skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Today I wanted to share a project I did last weekend and it's very similar to the book stacks I shared about a month ago only this time I used clipboards. These could be used for photo displays, paperwork or recipes in the kitchen, and when they are not in use, they look terrific just stuck on a nail.
I used my Maison d' Stencils that I had on hand. I had to leave off a line here or there to fit it all in, but even with that, I love the way these came out.
I picked up the old clipboards at yard sales, painted them with Annie Sloan graphite and stenciled with light ivory and then lightly waxed the paint so as not to leave any residue.
I love how these turned out.
I am almost finished with the raised plaster stencil I did in white on white and I hope to share that in the next couple of days. Before I leave you today I just wanted to give a huge thank you to Karen Valentine for helping me with some recent blog problems I have been having. This is not the first time I have had to call on Karen to fix something that has gone awry. She has a beautiful blog herself called My Desert Cottage and another one called Building Beautiful Blogs. If you need some tweaking or help to fix a mysterious problem that arises, I highly recommend Karen. She's quick, friendly and very affordable especially for those of us that are more technically challenged than others, and although she did not design my actual blog, she has more than helped me a time or two to spruce things up on my existing blog so I have added her button on my sidebar right along with my Maison d' Stencil button. FYI, I do not get any compensation for promoting this fabulous stencil line. It just happens to be one of my favorites and I happily promote them. They have been gracious enough to include a couple of my projects on their blog as well.
I told you Saturday that I was working on a reverse decoupage project and finally it is finished. I did not take a before pic of this piece, but I'll describe it as truly a Bombay Company tea cart. I'm sure you have a visual of it in your mind. It was very traditional, and, just to ally your fears, no, I did not take a fine antique and shabby it up.
I had my husband paint the cart with primer gray, and then I came back and repainted it with Annie Sloan Ochre. Then I took my mouse sander and gave it a harsh sanding. I was going for the faded worn vintage look so soft colors and worn paint were the order of the day.
I did the top and bottom with only very slight variations. I took different images I found on the internet and literally cut and taped them in layers so that I could go to the copy store and get one 11x17 laser copy image. I made one copy for the top and one for the bottom. Working with one sheet of paper made it easy.
If you want to try this, don't forget to reverse the image if letters are involved. I'll recap my images in case you like the ones I used. An Old rose image search on the internet yielded this beautiful cluster of roses. The Graphics Fairy yielded four of the post mark images, the bee and the postage stamp with the butterfly. Just put in post marks and you should be able to find these. The image in the bottom right is an image I found when I was searching for French perfume labels.
One of these days I will do a step by step tutorial of what each step entails because believe it or not each sheet of regular copy paper needs about five tries at dissolving the paper to reveal the image. After the image was revealed, I came back in with a scrolly-type stencil and tried to make my paint a gray green to blend with my faded image. When this was complete, I sprayed about three coats of Deft lacquer spray over the image to seal everything. You can find Deft at Home Depot. I like the Satin finish. I'm still learning about this process, but I love the end result and I hope you do to.
I'm 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 My 1928 Charmer Sunday's Best
I recently purchased a book called "The French Cat" so I thought it was fitting to name this post after my book since I used my antique French invoices as a background for the Graphics Fairy Tuxedo Cat. For this image click here.
Here are my four finished plates. This post took me longer to write than it did to do the actual work on the plates so if you like these, stick with me.
If you would like to use these invoices, feel free to do so. I will include the link to the images for you on each plate. I purchased the plates at the 99 Cent store.
Here is the link for Construction.
First I cut out Tuxedo Cat and decoupaged him. Remember you are working on the back side of the plate. This is reverse decoupage. I copied my invoices onto 8 1/2 x 11 paper and cut a circle of my invoice image larger than the plate I was using. Place your second image's large circle cutout behind your first image and decoupage only on the center of the plate. Stick that down and press firmly over the image. Now for the sides of the plate, I cut several slits in my image going around the plate cutting only to the center of the plate. This helps to prevent bubbles and uneven decoupage. Then I placed decoupage on each slit as I circled around the plate making sure to coat the edges so they would stick to the previously pressed down slit. Press firmly around the plate edge so you get nice contact. Now cut around the outside of the paper circle to make it even with the edge of the plate. Remember we cut the circle larger than the plate. I did three layers of decoupage letting it dry between each coat.
Click here for Edouard Rondeau.
Then here was my biggest mistake. My old invoices were very yellowed and I liked the color so I should have painted the back of the decoupaged paper with ivory, but instead I painted with black. Anywhere I hadn't cut exactly on the edge of the plate the black showed from the front. So paint the back of your plate to match the front of the image. This will hide many imperfections if you didn't cut exactly to the outer edge of the plate. I know this is long and drawn out, but I don't know a better way to explain this.
Click here for Lefebure. Pardon the glare in my photos. It's hard to photograph inside of my house.
By the way, Pat, one of my followers had a totally brilliant idea for saving Graphics Fairy images to my computer and I will pass it along to you as a suggestion. Whenever I want to include an image in my post for you, I like to link it directly to the Graphics Fairy's blog and not to the saved image on my computer. Many times (actually a lot) I have trouble locating the image with her search bar so Pat suggested I save the image as I normally do, but to also add the date of the post. This is making it much easier for me to locate the post on Karen's site.
Click here for Societe Generale.
Happy crafting everyone. Let your imagination run wild today.
I'm partying at...
Mondays Le Chateau des Fleurs The Graphics Fairy
Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Tuesdays Knick of Time Tutus and Tea Parties Coastal Charm
Boogie Board Cottage A Stroll Thru Life
Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays Savvy Southern Style Ivy and Elephants
Faded Charm Cottage Fine Craft Guild
Thursdays Embracing Change The Shabby Creek Cottage No Minimalist Here
Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday Fishtail Cottage
Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays French Country Cottage My Romantic Home Miss Mustard Seed
At the Picket Fence Potpourri Friday Common Ground
The Charm of Home Decorating Insanity Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays Funky Junk Interiors
Sundays My 1928 Charmer Sunday's Best
Here is this week's vintage graphic. It's a 1900 invoice from Hammond Typewriter. This one has sort of a steampunk feel with the old typewriters. I segregated out the letter head so you can use it for something creative. Thanks for visiting.
