Quantcast

Bower Power

· 96 Comments

Painters

Uncategorized

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Painters paint pens.  All opinions are 100% my own.  Thank you for supporting companies that support Bower Power.

The very first “redecorating” I ever did by myself was a total act of rebellion.  I was mad at my mom (like totally mom whatever!) as most thirteen year olds are and to show her how unfair life was, I decided to paint Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the wall.  Yes.  I am full of mature responses in my teenage angst.  I created a three foot by four foot mural and I did it behind the door so that when my mom came in, she couldn’t see it.  Sneaky sneaky 🙂  I free handed the art based on the VHS cover and then filled it in with paint pens.  When my dear mother did discover my vandalism, she had the best revenge….she repainted my room, keeping my new wall-art and bought new decor and I lived with a Disney room all through high school.  Yes…it’s hard to be cool when you have Donald Duck staring you down every night.

But the point of this story is not that I lived in Disney World…it’s that my rebellion brought on my first true love of paint pens.

“Don’t worry Painters!  I am coming for you!”  Just a little Bachelorette humor for you 🙂

I have always been in love with paint pens so naturally when Painters came to me to ask me to fill you in on a big paint pen contest they are hosting, I was ridiculously excited….or maybe I should say GOOFY about this post.

So are you ready?  Here’s the deal.  Painters is hosting a monthly contest between now and December where you can make your own creations using Painters.  They are giving each monthly winner a prize valued at $500.  The Style by Aisle contest will have five different themes (one for each month August thru December) which are based on store “aisles”.  You and your other talented DIY friends/family can submit your homemade creations to their website.  On the website, you can even download a coupon for Painters products so you can add more colors or tips to your DIY/crafting collection.  So start getting your competitive edge going….we all want to see what you transform with your paint pens.  This month’s theme is Home Decor, Outdoor/Patio, Home Furnishings and even if you don’t participate, make sure you download your free coupon.  And don’t forget to tag your creations on social media with #StyleByAisle and #PaintersStyle

They sent me a blogger kit to show you how you can take something simple and make it beautiful!

This was a little side table I had in storage.  Jeremy’s mom gave it to us YEARS ago and in 2010, I gave it this cute little chevron pattern on top.  FIVE YEARS AGO.  Now you understand why bloggers are sick of chevron….it’s been around.

The front of the cabinet was pretty simple….little drawers and nondescript knobs.

I decided to paint the drawer fronts with a fun version of a favorite fabric that I found online (here is the link to the fabric!).  I just squished all the drawers together and freehanded the design based on an online photo.  I eyeballed the pattern and even though it’s not perfect, the imperfections are hidden because it’s so busy.

I used a whole bunch of the Painters colors and each one was really great.  It was a mix of medium and fine pointed pens….it’s really important that the black one was a fine tipped if you want to tackle this project yourself.  The colors were brown, wasabi, sea mist, silver, red, black, violet, green, white, and golden sun.

Once the paint dried completely, I simply spray painted a fresh white coat of paint on the frame and then slid the drawers in.

I love how the design breaks up with the frame and it feels so fresh and cool.

The pop of color and the pattern is so FUN.  And since the inspiration fabric is very expensive, I would never be able to get it otherwise!

Aren’t the colors great?!  That’s real acrylic paint….markers can’t produce that kinda quality artwork.

My favorite part of the design is where the wavy lacy flowers meet the dragon.

That’s one fun before and after right?  And if you don’t feel comfortable free handing…it’s easy to print off a pattern and trace it on the surface of your project!

So now pick out your own piece and pick up your favorite colors at your local Hobby Lobby or Walmart or Target….and get to work.  It’s super healthy to exercise that artistic drawing part of your brain….I should know….Walt Disney told me so.  I mean, that dude made millions off his art!

p.s. some of you were asking for process photos…I intended to do the entire thing with my phone in a time lapse but it died….but here is a short clip that I did get before the phone battery went out….

0 Shares

Comments

  1. The link to the painters website isn’t working. 🙁 When you click on the link it opens this story in a new window.

  2. I absolutely love how your mom handled your high school rebellious redecorating. So much better than having you paint over it as punishment. Ha ha. I love this idea with the Painters pens as well – I’ve never used them, and while I have zero drawing skills, think it would be a really fun project.

  3. Ok, that’s amazing. For realz. I love it. BUT. The real reason I’m commenting is, OMG, when I was a teenager I painted Simba on my wall BEHIND THE DOOR. You know when Rafiki (the monkey) paints Simba’s likeness on the tree? Yep. I did that. I also wrote a few Shakespeare quotes around the windows. None of it was an act of rebellion, though, and my mom was fine with it. Your mom? Best reaction EVER. Ok, I’m done with the overuses of capital letters. 🙂

  5. Wow! You amaze me! I don’t think I could have done this even if it was all traced on there! You may have a calling in fabric design!

  6. Whoa! Soooo cool! Need to know:: How long did this take & how long did it take to dry in between painting sessions. I see a big need for this in my house!

  7. Wow! What an incredible surprise transformation! Looks lovely and now I’m tempted to add paint pens to my ever growing craft supply collection!

  8. Do you have the link for the inspiration fabric? You did such a good job that looks really amazing!

  9. I’m super impressed that you hand-drew this! I would never have the patience to do the whole thing, and it looks great! Is the fabric the one that Jenny from Little Green Notebook has used a few times?

  10. Now you need one piece of that fabric – maybe 24″ x 24″ to make an accent pillow. 🙂 Your freehand work is amazing!

    I love these pens too. Crazy good!

  12. Beautiful!! I’ve actually been thinking of painting my powder room walls in a freehand style. I’m not sure if I’m brave enough though! The link to Painters website doesn’t seem to work btw-it just links back to your page.

  13. You are so talented! Wow! That is beautiful and I cannot believe you were able to do that by eye balling it.

  18. So creative! Now I feel a little shamed for procrastination on my painting faux wall paper in the entry way. womp womp. ha. It looks great and you really are so crafty!

  20. I can’t believe you not only free handed that but did so with 4 little ones to manage. Beautiful, beautiful work!

  22. That is GORGEOUS! I’m blown away by your free-hand skillz! About how long did that take you (not lincluding dry time)?

  23. I’ll be honest; when this post first popped up I thought, “Ugh, not another sponsored post,” but this is awesome! I LOVE your little side table!
    I have a similarly boring little table myself that I think I’m going to try this out on. Thanks!

  24. Your mom is hilarious. Best revenge ever! Please tell me there is a photo around of the Disney room?!

  26. Please tell me your mom has a photo of that Disney mural?!?! We readers would love to see it! Also, I’m so impressed by the amount of time you had to put into this with four little ones in tow; you are super-mom!

  28. I love it! And if you don’t feel comfortable freehanding or tracing, you could always buy some old-school carbon paper to have the outlines easily transferred! I LOVE this idea.

  30. I really love the way this looks! I only wish you had created your own original art, or at least given credit for the design to the artist and fabric manufacturer. As a surface pattern designer myself, I would be very upset if someone used my art like this without at least acknowledging that it was my design!

  31. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Mad skills. Love it!! Curious, how long did it take you?

  36. Oh my gosh this is amazing!!!!! I am soooooo not talented in the free hand department but this inspires me! I’m working on my son (oh my gosh that is so weird to say…first time mommy due Dec 17th) Jackson’s nursery and his dresser is a definite work in progress. I wanted it to not just be a boring solid and I’m loving the idea of just making a design on the drawer fronts.

  37. Holy crap. If you, or someone like you is in the contest I would have no chance! That’s amazing! It does make me want to buy all the paint pens too, so kudos to them for having you represent their product!

  39. I … can’t believe you freehanded that. Amazing. AMAZING! And it turned out great!
    (Is that the Chiang Mai Dragon pattern? :D)

  40. ok 1) you’re mad talented! You need to start freehanding more! and 2) please tell me your mom has a picture of your room!!!

  42. I love that you did this-I’m no where near as talented as you are artistically! I’m also in love with the Schumacher Ming Dragon print and thankfully, so is my husband. While I’d love to have curtains in the fabric, I think we’re just going to have a couple of throw pillows made on Etsy after we move into the new digs!

    Katy
    http://www.alittledailyhappiness.com

  45. Katie this is REALLY impressive!! Paint more often!

    I have two sets of these painters pens and still didn’t realize there were so many colors available. Gorgeous!

  47. I can’t believe you free-handed that pattern! So impressed. It looks like the actual fabric just glued to the drawers. Great makeover!

  48. WOW, WOW, WOW! Mouth wide open! Can’t believe you painted that and didn’t decoupage! Would buy it from you in a heartbeat! You are one talented lady Katie Bowers!

  50. Haha. I think Jeremy was about to kill me because he offered to watch the littles while I worked on it 🙂
    xo – kb

  54. About five hours total…I did it a couple hours (since Jeremy offered to watch the little ones) and then later when we were watching Naked & Afraid 🙂
    xo – kb

  63. It dries REALLY fast and I did it in two sessions….so probably five hours total but only because I was also watching Naked & Afraid 🙂
    xo – kb

  66. Whoa! KB got some serious art skillz. 🙂 Were you also inspired by your 221 talk with Chelsea? I remember you saying you would like to do more art!

    PS do you happen to have a pic of the mural you did to your childhood room? That would be a fun flashback Thursday (if people are even still doing that?)!

  67. Yes, plz share! Best Mom revenge! Love it! Katie, this project is fabulous! You really have quite the talent. Really beautifully done.

  68. I LOVE your mom’s parenting style! Seriously, could you not dig up at least ONE pic of your room or super sweet mural? Come on now… We all want to see it LOL

  73. A.MAZING! I thought it was fabric on the drawer fronts. You did an incredible job. Congrats!!

  74. WOW Katie, that looks so great. I had no idea you could create something like that with “pens”.
    Thanks for the inspiration! xxx

  75. Dear Kate,
    This is a rather impressive work. As you showed us before, with your depiction of a tiger, you do have a serious case of talent for free-hand drawing! Belive me, I know, I am an Art teacher. 🙂

    Did you ever consider to work on ilustration, for example?

    Greetings from Germany,
    WR

  77. This is beyond beautiful! You are very talented. When I saw the pic of the drawers squished together, I thought it was your inspiration fabric. This blew me away.

  78. I hope you have photos showing the stages of HOW YOU DID THIS! cause I’m going to need them! I can believe you glued the fabric down. I can believe you photocopied the fabric and mod podged it (that’s how I’d do it). I can believe a whole lot of things but I can’t believe I could do this.

    Maybe you could do a video on a sample board. I need help!

    Stunning! No wonder Mom kept the Snow White Mural on your walls.(best revenge I’ve ever heard of ).

  79. KB!!!! You impress me! All the time! Love this so much. Oh and thank you for the feature on the Gemma Gray company. I’m about to order a ring with my little guy’s birth stone. So excited!

    xo

  81. I love this! You are so super artistic! This one definitely goes in my top favorite Bower Power projects! 🙂

  86. Thank you for that all too brief but amazing video. You are wasting your time with a blog. Set down that keyboard and paint, paint paint!

  87. You are missing your true calling as an artist!! Can’t wait till you start commissioning works – I want the PB Santa one you did years ago – loved that one. 😉

  89. Ok, that punishment was probably one of the best I’ve bee heard of. And your artistic abilities are crazy! This is one of those projects that are better left undon at my house 🙂 But, yours looks great!

  91. You are an incredibly talented artist and shouldnt’t sell yourself short. If you chose to do original work, you would excel at that also.

  94. Wow gorgeous!! I gotta know- how long did that take you? And how in the world did you find time to do that with 4 boys?!

  95. It took LONG! Like five hours I think. I did some at night when they were asleep and then some when Jeremy watched the boys 🙂
    xo – kb

  96. I love the look of the drawers you did a great job. Just a heads up some of the fabric designers have been known to sue people who copy their work. They do have it copyright protected. There are several sources for copyright free pictures. One is called Morguefile. I think that is the name. Or Dover publishing has many artist books that are copyright free. I like to copy pictures too and I sew a lot.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get the latest via email!