Artline Monday - Summer rocks with Artline

Is it raining where you are?  I feel like we've had nothing but rain for weeks and we have been stuck inside, dreaming of summer!  As it was half term and my girls were home with me we decided to make some summer themed #ArtlineRocks to distract us from the weather and for us to hide at the beach when next go.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for....

One rainy afternoon last week we divided up the rocks I had left over from our previous rock painting adventures and I got out our Artline pens.  We find these ones work the best on stones:

• Artline Poster and Paint markers
• Artline Supreme permanent markers
• Artline 853 OHP markers
• Artline 900xf metallic markers

Because our rocks are white they didn't need a base coat, if you have darker coloured rocks and stones then it is easier to give them a coat of paint before you start so you have a lighter surface to work on.  

Painting the sea with a poster marker

My youngest decided to paint the sea on her first rock and a lovely bright yellow sun.  When it was dry she added some details using the Artline 853 OHP pens and a white paint marker for the waves.

The sun and sea, how I miss them both!

I had a bit of an odd shaped rock to work with so I turned it into a ice cream cone.

Drawing the cone

I drew the outline with a black 853 OHP marker and then coloured it in with yellow and white paint markers.  

I used these pens for my ice cream rock

When the paint had dried I added raspberry sauce with my pink Artline Supreme marker and the waffle pattern to the cone with an orange 853 OHP pen.

Kick your flip flops off!

My eldest daughter drew a pair of flip flops on her first rock and wrote a fun message on it!

Strawberry and blueberry ice cream

My youngest thought my vanilla ice cream was boring so she drew her own with strawberry and blueberry scoops instead!

I love ice lollies

She also made this I love ice lollies rock, it's a little abstract looking but she really enjoyed drawing it!

Can you dig it?

Our last rock has a bucket and spade on it, my eldest girl painted the sand with a yellow paint marker and then drew the rest with the 853 OHP pens. 

Written on the back of each rock

On the back of each rock we have written #ArtlineRocks, share online, keep or rehide so anybody who finds one will know what to do with it.

Our full set of summer rocks

Here is the full set of our summer themed rocks!  I am going to varnish them this week and then put them away until our planned trip to the beach.  

Tips for hiding rocks at the seaside

If you are going to make your own rocks and are thinking about hiding them at the seaside here are a few tips for you....

Do not hide your rocks on the sand.  If the sea comes in too far then your little work of art will be wash away and may never be seen again!

You could hide them on the wall along the beach if the weather is good and the sea is calm.  

Hiding rocks on rocks!

If there are rocky walkways or piles of rocks near the beach but not the water then these are great places to hide your stones if you want them found quickly.  The brightly painted rocks standout beautifully against the natural stone!  If you want to make finding your rocks a little trickier then try hiding them up higher instead of low to the ground.

Standing out against the rocks

Some other good places you can hide your rocks are parks, cliff tops, benches and the ornamental gardens and flowerbeds that are usually spotted around beaches and seaside resorts.  I like to hide stones among the flowers and as long as you have varnished them they will still look great when someone finally spots them nestled in there.

Please let me know if you decide to make some of your own #ArtlineRocks, I would love to see them!

Artline Moday - Valentine's Day rock painting

Valentine's Day is just a few weeks away and I thought it would be a great time to create some love themed rocks for me to hide around my home town.  I wanted to do something a little different this time so I ordered some white stones to use instead of the random ones my children have been collecting.  These have given me a nice, bright surface to work on.  

Artline calligraphy pen

I love my Artline calligraphy pens so I wanted to try and use them on the rocks, surprisingly they worked even better than I could have hoped for!

Using the Artline 853 OHP marker for details

I then added some extra decoration using the Artline 853 OHP markers and wrote my message on the back of the rock.

Message I'm adding to the back of my rocks

I hope the people who find my rocks will share a photo or two of them online with the tag #ARTLINEROCKS so I can see where they end up!

All you need is love!

All you need is love is one of my favourite Beatles songs and goes well with my Valentines theme.  The calligraphy pen I used to write the word love is water resistant and the 853 OHP pens are permanent markers so this rock can go out into the wild without a protective coat of varnish! 

Little love bug

I turned my next rock into this cute little love bug.  What's a love bug I hear you ask?  She's a ladybird with hearts instead of spots!  

With the finishing touches

I used the red calligraphy pen to colour her in and added details with some Artline supreme permanent markers and a white paint marker.  Isn't she sweet?

Love you to the moon and back

I love you to the moon and back is a popular quote but as this will probably be found by a stranger I left out the word I and just wrote "Love you to the moon and back".  Again I used an 853 OHP pen and a gold metallic marker to colour in the moon, I also used a blue permanent marker for the eye and added a white spot to the pupil with my paint marker.

Valentine's heart

This stone was almost heart shaped so I drew one in the middle and coloured it in with pink and black permanent markers.  I added some extra decoration with the white paint marker once the ink was dry.

You are my sunshine!

This is the last rock I decorated.  I drew part of the sun and coloured it in with my Artline stix drawing pens, then I coloured the sky in with a blue supreme permanent marker and wrote "You are my sunshine!" using the black 853 OHP marker.  

Finished set of rocks

Here are my finished rocks!  I am going to be hiding them round Birmingham over the next few weeks so they will be found in time for Valentines Day.  I really hope they brighten someone's day and maybe encourage other people to join in with painting and hiding rocks, it is such a fun hobby! 

Which is your favourite out of my designs?  I have to say I am tempted to keep the you are my sunshine one but I will set it free and see where it lands instead!

Artline Monday - More rock painting fun

So last month I tried my hand at rock painting for the first time, my girls and I decorated some stones and pebbles using lots of lovely Artline products and it was a lot of fun but we didn't do the second part of the task which is hiding the painted rocks outside for other people to find them!  The girls decided that they liked their rocks so much they were going to keep them and I said I would have to get some more stones to decorate and hide which I have now done.

Our rocks, paint markers, poster markers & OHP 853 pens

Like before we started off painting the rocks with watercolours and Artline poster markers.  

Starting to decorate the rocks

Once the base coats were dry we added details using OHP 853 markers, paint markers and Artline 999XF metallic pens.  As it is December we drew some Christmas designs and some New Year's ones too.  I especially like how the Christmas tree and firework stones turned out and my youngest daughter loves her bright pink present rock!      

Our painted rocks

On the back of each rock I wrote a message for the person who finds them using the OHP markers.  It says whoever finds the stone can either keep it for themselves or rehide it somewhere else.  I have also asked them to share a photo of the rock online using the tag #ArtlineRocks so hopefully I can see where they end up!

#ArtlineRocks message

After varnishing the rocks they were ready to hide!  We took our stones out with us and hid them in interesting places where they would hopefully be found and spread a little happiness!

Looking for hiding spots

Peek-a-boo!

Hiding a small stone

Left on a fallen tree trunk

Happy New Year!

Hiding on a bridge over the River Cole

This one is quite high up!

This rock is near a rugby ground

I confess, I brought this one back home with me!

Left out in the open so it can be found quickly in the park

Hidden in a planter outside a school

So now our rocks are out in the wild!  If you are in Birmingham you just might come across one but there are also lots and lots people painting and hiding rocks all over the UK so you could find one anywhere you go!  Just keep your eyes peeled!  I really hope our rocks are found and shared online, my girls already want to go back around and check on them all to see if they are still there!

If you would like to go rock hunting you can check on Facebook or Twitter to see if there is a group for people in your area or paint your own pebbles to hide and see if you can inspire others to join in with the fun as well!

Merry Christmas and I will see you again in 2018!