Flower Girl on Cabinet

I purchased this wonderful vintage cabinet from a friend of mine who is turning her guest room into an office.  It was all white and was missing the back.  She used it for a TV cabinet.

I applied two images of the same beautiful woman carrying a flower basket.  I think she almost looks Grecian.  

I cut the images into an oval shape and applied them to the doors.  I knew I would never be able to cut my paper to match the curves in the top of the doors.  After I removed all the paper from the image, I used my acrylic paints and color washed around the oval transfers to blend in with the background colors in my image.  

It's not perfect and I have to work on this technique but I do love the finished cabinet.  I trimmed it out in dark slate gray and gold and then gave it a good healthy sanding to distress the piece.

My handy husband added a back and a shelf to make this a more functional piece for storage.

Thanks so much for your visit.

I may be partying at...
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style   Ivy and Elephants
                                                   
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Common Ground
                                   

French Quarter Secretary

I found this secretary desk at my favorite flea.  It was in pretty rough shape.  In fact, my husband asked me which landfill I found it in.  He's so charming and witty, sometimes I can hardly stand it!

I'm sure this desk came out of a teenage girl's room.  It had been painted lavender, yellow, pink, green, blue and silver and not all at the same time.  So lots of drips and caked on paint.  There was nothing to do but give it a funky, worn look.  I started with a coat of Old White, and sanded it down quite a bit to bring out the aged look this desk already had.

Most of the knobs were missing so I went with simple wooden knobs and I added an old finial I had in my stash of whatnots.

I added my French Quarter image that I found on Pinterest.  I added the image to the inside of the desk and the outside using my reverse mod podge technique.

I rummaged through my stencil collection and using the addresses and some of the phrasing on different ones, I mixed and matched to come up with different text for my drawers and the inside of the cabinet.

I love the end result.  I hope this desk finds a wonderful new home very quickly.  Just a little paint can go a long way to revive something that is destined for the landfill.

Thanks for visiting.  

I may be partying at...


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

Wednesdays      Ivy and Elephants

Vintage Paris

It's that time again.  The Little French Flea Market is this weekend.  This is the vintage market I sell at four times a year, and this will be our second market for the year.  Our weather should be spectacular.  Here are two of my new signs that will be available.  I finished a few more, but I will have to share them later.  Didn't get them photographed yet.  

I love this Vintage Paris sign.  I painted three of them and one has already sold so I'm saving the other two for this weekend.  I found a great stash of these gorgeous metal roses.  I do say they make anything look fabulous.

My Paris Flea Market sign got a fancy drawer pull for its adornment.

It's amazing what an old cabinet door can become once it's rescued from the scrap pile

If you're in the area this weekend, please stop and see us.  It's a great little marketplace and you never know what you will find.

I may be partying at

Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style   Ivy and Elephants
                                           

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

Fleur de Lis Coffee Table

I found this darling little table while I was shopping one day.  It was maple and was in great shape, but I knew I couldn't sell it the way it was.  My husband, the master painter in our house, painted the table white just to get a base on it.

I was searching for a perfect fleur de lis image one day on the internet and I came across this one.  Love at first sight.  I found the source on Etsy and the image was only $1.  It comes digitally delivered in a mirror and regular view.  If you love it as much as I do, here is the link.  It's by Graphique.

After I got the image on the table using my favorite transfer method, reverse mod podge, I lined off my stripes with frog tape.  Use frog tape to do this, not the blue painters tape.  I have ruined so many projects with the blue tape it's not even funny.

This is a drop leaf coffee table and when open it is quite large.  Perfect for kids to play games at, and when you need just a normal size table, simply snap the leaves back down.  I love the clean crisp look of a simple black and white design.

Thanks for your visit.

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

Typograhy Covered Bulletin Board

I'm trying new things for our upcoming flea market in two weeks, and while empty frames are big sellers, these were not vintage enough for me to sell as a vintage frame.  They were originally silver and I didn't think that would sell either.

The frames got two quick coats of Old White.  I went to Joann's and found foam core board that was the exact dimension as my frames.  Then I purchased a small roll of thin cork board and some thin batting.  I love this fabric with the French graphics and typography.  It was on sale for $5 a yard in the home decor section.

I glued a layer of the cork over the foam core board and then glued a thin layer of the batting on top of that.  Then I cut the fabric and tacky glued it onto the layered pieces.  When everything was dry, I tucked it into the frame and backed it with the cardboard that was the original back piece when I found the frames.  I used heavy mailing tape to keep it attached to the frame and then I cut and glued mailing paper purchased from Walmart onto the back of each frame to hide all my previous work.

I found some pretty pearlescent stick pins in the bridal section of Joann's and I will put them in a pretty cellophane bag and sell them with the bulletin boards.

This was a fairly easy project.  Each step took very little time, but with a few steps to complete it was a work in progress for a few days.  I love the way they came out.  These are perfect for a craft room.

Thanks for stopping by.


I may be partying at...


Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style   Ivy and Elephants
                                           
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme

Pretty Portable Tea Table

I found this tray table at a flea market a couple of months ago.  While the dealer was transporting it to sell it, a sharp object of some sort pierced the wicker tray and put a hole in it.  However, I still fell in love with this piece and I knew my husband could do something to salvage this sweet little table.

The before pictures are coming up, but here was the solution to my problem.  I got some quarter-inch plywood at Lowe's.  All it took was a 24x24 sheet.  My husband traced the top of the table and reduced his tracing by 1/2 an inch all the way around and then took his jigsaw and cut a new piece to insert over the damaged wicker.  The insert needed to be a little smaller than the lip of the tray.

You can see how beautiful this table is.  The details are stunning.  Once the new oval was cut, my husband spread wood glue all over one side of the new piece of wood and pressed it into the tray.  He weighted it down with heavy books to make sure he had good contact while the glue was drying.

The next day he painted the entire piece white, and although his new oval insert wasn't perfect, it all blended in nicely.

I'm thrilled with the finished product.  Now, if you like this stencil, here is the source, and if you put in the code Miss Maggie you will get 15 percent off your stencil.  This is a great offer to my readers, and just so you know, I receive nothing for promoting these stencils.  I just love to share great sources with you when I find them.

Thanks for visiting.

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

Romantic Lampshade Restyle and Fabulous Weekend Finds

I just wanted to show you this lampshade that I embellished with this gorgeous silky rose and some velvet vintage ribbon.  When I found this floor lamp, it was dark brown and the shade was a deep red.  I found a replacement shade at a yard sale the next day that fit perfectly, but it was too plain and blah after I had painted the base of the lamp with Old White.

I learned how to make this rose from Carol at The Polka Dot Closet.  I love Carol's blog and I absolutely love this rose that she did a wonderful tutorial on.  You can find the instructions to make these here.

You can see how beautiful this soft romantic lamp looks among rustic and primitive items.  I just love the look.

I also wanted to share these gorgeous signs I found at a flea market this weekend.  They are about 4 feet tall and they were movie props.  I wish I knew which movie they starred in.  Wouldn't they make great shutters?

One last thing before I leave you today.  This weekend is the monthly warehouse sale for the Little French Flea Market.  We'll be open Thursday through Sunday from 9:00 to 4:00.  If you're in the area, please come and see us.

Thanks for stopping by.

Partying at these beautiful blogs.

Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style   Ivy and Elephants

Thursdays        The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                         
                                     
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Common Ground
                                    Rooted in Thyme