One of our favorite things to do is to keep old cabinet doors out of landfill!  Just think about everyone you know who has done a kitchen or bathroom remodel.  What did they do with their old cabinets?  Did their contractor take them away and haul them off to the dump?  Where do old cabinets go when they die?

I've got a better idea.

Here's a white cabinet door, and some white wooden letters from a craft store.  In about 10 minutes, I dry-brushed the cabinet door with some General Finishes Milk Paint and Van Dyke Brown glaze, until it looked like driftwood.

Then I took the wooden letters and painted them in GF Queenstown Grey (milk paint).  It sticks really well to the white coating on the letters.  Once they dried, I watered down some GF Seagull Grey (milk Paint) and washed over the dark grey and wiped back.  Then to get the spotted look of tin, I splashed a few drops of rubbing alcohol on the letters to get the light grey wash to separate.

Once all the paint dried (in about 30 minutes), I scraped some Modern Masters Metal Effects iron paint on the letters.  Once it dried, I painted some rust patina on it (also Modern Masters Metal Effects).  The next day, it looked rusty!

In the meantime, I found some random knobs (all shiny silver) that needed some character.  So with Metal Effects copper and iron paints, some blue patina and rust patina, I transformed them as well.

Put them all together...

We've been using several new products from General Finishes in the studio lately and have to say we are quite impressed!  Stop by our store to see examples and to purchase some to try out!  Here's a video to tell you all about them...

My new favorite toy/obsession is Modern Masters Metal Effects (MMME)!  These paints come in copper, bronze and iron, and are activated with different patinas that cause them to oxidize and turn beautiful colors.  Here is a lizard that I decided to have a little fun with (*note: no lizards were harmed in the making of this blog post!).

Here's a bench we painted using the same technique.  The first coat was painted with General Finishes Milk Paint in Brick Red (using a paint brush with lots of random brush strokes).  Next a layer of blue (a custom color mix of Milk Paint colors) was scraped over the bench.  Finally a layer of Patina Green Milk Paint was scraped over the bench.  Each scraped layer is uneven and lets some of the previous colors show through.

Wouldn't this bench look great in your yard?  The matching end table (shown in the picture below) was painted the same way.  No sanding necessary!

I just created these stained glass snowflakes over the weekend, and now I just want to make more!  They are SO pretty.  These designs use beveled diamonds shapes, glass nuggets and hand-cut iridescent glass.  Our stained glass teacher, Ken Shelby, will be teaching several two-day mini-workshops on how to make them.  Click here for details.

We just finished the first week of making awesome art! The girls made numerous fused glass pieces, including a hanging pocket vase, a little plate, and several pieces of jewelry.  On Tuesday, they made a mosaic stepping stone using cut stained glass, nuggets, mirrors and tile.  I also took them on a walking excursion to Jingletown (just past High Street Bridge) where they saw some amazing mosaic murals on several buildings.  On Wednesday, I gave the girls a star pattern and taught them to select stained glass, cut them into shapes, then wrap copper foil around each cut piece and around glass nuggets. Then I taught them how to solder the pieces into a star stain glass sun catcher (on a one-on-one basis).  I was impressed at how they were able to do most of that work by themselves. There are adults who would have had difficulty doing what they did!  Thursday was Painting Day with Rachel where they painted beautiful paintings on canvas.  On Friday, we wrapped up the week with grouting and creating a gorgeous mosaic on the tops of two cabinets located in the studio.  Rachel and I thoroughly enjoyed making art with these kids and can't wait to work with the next set of campers next week.

Hi, this is JaYing.  Things have been hopping at the studio with many birthday parties, Ladies Night jewelry parties and preparations for summer camps.  In the few moments of down time, I've been working on this pretty little cement birdbath.  It's made with cobalt blue stained glass cut into squares (thank you Jessi and AiLi for the cutting!), hand nipped slivers of yellow & orange glass, glass nuggets and shattered tempered glass.  One of our glass display cases' door fell off it's hinge and shattered into a million pieces.  When Rachel began to sweep it up to throw away, I yelled "No!  I'll mosaic with it!"  The crackled clear glass adds a beautiful element to the mosaic.  To complete this, I think I'll adhere a ring of mirror slivers, then finish with cut green stained glass.  If you are interested in learning how to transform a plain cement birdbath or table into a work of art, consider taking a mosaic workshop.  I'm teaching one this weekend, June 15/16.

Next project, transforming this ceramic urn into a fabulous mosaic!  If you have something you'd like to mosaic, send me an email with a photo of it.  I'll tell you if it would make a good mosaic project.

We had our first birthday party at the studio this weekend! A group of very-well-behaved 10 year old girls came and made some very nice fused glass pieces (well, they will be fused after a trip to the kiln). Cupcakes, snacks and FUN were had by all. JaYing did an AMAZING job teaching the girls how to put their pieces together, and Lili was a fantastic helper! 

If you're looking for a place to have a birthday party (for kids 10 and older), call or email us!

At last!  After much help from many friends and family members, we were ready for our grand opening on May 11th, just in time for the Park Street Festival and Mother's day weekend!  We had a great time doing demos on the sidewalk in front of Park Street Plaza, handing out loads of postcards to people attending the festival, and introducing people to our new space and workshops!  Much thanks to all who stopped by.

For those who are looking for us, we are located inside Park Street Plaza.  Some locals will remember when this used to be Pillow Park Plaza - a large furniture store.  The space is no longer a furniture store, but has been transformed into a beautiful, European-style plaza with several small stores inside.  You will find us at the end of the hallway - straight in front of you when you walk through the entrance from Park Street.  Lanvie clothing store  is in the front of the plaza, and on June 8th, Aphrodite's Closet will be re-opening in a beautiful new space next door to us!  A few other stores will be opening in the future, so stay tuned!

If you're in Alameda, stop by and say hello!

Here are some more pictures from our grand opening...