Sunday, March 20, 2011

It's a Ballard Knock Off from The Answer is Chocolate!

Hello all! Happy Monday! I will be in and out of blog land this week...
My sweet Ranger Danger is not doing well and I owe it to him to spend this extra time with him and take him to the vet and see if we can figure out what is wrong. This pooch has already had at least 9 lives...but I am hoping for some more. I am however realistic...so if any of you have already gone through the loss of a pet with little kiddos and have some advice, please feel free to email me.

However...I have pure awesomeness planned for you!
Tomorrow I will be posting a new coffee-loving giveaway
Later this week is a donut extravaganza
and TODAY is
Ballard Knock off Fabulousness from The Answer is Chocolate.
I love this post for 2 reasons:
Ballard has been one of my favorites FOREVER
and 
Carol from The Answer is Chocolate is Amazing!
So, I will stop babbling and get to it!
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A big chocolate-y hello to all of Holly's followers here at 504 Main! I'm Carol and I blog over at The Answer Is Chocolate where I combine my addiction to crafts and creativity with my addiction to: you guessed it...chocolate!  I was tickled pink that Holly invited me over to guest post my version of a Ballard Designs piece of wall art.

I have the condition called : ICTMTM ( I Can Totally Make That Myself) . You may know it as
"Inspired By-itis"  or find yourself afflicted with "Knock Off Fever". I think all of us creative types have it in some form or another.

I had fun with my first real knock off piece that even got featured over at Copy Cat Crafts, it emboldened me to try again. I may have exhausted my skills!

This time, the inspiration came from Ballard Designs. Both in their current catalog and on their website they have several pieces of abstract art, either paintings or digitally printed glicee prints…and they range from $249 to$459. GULP. I can’t draw to save my life but these aren’t still lifes they’re abstract so no one can tell me that my apple looks like a pumpkin.

I liked these from Ballard:
Breaking Through II Handpainted Canvas
First Light I Giclee Print
Grey Haze Hand Painted Print
because even though our house isn’t contemporary, these are really muted and I think they go with many styles. And they’re $249-$429!

So, I had a canvas (previous DIY art) that had been hanging up that I was tired of, and I had paint, and I even had some Golden Gel Medium molding paste that I bought for reasons that weren’t clear to me at the time. I think an art store was closing. I do things like that. I know I'll use it someday.

I covered the whole thing in black paint, then smudged ( sorry all you Fine Arts people whom I do truly respect) some of the Gel Medium goop all over with a plastic knife. Dried that overnight. Then I started splotching ( another technical term) various paints on. I used a combination of pewters, silver, grey, black, white, gold. Whatever I had wherever it went. Added some silver rub n buff in places.
IMG_5060

IMG_5056
Closeup of the layering of molding paste and paints
IMG_5057
Another closeup from another section

And that's that! I had fun with it which I think is a requirement for any project but I won't lie...I was nervous whether my followers would think I'd had one too many chocolate chips but they liked it and I hope you do too and aren't afraid to just go for it when you feel yourself coming down with a bout of ICTMTM. Thanks so much Holly for having me over! 



Carol,
Head Chocolatier, The Answer is Chocolate!
Signature

14 comments:

  1. So sorry about poor Ranger! I've lost pets when I was a little girl and I recall being heartbroken. Possibly because we were never given a chance to properly grieve and say our goodbyes. After all losing a pet is like losing a family member. A little memorial for a beloved pet would probably help the children remembering the good memories and say goodbye.

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  2. I had to put down my 13 year old Dalmatian 2 summers ago. It still hurts, but we all knew it was time because he was in pain. The kids all got to say goodbye. That made all the difference.

    On a lighter note, the artwork is fabulous!

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  3. The artwork is so cool Carol! It's a fun knockoff! Great job!
    Holly we'll be thinking of you and the family and Ranger this week!

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  4. your craftiness never ceases to amaze me, so wonderful. I hope Ranger Danger feels better!

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  5. Sending healing thoughts to Ranger. I feel like a "big girl" blogger seeing my post on your site! Thanks again my friend.

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  6. Fabulous! you did an awesome job! I love Ballard, and I love it even more when I can do it myself with a Ballard inspired item!

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  7. Love it, Carol!! It looks fantastic.

    Holly, keeping you and Ranger in my thoughts. *hugs*

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  8. Hang in there, Holly, I know how hard it is to see your pet ailing. Big hugs to you, Ranger and your family.

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  9. Anonymous10:45 AM

    That turned out AWESOME!!!

    Jessica
    myworldmadebyhand.blogspot.com

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  10. Those are beautiful!! I hope that Ranger Danger is going to be alright, that is such a hard thing to go through. Hugs to you!

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  11. Wow! look at the pretty painting you created.

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  12. Hope he's feeling better soon Holly! If not then I'm sure the kiddo's will be ok. Just be honest and free with them and they're sure to understand. :)

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  13. I like Carol's version even more than the one that inspired it!

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  14. This is very cool! I love your piece Carol, I had no idea you worked on this large of a scale, looks totally awesome! ~Diane

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Thanks for stopping by and joining the conversation! I sure hope you come back for more!