I thought I would squeeze one more blog post into this year since I have had some requests to share my new stencil source with you. I love small portable pieces of furniture. They are easy to re-invent, they tuck into my space at Aubergine here and there, and I can easily transport them to the Little French Flea Market when I am selling there too.
I found this extremely large tray on one of my outings and then a few days later I found this stand for a butler's tray. This was a marriage made in heaven and may they have a long happy life together.
I knew I wanted to share this new stencil source with you so it was time for me to come up with a new project. I found a rose image, some fancy flatware designs on a napkin and a pastry image I had saved on my Pinterest ephemera board. I used my reverse decoupage technique that you can read about here. Once the images were transferred, I got out all of my various French stencils and stenciled some stray words and designs to fill my space.
The new stencil I used is the Boulangerie, Cafe Chaud et Beignets with the beautiful scrolly design in the middle. This is a very large stencil so it's perfect for a table top. I usually use the Maison de Stencils which I still love and I used some on this tray as well, but they are very pricey. The stencils they carry in this size range are around $100 each. This new stencil source averages $35 per stencil and the sizes are extremely generous. They are made of heavy Mylar too so you can use them over and over. Click on the link here to see my new stencil source. I bought them from Etsy. She shipped quickly and responded to my questions immediately. She also carries vinyl lettering if you prefer a one-time use application. Since I am reselling my projects, I like things that can be used over and over.
I hope you are having a safe and happy holiday season. I always enjoy your visits.
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
I hate to admit it, but I have never met a carved chair I didn't love. Sometimes it's such a problem, I think I might need some intervention. I found four of these chairs at a thrift shop a few weeks ago. They were not even particularly inexpensive and I knew I would regret the purchase by the morning after, but what could I do? All that beautiful carved wood was just calling out to me.
The second my husband saw them, he started complaining about how difficult they would be to recover to which I replied I thought they would be a piece of cake.
I hate to admit it when he's right, but these were a bear to redo because of all the curvy lines of the seats. We covered them in drop cloth. I put a grain sack design on them and then to cover up our amateurish upholstering (these were really beyond our talents), I gathered some grosgrain ribbon and attached it with Tacky Glue to cover the staples.
I finished two of them already and will finish the other two in the morning, then I'm whisking them off to my space at Aubergine Emporium.
I love the light airy look of the Old White paint. They almost look Frenchy now especially with the grain sack stripe.
I have had a whirlwind of work these past couple months. I am trying to visit everyone who leaves me a comment and leave a comment in return, but unfortunately I have not been able to reply through email so I apologize for that. Hopefully the new year will bring me a more peaceful schedule.
This will be my final post of the year so in closing I will wish you all a happy and safe holiday.
I may be partying at...
Fridays French Country Cottage My Romantic Home Miss Mustard Seed
Common Ground
A few months ago a friend of mine gifted me these two trays she had found in her travels. They were plain wood and she thought I could do some kind of design on them.
I had found some wonderful old documents, namely a high school diploma and a wedding certificate, and I thought they would be perfect for my trays.
I painted the trays with Annie Sloane's Old White. The original wood finish was a bit shiny so I wiped the trays down with a deglosser and then painted with the chalk paint. Then I decided to do a reverse mod podge technique that I have become very adept at only this time the document did not stick. Notice in this photo the paint adhered fine to the slick finish, but my document did not. I'm not sure why this happened, but it happened to both of the trays.
I had two choices, scrap both trays to the trash or try to turn a negative into a positive. I got out my Maison de Stencils because even if I don't use the entire stencil, I can use an address here or a name there or a French phrase and they really add some punch to my projects.
I still needed to fill in tiny spots here and there so I got out my Paris rubber stamps and my StayzOn ink pads and stamped anywhere I needed to fill up space for my collage look. When I was happy with the look, I used a dark oak gel stain and then sealed it with a clear coat spray. I trimmed out the edges of the tray with some gold paint and I love the results.
I have three layers of print starting with the documents, then the stencils and then the rubber stamps. The stain gave it some depth and character. I took these to the Little French Flea Market and one sold immediately. I still have the second one, and I'm sure it will go before long too.
I just want to state on the record that I am not compensated by Maison de Stencils for promoting their stencils. I simply like using them, and while they are somewhat expensive, they have great sales which is when I try to buy them, and if you sell your items like I do, it's nice to have a quick way to turn something plain into something magnifique.
Thanks for visiting.
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Mondays Le Chateau des Fleurs
Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Tuesdays A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesdays Savvy Southern Style
Thursdays No Minimalist Here
Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday
Fridays French Country Cottage My Romantic Home Miss Mustard Seed
Common Ground
I took a week off for Thanksgiving and I'm finally working on several new projects. This is the first one I have finished. I only wish the photos could bring out the true finished product.
While this is not my usual fare because I don't really like old wood, I just let this little cart tell me what it wanted to look like and I'm actually okay with the weathered finish that was the end result.
It started out as a teak wood cart, pretty plain and boring but I could see the potential right away. I wanted the piece to be suitable for a bathroom or a kitchen so I shied away from perfume images or bakery wording. First I painted the whole thing white, but that just wasn't very interesting either.
So I took several of my Annie Sloane neutrals and painted here and there and then I took my electric sander and sanded the piece way back. I got out all my Maison de Stencils and used bits and pieces of a few of them to give a Frenchy motif.
I found the knob with the back plate at the salvage yard. It was in a box of odds and ends.
This is a great little cart. It's small and versatile and the top lifts up so you can store things inside.
Here's how it started out. Functional, yes; personality, no.
While I was away for the holiday, this is what I filled my time with. Saturday was Carter's first trip to see Santa and I think he was mesmerized by the magic of the season.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanks for your visit.
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Fridays French Country Cottage My Romantic Home Miss Mustard Seed
While I was grazing through Etsy to look for possible images I could use for tags for the flea market, I came upon some fabulous gray tags with delicate soft scroll work in white. I fell in love with the tags, but unfortunately I thought they would eat up too much ink and toner. My next project to paint happened to be this lovely cabinet in forest green that probably hearkened from my newlywed days, and I won't tell you how long ago that was, but let's just say it's been awhile.
I sprayed the outside of the cabinet with primer gray and the inside with heirloom white. I watered down some gesso to soften the harshness of the primer. I'm not sure I would have used the gesso in hindsight, but it added a little texture to the finish. For the delicate scroll design I used part of a stencil that I had. This was a rather large stencil and I needed to fit the design to the scale of the piece. Then I used one of my Maison De Stencils in the middle. This was a quick and easy project. I took it to the Little French Flea Market. Many people commented on the cabinet and loved it, but they had no place to put it. Such is life. It's now in my space. The day I put it in, two people immediately went over to look at it, but it's still there.
I hope this little cabinet finds a good home very soon.
Thanks for stopping by.
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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
Common Ground The Charm of Home
I missed posting last week because I was feverishly getting ready for The Little French Flea Market last weekend. Although I didn't get to snap photos of my space this time, I thought I would share some of my new projects that I took with me.
One of my fellow dealers at Aubergine Emporium did a grouping of glittered paint brushes which I instantly fell in love with. While it wouldn't be fair to take my version to the shop, I put my own spin on them and took them to the flea market. They were a big hit.
I found this cute wire shelf at a yard sale. It was hot pink and I do mean hot! Ya gotta love those teenage girls and their love of pink. I toned it down with heirloom white and had my husband cut some scrap wood so the shelves were more solid. This went fast too.
I found a new source for some specialty stencils that are very economical and good quality. I will be sharing the source soon. I did a lot of projects from this stencil, but never got them photographed.
I had a stash of tiny old bottles that I attached some simple vintage style labels too. I sold quite a few of these. This whole label thing might be my newest addiction.
My friend gave me some round mirrors. I ran some fabric through the copier to duplicate my bird prints, attached them to a burlap backing and trimmed them out with some black twine. What? You don't have black twine? I spray painted some green twine with flat black paint. Worked like a charm.
One of my followers, 20 North Ora did some cute bottle brush trees with some spools and some tart tins. Here is my spin made with some large wood pieces (you could use wine corks too) and some silver stars and a whole bunch of glitter.
Here are some bird statues I found at another sale. They were a bronzy color. I painted them white and silver and added glitter. These are great for the holidays.
Last but not least is my Paris tray. I did two of these trays in reverse mod podge and I have to say they were a near disaster. In a future post, I will tell you how I turned the negative into a positive. I love the result.
Thanks for visiting. Tomorrow I will share a small wall cabinet that I did. My inspiration was a gift tag of all things.
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
A friend of mine found these two identical cabinets that are nice and roomy, but they were as plain as plain could be. I suggested she put a stencil or some kind of design on the fronts of them to perk things up. Her response was that I should put the design and then we would share in the sale. That seemed like a good idea to me so I set about coming up with a design to spruce things up.
This is the first cabinet. I made it a very tall spice cabinet. These cabinets were over three feet tall and both have shelves in them.
I used my old stand by transfer method of reverse mod podge and filled in the empty space with some horizontal stripes. You can see my tutorial on reverse mod podge here. To do the stripes I used Frog Tape. This is my first try with the tape and it worked like a charm. The stripes are crisp and clean, just the way I like them.
All of these images came from the Graphics Fairy, and I printed them in black and white.
You can see the second cabinet here before I decorated it. I finished it yesterday, but I haven't photographed the end result yet. I will share it very soon.
Thanks for your visit. I will have a lot to share because I am getting ready for the Little French Flea Market next weekend and it's also beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Aubergine Emporium as well.
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
Common Ground
I found this little gem last week at a sale at the very end of the day. As soon as I saw it, I envisioned it in black with burlap. That doesn't happen often, but when something speaks to me that loudly, I listen.
Of course, I didn't think burlap was enough so I put a transfer on it using my Lesley Riley Transfer Artist Paper which I have done my last two posts on. When transferring an image onto fabric, it can't be beat. I used a Graphics Fairy image using a full size page.
Here is the before pic of the way I found this little piece.
Here is a recap of the makeover.
Unscrew seat and remove old yucky fabric.
Paint wood the color of your choice. Cut a piece of burlap and a piece of osnaburg fabric the same size to fit the top of the seat.
First lay down the osnaburg so it is your first layer on your seat cushion and then the burlap. Turn the seat over and staple in place so that the seat has new clean fabric.
Copy an image of your choice using the mirror image setting and transfer it onto a piece of osnaburg that is a little larger so you can create a fringe edge.
Use tacky glue to glue the transferred image to the burlap. I went around the edge of the image and then spread the glue in a grid pattern on the back side of the osnaburg so I got even adhesion to the burlap.
I then tacked the image in the corners with a little baste stitch to keep it secure.
Using the thin grosgrain ribbon I made a border on my transferred image. I glued the ribbon down and in the corners I did a little tack stitch to hold my mitered corner in place.
Next I screwed the seat cushion back on the base, and, voila, I had a new ottoman. This project took no time at all and I love the results.
Thanks for your visit. I am behind on answering email, but I will be getting caught up very soon. Happy Halloween.
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
This project could easily be called the project from @!#&. If anything could go wrong, it did. Last week I did a tutorial extolling the virtues of TAP, otherwise, known as Transfer Artist Paper. I love how it transforms my plain towels into a work of art, and somewhere along the way, I know I read that you could use it on furniture and glass. As much as I love TAP, I do not advise using it on furniture. I found a dated 80's jewelry cabinet with an oak finish. I painted it with my Annie Sloan Old White. It was really thick so I thinned it down with water. I thinned it too much and I didn't get good coverage on the second coat.
Oh well, I was going to sand it back anyway. Then I copied an image from the Graphics Fairy onto my TAP paper and attempted to do a transfer onto my wood. I should have stopped after the first transfer, but I was convinced I would get the technique down pat. After all, I'm convinced I read somewhere it could be done. The image bubbled and crystallized and smeared and pretty much frustrated the heck out of me, but I persevered until I got the whole thing done.
Now I'm asking myself why I just didn't switch to a wax paper transfer method, but I'm stubborn like that.
It's really not that difficult to paint these little cabinets. The first coat takes a little patience.
You can see how bad my transfer bubbled and yellowed. Oh yes, it yellowed.
The long and short of it is I won't lose money on this piece but I sure won't make anything on it either. I also believe in sharing my successes and my failures and this was a major flop. Thanks for looking anyway, and stick to designing beautiful towels and fabric items with your TAP and leave the furniture transfers to other tried and true methods.
I may be partying at...
Fridays French Country Cottage My Romantic Home Miss Mustard Seed Common Ground
I'm sure there are lots of tutorials out there on putting transfers on tea towels, but I thought I would share with you some of my thoughts on the process. When I do transfers onto fabric, I use TAP or Transfer Artist Paper by Lesley Riley. I think it's the best iron on transfer paper there is and is very easy to work with. I have some towels I have been using for a year and they stand up to the wash week after week.
I get my TAP on Amazon and my last order was a hundred sheets. Buying in quantity saved me about 25 percent including the shipping. When I use smaller towels, I put two images to one sheet of TAP. This also makes my transfer paper last twice as long. However, if I do flour sack towels which are approximately 32x32, I use a whole sheet of the paper with a full size image.
First select your images. The Graphics Fairy has wonderful images and so does Pinterest. You can find these images on my Pinterest ephemera board. These are particularly good for tea towels because of the subject matter of the images.
For my smaller kitchen towels I use a wider variety of images including livestock and soap.
The beautiful thing about the TAP transfer paper is that you can use an INK JET printer. This is the most common printer a home crafter has. The laser printers are more expensive and if I need a color image especially, I have to go to Fed Ex Office to make my copies.
So first figure out how your copier copies your images. There is a right and a wrong side to the TAP paper. You need to figure out which side of your paper your copier prints on to. You will want your image to print on the white side of the TAP. The reverse side is sort of lavender in color. For the smaller towels, I print two 5x7 images onto one sheet. If you have selected an image with printing, you will want to select the MIRROR image setting. I also darken my print a notch or two so I get a nice strong print.
Look for reasonably priced towels anywhere that sells kitchen or hand towels. I get my flour sack towels at Target. First you will want to cut out any pesky labels like the one below.
I've even transferred onto blue and white tea towels. I get the four packs.
If you are doing the 5x7 image, cut your paper in half so you now have two identical images. Place your image face down on the side of your towel you want to transfer the image on to. I eyeball about an inch above the hem line. I also use a measuring device to make sure the image is centered between the side edges so when the towel is folded it hangs nicely. Make sure your image is facing the right way so you don't end up with an upside down image. Believe me, it can happen. When it does, those are the towels I end up keeping. I call those my test subjects.
I use my hottest iron setting and go back and forth slowly for several seconds. Follow the instructions that come with the TAP. I also use the tip of my iron and go over the corners a few extra times to make sure the image adheres securely. If you start to lift the backing and it is still sticking to your image, just lay the backing back in place and iron some more. This is pretty fool proof. I've never had an image smear. However, don't lay the backing back down if you have removed it all the way. Do it gradually so you make sure the image has come totally away and adhered.
The great thing about the TAP paper is that it's very transparent. You don't get the yellowed contrast like with other transfer papers who shall remain nameless. FYI, I am not being compensated by Lesley Riley in any way. This post is based on my opinion and experience with different transfer papers, and this one just happens to be my go to favorite. Below are both towels that I use. One is a tea towel and the back one is a flour sack.
These towels sell out every time I take them to the flea market. I have now taken to putting them in cellophane bags as they make great hostess gifts, stocking stuffers or just little thank you gifts for teachers or anyone that has done something nice. They are inexpensive to make. I figure the total cost for the little tea towels are approximately $2 each and the flour sack towels are approximately $3 each. That is for the finished product.
Here are my tea towels that I took to the last flea market. I put them in larger cellophane bags, but I think for the upcoming market, I will do something festive and add a cute gift tag and a ribbon.
I hope this cleared up any hesitation you've had about doing transfers onto towels. They are a great project and make great little gifts. One last thing before I leave you. If you are doing a lot of towels at one time, all transfer papers give off odors and it's better to work in an area that is well ventilated. I do about 20 of these at a time and I have them down to five minutes a towel. They are quick and easy to do.
As always, 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
Saturdays Funky Junk Interiors
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