White on White Raised Plaster Panel

Today I wanted to show you the second raised plaster panel I did with the same stencil I used last week.  I really disliked the panel I painted in Duck Egg Blue last week while I was working on it, but then when I applied the wax, it was really transformed.  I still thought I would like the white on white better, but in reality neither myself or my husband are as happy with it as the first panel.  My husband thinks I should have gone over the raised plaster with a lighter white, and he may be right.  Lucky for me I have one more of these cabinet doors, so guess what I'll be doing next week.

It's pretty, but it doesn't have that old world charm that my first panel did.

The contrast of the two colors really does make a huge difference.  I'll keep working on this.  I love the idea of the raised plaster and I also have to tell you that this is very sturdy.  Don't ask me how, it just is.  For instructions on this method here is the
tutorial.

Thanks for visiting.  I have new projects planned and I also have an art class next week with Rita Reade of Mammabellart.blogspot.com.  She is teaching a sign painting class and a soldering class.  Yes, I'm playing hooky for one day to take a class with one of my friends from Christie Repasy's class.  So hopefully I will have something to share on that end too.  Have a great weekend.
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           

Fanciful Clipboards

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.

Raised Plaster Stencil

I finally accomplished two projects this week and this is one of them.  I have wanted to try to do a raised stencil for a very long time, and I thought it was a lot harder than it was.  I ordered the stencil from Victoria Larsen and I could not be happier with the results.  In fact, I am working on a second one in all white which I hope to share with you in a couple of days.

 I painted a large cabinet door with Annie Sloan's duck egg blue and added some Modern Masters crackle medium.  I wanted the door to have an aged and distressed look.

 When all of that had dried I laid the stencil down and clamped it at the end to keep the stencil from moving.  You could use tape as well too.  Then I took some premixed joint compound, the kind that is used for drywall.  I smoothed it over the stencil with a putty knife and kind of smoothed it out to make sure it was totally in the whole pattern.  Then while that was still wet I added more joint compound to make my image more textured and thicker.

 Once that step was done, I lifted the stencil away from the pattern I had just created.  Then I walked away.  This was the hardest part.  I kept checking it to see if it was drying.  The directions said to allow it to dry overnight.  Sure enough the next morning it was hard as a rock.  By the way, in between each side and after I was finished with the plastering process I just rinsed the stencil in our utility sink.  It's very thick and it just washed right off.

 At this point I took some light sandpaper and gently sanded the pattern just to lift off anything that would chip away.  When the sanding was done, I painted over the pattern with the duck egg blue so the panel was now all one color.  You need to paint over the plaster material to seal it.

 Once the paint dried, I laid the stencil back over the pattern and painted the pattern with some light ivory acrylic paint.  The final step was waxing the whole panel, first with clear wax and then blending in some dark wax.  The plaster dried to a very hard finish.  I really applied pressure with the wax and nothing broke away or came loose.  I can't wait to see how the white on white turns out.  I'll share the results when it's completed.

Before I end this post, I wanted to let you know I have added an email button on my left side bar and since then I have been contacted twice to let me know some of you are unable to pin my projects.  I have someone working on the problem and it should be fixed very soon.  You're welcome to pin anything you find on my blog.  I'm all about sharing.  Thanks for visiting.

 

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           

Vintage Bridal Veil

One of my favorite things is vintage lace and vintage bridal collections.  They are very hard to come by especially if they are in pristine condition.  About a year ago, I found this vintage veil and it remains one of my favorite pieces of vintage textiles.

I would date it to the 1920's.  There is not a single flaw in the veil except for a little discoloration.

So when Carol at the Polka Dot Closet announced she was going to do a post on vintage bridal veils and asked if anyone wanted to join, I knew this was something I wanted to share and be a part of too.

So if you would like to see some other vintage bridal finds, check out these other blogs to see more of these exquisite goodies.

Carol at The Polka Dot Closet

Francie at The Scented Cottage

Lynn at The Vintage Nest

 

 

 

Burlap Bags with a Grain Sack Twist

When I sold at the flea market last weekend, I wanted to brighten my space with some pretty plants so I picked up some small iceberg rose bushes to set around.  I love the look of the burlap grain sacks so I decided to make a few for the roses.  I think they add so much and I think they would be beautiful for a rustic wedding or party.

 They were easy to make and I didn't even stitch them on the machine.  Of course, after I made them, I checked on line and they are pretty reasonable to buy.  The 12 x 20 bags are about a dollar a bag, but you have to buy 25 of them.  I only wanted four and I needed a custom size.

 Every blogger I know has some stray burlap laying about; right?  It's as much a staple as drop cloth.  I got out my scraps and measured the size I needed.  I took my household glue and ran a string of glue on each side of the sack and clothes pinned the sides until the glue dried.  It was quick.  Once dried, while watching TV, I stitched up the sides with a simple baste stitch.  Everything held beautifully, nothing unraveled and the bags were very pretty.

 I'm considering ordering some small bags to use my Maison d' Stencils on.  That's what I did here and people wanted to buy just the bags.  If they sell anything like my dish towels it would be a great inexpensive item.  And by the way, Maison d' Stencils is having a 30 percent off sale until the end of April.  Their stencils are pricey, but when you are in mass production mode, they are worth every penny.  Their link is on my side bar.  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting everyone. 

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           

Little French Flea Market

Well, it's been four days since I finished my first time selling at The Little French Flea Market.  I'm thrilled with my sales.  All the dealers there are so friendly and fun to work with so I will definitely return in June.  At the last minute just before the gates opened, I was able to snap just a few photos to share with you, and I will also share some surprising revelations, but before I do that, I must thank my dear friend Deb.  She picked up items from my space I wanted to sell and then she not only helped me set up both mornings, but she stayed with me the whole time and helped me pack up at the very end.  Now that is a true friend for sure.

 At Aubergine Emporium, the shop I am a dealer in, I sell a lot of red stuff.  I like the color red a lot.  I also like that it sells for me when I'm tired of painting things white.  So it came as a shock to me when I hardly sold any red stuff at all.  Don't get me wrong.  I sold some books and cute laundry items, but not my red caddies or garden signs.  However, my red and white dish towels sprouted wings and thus I sold over 40 of those.

 I would say I sold approximately 70 percent of what I took to sell and only returned with a small number of larger items.  I don't care how good a dealer one is, it's rare to sell 100 percent of your inventory, and many of the items I was saving just for the market did sell and went fast.

 I have four of these vintage ironing boards that fold flat and are easy to store.  I used them around the periphery of my space for surface area to display my items.  They weren't for sale, only for display.  I could easily move them around to position things out of the sun.  It was a very warm weekend.

 I wish I would have taken a lot more frames.  They seemed to be a sure thing.  I took quite a bit of silver and only sold a few pieces, but I'm not surprised because silver even at the shop is pretty seasonal and mainly sells during the holidays.

My biggest mistake and it was pretty unavoidable was that a ton of my items never got priced ahead of time.  I have been slammed with work for the whole month of April and I felt pretty lucky to just get my items set up to sell.  On Sunday morning when it was a little quieter, I started pricing things and then they started selling like hot cakes.  I kept my prices very reasonable, but still managed to make money on every item I sold.  I would rather sell a lot of volume and clear out inventory than to pack it up just to bring it back the next time.  So from now on, I will price, price, price ahead of time.  Thanks for taking a peak.  I haven't even been able to check email as this was another crazy work week.  I'm so thrilled to be working full time again.  You know the old saying, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.  Well, I got it for sure and that's a very good thing.  Thanks for visiting.

Little Miss Maggie

It's crunch time getting ready for The Little French Flea Market where I will be a vendor this weekend.  It's my first time doing this market and I wanted to define my space with a personalized touch.  I've been wanting a sign for a long time with my logo on it, but I was afraid my artistic skills weren't up to the challenge.  It's getting to be the very last minute, and yesterday I was browsing the yard to see what I am taking to the market and I spotted this high school music stand with a chalkboard finish I used for my daughter's wedding three years ago.

 It was perfect!  The stand was already painted the right color and it already has some aged patina on it.  All I had to do was do a little free-hand sketching that sort of looked like my logo.  It didn't have to be perfect because the look of my blog header is very rustic anyway so I took a stab at recreating the look.

 I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, and it will definitely give me exactly what I was looking for.  I'm not even sure if I had more time that it would have come out any better, and I probably would have been really nervous trying to make it perfect. 

Thanks for taking a peak. 

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