Documented Table in Reverse Mod Podge

I found this cute little table at a local sale.  It started life as a Bombay House table so it's not old, but she had great bones so I decided to do a project with her.

First she got a good going over with liquid sand paper to knock the sheen down.  Then she got a base coat of a dark taupe brown.  I wanted to layer my paints.  Next she got two coats of Old Ochre by Annie Sloan followed by French Linen also by Annie Sloan just on her trim.

Next I perused Pinterest for some images and documents in the taupe and gray colors.  I found this gorgeous cameo and some wonderful old documents from a fashion fair.  I even found a label to apply to the back.  The old furniture had paper labels affixed and I thought it was a nice finishing touch.   To affix my documents and the portrait, I used my favorite transfer method of  reverse mod podge.  When it was all finished, I sanded her back to give her a distressed antique look and then waxed her with clear wax.

I love how this table turned out.  It's a lovely little accent table and is a great neutral piece despite all that it has going on. 

It's so fun to transform a piece that has good lines.

She'll be at the next Little French Flea Market in November.

Thanks for your visit.

I may be partying at...


Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                   Common Ground
                               

Paris Table With an Edge

I found this adorable drop leaf table last week already painted and prepped and ready to put my mark on it.  The color is pretty close to Paris Grey by Annie Sloan.

I used one of my Maison de Stencil patterns and centered it on the table with the leaves up.  You can find the link for Maison de Stencils on my side bar.

I then used one of my line stencils and made sort of a plaid pattern at the corners and then outlined the whole edge of the table.

I repainted the knobs to match my tabletop design and added a little detail around the rungs of the table legs.

Here is the table top with just the Paris stencil.  Still kind of plain Jane.

The warm white details make a nice contrast to the grey and really gives this little piece a lot of personality.

Thanks so much for visiting.  Hope you're all having a great week.

You can find me at these parties
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Common Ground
                                     

A Box, a Tin and a Tote

I always try to post a furniture project of some sort on Thursday, but with my trip up north for my conference and visiting with my grandson, I didn't quite finish my project so I will share it next week.

I've had a lot of inquiries about my reverse mod podge technique, so I went back in my photos to see if I could find some simple projects I had not shared with you before (at least I don't think I shared them) and these three are what I found.

The first is this wooden wine box that held a single bottle of wine.  I purchased this at a yard sale and believe it or not, it still had the wine in it.  I just can't bring myself to drink it even though I do love my wine, but I did make great use of the box.  

I have included the image below if you want to use it.  With a little adjustment in Photoshop, I was able to stretch the image without distorting it and it fit the box perfectly.  You can find the tutorial for the mod podge transfer method here.  Here is the image.  I found it on Pinterest.

My next project was a simple galvanized trash can I found at a yard sale.  I used a Catherine Klein rose image and I used the hotel image you can find in the next two photos.  I trimmed the rim with some black paint to give it a little extra detail.

This next project was a long tool tote that was very rustic.  I painted it white, sanded it back and used another Catherine Klein rose image.  Then I stenciled The Rustic Rose on the front.  The end result was a pretty primitive project, but I loved it just the same.  I have never failed to sell anything I have used this process on.  People think it's hand painted which, of course, it's not, but it's the next best thing for me.  Oh, and I must warn you, this technique is highly addictive.  I want to put a transfer on just about everything I find.

Now I better get back to work on this little table I'm working on.  Only six more weeks to the next Little French Flea Market so I better get busy.
Thanks for your visit.

I may be partying at...

Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy   
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
           

Fireplace Mantel Mirror and Shelf

I don't have a before photo of this piece, but someone had started stripping it back to oak and soon gave up on the task.  I knew it would be way too much work to finish the job they had started and besides it was already painted a very dark color.

I had my husband sand it down and repaint it black.  Then I sanded it back to expose some of the wood beneath.  I love this finish.  It definitely gives a nice aged look and also a very informal look.

This piece is still pretty primitive, but it's a great accent mirror that makes a huge statement.  It's 45 inches wide and at least three feet tall.  I hope it finds a good home.

Thanks for your visit.

I may be partying at...

Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy  
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style
                                           
Thursdays        The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme

Selling at the Little French Flea Market

I've been away from my blog for almost two weeks now.  The last time I posted I was getting ready to sell at The Little French Flea Market and it was a very hot weekend registering in the triple digits.

I felt like I nearly melted and it took me at least a week to recover.  Add to that my work schedule and helping with my friend's tea party last weekend, I was left feeling extremely tired and drained.  I'm hoping to get some more energy by visiting with my new grandson this coming weekend.  He just turned three months old and I can't wait to hold him.

To get ready to sell at a weekend event I load my little Toyota truck three times and take two loads on Friday and then another load early Saturday morning before we start.  My goal is to return with only one truck load and that includes all my set up items and my Easy Up and anything that didn't get sold.

You can see in this photo the sun is barely peaking through.  I actually had to wait to arrange everything when it got a little lighter out.  This is just how I left things Friday evening, knowing I would be bringing more.

I finally got my things arranged around 7:00 a.m.

My tea towels and clip boards are always big sellers for me.  I brought a few fall items like my white pumpkins even though it was a scorcher and felt more like summer.  My bench with the French poem debuted this weekend and I'm happy to report it sold.

My green ladder shelf was one of the first things to go as well as my primitive blue cabinet that had that same poem stenciled inside and out.  In fact, anything with my French poem sold.  

I had lots of smalls and lots of frames.  I sold all but one piece of art and all of the small frames sold out.  Even my little folding chairs that we like to sit on sold.  What the heck, I have two more waiting for a makeover, and I love redoing folding chairs.  

In spite of the fact that it was Yom Kippur, a major Jewish holiday in a very Jewish community, the weekend was a huge success.  Our next market will be mid November and I will post the dates as we get closer.  Thanks for visiting and thanks for your patience while I gather my thoughts for the new season.  

Scripted Vanity Benches

Today I'm posting about two projects that I just finished.  They are both vanity benches and both started out as wood benches.  Well, one of them started out that way.  The first one you see here I think was actually one of those little French side tables that had the round glass in it.  There was no glass, no seat, just the wood frame.  To me it screamed vanity seat.  It got painted and chipped up, had a wood seat made and then I covered it with a scrap of drop cloth that I stenciled my French poem on.  Now it's a shabby little accent piece.

This next piece started out as a bench with a dark wood frame and some dated rose fabric.  I love rose fabric but just not that fabric.  I used the same drop cloth scrap and stenciled the script in white to match the painted frame.  I like them much better with their new update.

It's super easy to stencil on fabric with this French poem stencil from Royal Design Studio.  Just make sure you have a large enough flat surface to support the stencil as it is large.

Both these cute little benches are off to the Little French Flea Market this weekend in Tarzana, California so if you're in the area and you want to come out and sizzle with me, I would love to see you.  It should be a very warm triple digit weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

I may be partying at...

Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy   
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style
                                           
Thursdays        The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays        Funky Junk Interiors

Rusty Letters and a Modern Masters Rust Finish Tutorial

A while back I showed you a frame I had done in a rusty finish using Modern Masters Metal Effects rust finish products, and I told you how the views of my post were solely my own and that Modern Masters had no idea who I even was let alone that they would compensate me to promote their products.  No one was more shocked than me when I received an email from them and an offer to receive some of their product to try out on my blog.  So I will disclose that this product was supplied to me by Modern Masters but the views of their product are my own.

I did three projects simultaneously with the Metal Effects rust finish so don't let my photos confuse you.  I'll show you the angel I did this week as well.  You can see her in my tutorial photos.

All of us crafters have seen these paper letters.  Our Joann's carries them in a lot of sizes and these that I found at a yard sale are about eight inches tall.

My first step was to use the Metal Effects primer and I gave my projects two coats.  Do the first coat, wait 30 minutes and then do the second coat.  The directions said to let the primer dry for 12 hours but I let it dry for 24 hours.  Please excuse the mess in the background.  I am purging and sorting my entire house right now and things will be worse before they get better.  That will also be the subject of a blog post this week so stay tuned.

After waiting 24 hours for the primer coat to dry, I applied two coats of the Metal Effects iron paint.  I allowed and hour in between each coat.

I let that totally dry for about six hours and then coated my letters with the Metal Effects rust activator.  For the letters I used a sponge applicator and laid the letters flat.  You can spritz the rust activator on, but I wanted a heavier coat and I laid the letters flat so there would be no run off.  For this step, apply the rust activator, wait five minutes and reapply.  Then just sit back and watch the magic begin.  It takes a while but there is definitely a chemical reaction and you will see the rust appear before your eyes.

After my rust appeared (I waited over night to make sure all the rust had come forth), I mixed the Permacoat Supreme, which is a final top coat, with 50 percent water, in other words, half water and half Permacoat.  I applied it with a small chip brush.  When this step dried, I applied the Permacoat full strength.  The label does say Interior/Exterior so I'm sure you could leave your project outdoors, but since my projects were papermache, I intended them for indoor use only.

Since I acquired my letters from a yard sale, I only had a few letters to choose from, but I had a lot of fun making them into words.  

This finish is perfect for fall decorating, don't you think?  I have to say, and this is my sincere opinion, that I have tried about four different product lines from Modern Masters and they all do what they promise to do.  This company knows how to manufacture artist's supplies, and they have been around a very long time.

Thanks for taking a peak and, thank you, Modern Masters, for letting me have loads of fun with your Metal Effects rust finish.  

I may be partying at...

Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy  
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style
                                           
Thursdays        The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays        Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays