a copy of Paint by Stickers Masterpieces 

and a frame for one of your creations?

Let me know on Instagram here what makes you smile

by this Friday, September 23, 2016.

A winner will be selected at random.

Thank you to Workman Publishing for sponsoring this post.  All content is my own.

My favorite gift for crafty friends!

You know the joy when you find the perfect, unique, creative gift?

Yay, this is it!!

My friends at Workman Publishing sent me a copy of 

The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering by Valerie McKeehan,

 and I couldn't have been more excited.

I have always been in awe of beautiful chalkboard displays.

Hip restaurants, cool coffee bars and trendy boutiques all have them.

I stare at them and think, "how on earth do they do that?".

This book is CHALK full of awesome information.

From basic tools and tips, to how to prep a chalkboard 

(did you even know you needed to "season" it?),

 to how to easily master basic letter forms... it's all in there.

There are so many inspiring, gorgeous, creative projects, 

you will be creating masterpieces in no time.

I'm packaging them up for a long list of friends 

and I thought I'd try my skills in a little chalkboard wrap.

I used black wrapping paper  

and prepped it by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the surface, 

then wiping it with a dry paper towel.  

It gives it the seasoned, old feel of a well loved and used board.

I then sharpened my chalk with a large handheld pencil sharpener.

This tip from the book makes all the difference in the world.

A ruler helped me mark off the center lines for my packages "ribbon"...

then I sketched a rough, light outline of my bow...

filling it in until the bow was "tied"...

I blended with my finger...

and touched up any loose ends with a cotton swab...

Wrapped and ready for under the tree.

(oh and one for me)

                See what other inspirational blogger are doing with Chalk Lettering:    

                       Arrow and Lace Designs

                     Girl Inspired

                  Handmade Mood

                  Rad Mom Cool Kid

                   Flax & Twine

                  Molly Jacques 

                   A Little Craft in Your Day

                  Craft Gossip

                  Nearly Crafty

                  CraftSanity

                   Canary Jane 

It's available at

Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Indiebound, Kobo, Powell's.