Evocative Vintage

Thursday, March 21, 2013

My OOPS Craft Cabinet

Hello from the beautiful city of Cape Town.

I've been busy with several projects this week and mistakenly deleted a file with all my before pics....so there will be no Before's for the next few posts:(

Well, do you sometimes feel like one of your painted pieces has an identity crisis? This is the way I feel about my latest project!

I bought a solid imbuia ball and claw doorless buffet for a steal more than a year ago. It sat in my garage because I just did'nt know what to do with a buffet sans doors. Then it struck me that it could spend the rest of its life as my craft cabinet.

Now I have seen other doorless cabinets on Pinterest that looks amazing! I had a wild idea to paint Stripes with a signage over the top and decoupaged dictionary pages on the inside....what's wrong with this picture? It did'nt strike me until the transformation was done.

The top looks all Frenchy, and everything else looks very Farmhouse! Now I beg you with tears in my navy blue eyes....to tell me once you've read this post if you think my craft cabinet is neither here nor there!

The low down

I found a great tutorial Here for painting stripes on furniture. How amazing is this desk people?!

For my re-do I decided to go with a CAFÉ AU LAIT look with some blue color thrown in for good measure. I slapped on a coat of Ce Ce Caldwell Khansas Wheat and did the stripes in a mocha and light blue color.

It took me forever to figure out that I needed an unequal number of the mocha stripe so that I end up with the same mocha color stripes on either side and the Khansas Wheat at the ends. It became very confusing real fast!

It was something like this (after about 4 attempts):

Width is 103cm, area for stripes must be 90cm, mark off nine (unequal number, remember) 10 cm stripes, and don't forget to account for the 13 cm left over by leaving a gap of 7.5 on either end...That was easy to work out...Ha!

When it came to math, I think I ended up at the back of the queue and got the scraps...LOL. Anyhoo! I was happy when I finally figured it out and could start painting my stripes.

I found this beautiful CRANE BROS. advert from The Graphics Fairy.

I used the graphite pencil method to transfer the signage, and painstakingly filled in all the details...Phew!

Then I used podge to decoupage the dictionary pages to the inside of the top shelf and gave it a blue wash! Then I got ~~lazy~~ tired and ended up just painting the bottom shelf in blue!
I distressed the cabinet with a wet rag, waxed it and buffed it out!
Here she is in all her ~~confused~~ glory!

For styling I shopped my house and managed to get some decent vignettes together!

That sepia pic is moi at age 7 and of course Miss G had to be included!

Is the verdict out yet? Does my craft cabinet suffer from an identity crisis?

You can often find me at these parties:

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Playing with faux zinc finishes

Hello and welcome back! I hope your weekend was sugar and spice and all things nice!

I love trying the faux zinc finish that I've seen all over blogland! This bucket was my first attempt. It made its first appearance when I posted about my cabinet Here.

This week I took an old wooden bird cage and gave it some pizzazz! For styling I painted some eggs and made a sweet nest.

I used real eggs by making a small hole on either side and slowly blowing air into one hole until all the content ran out the other end! I used the Heritage Multimedia range and some latex paint. First I sealed the eggs with multi-surface sealer, followed by the paint job. After the paint, I applied the glazing medium and then finally a coat of gloss varnish. I got my Heritage products from Jansen art store.

For inspiration to make the eggs look 'authentic' I turned to Angie from Knick of Time. I love these awesome Antique Bird Egg prints available from Knick of Time on Etsy. I purchased quite a few of these prints for framing!

Digital Download Antique Bird Eggs Print for Papercrafts, Transfers, Pillows, Scrapbooks, and more. No. 4

Here is my version of speckled eggs!

And here is the finished birdcage!

To achieve the look, I layered the birdcage with light and dark grey colors. Then I mixed some gesso with silver gilding wax and used a stabbing motion to get the fauz zinc effect.

You can see the variation better in the next pic!

To get the rust effect on the wire, I put some burnt umber paste on a small brush and lightly smeared it on here and there.

Here is the before. It was in dire straits...LOL!

Now it looks a whole lot better. Don't you think?!

I hope you love the addition of the fresh carnations, crinkled ribbon, the bird's nest and those darling eggs! I did'nt buy anything new for the styling. I shopped my house and my craft stash and tried different things until I came up with this:)

Now for a sneak peek. I'm trying to earn my stripes(impish grin)!

You can often find me at these parties:

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Mid-Century Modern Cabinet Make Over

Welcome back my lovelies!

Cape Town is abuzz and gearing up for the spectacular, but gruelling Cape Argus Pick n Pay cycle tour. Our weather is getting cooler and it looks like winter is coming around early!

Anyway back to my post!

I loved this retro cabinet when I saw it on Bid or Buy Crazy R1 auction. I love the clean, simple lines of the piece and it did'nt look like it needed too much work. I put up a maximum bid of R100 (about $10) and nobody else bid higher, so this baby came home to me!

Here is the before! I did'nt let the dark scorch marks and the water marks on the top put me off!

Here is my messy kitchen counter!

See the bowl of salad in the background? Bad girl, I forget to eat when I'm excited to see the end result!

For the transformation I used CeCe Caldwell Omaha Ochre as a base color, and layered Alaskan Tundra Green over that. The green was also used on the legs. The sides and the trim was done in Young Kansas Wheat. Now, the colors looked very light, but I knew that the wax would kick it up a notch!

The antique dress form image is from The Graphics Fairy. There are many to choose from, but after much deliberation, I settled on this one!

I used the graphite transfer method, paint pens and Heritage acrylic paint to complete the transfer. Then I spotted the cute Frenchy gift tag in my stash. I modge podged it onto the drawer front, aged it up a bit and distressed the edges! I think it makes a sweet addition to the overall look. Once again 'Less is not more' for Moi!

The distressing on the cabinet was done with a damp rag, I applied clear wax and then light ageing wax!

I bought the cute crystal knobs at Handles Inc. They have a huge variety of hardware and I spotted some awesome hardware for that farmhouse look and made a note to self!

Is she a cutie or what?!!! This cabinet will be a cool addition to my soon-to-be craft room!

I also dabbled a bit in mixed media, but more about that later!

You can often find me at these parties:

The Honey Suckle Bus Stop

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Grainsack inspired side table with French graphic

Hello my lovelies and welcome back!

She loves me, she loves me not!

I sat in a corner, all lonely and sad. Nobody cared a hoot or so it seemed. I watched all my homies getting a make over, looking all fab, getting all the ooh's and aah's, primping their stuff and my heart ached!

Was it ever going to be my turn??

Then one day I got scooped up and my heart (thumpa-de-thump) sang with joy!

Here I am after a layer of blue-grey paint!

I am finally shedding my plain Jane blah appearance and looking forward to my new look!

My legs and flanks got a layer of creamy-white paint...I love all this pampering....feeling good baby...yeah!

Then I was given these cute stripes...I heard her say that its grainsack inspired. Now I don't have the foggiest, but I was enjoying the ride!

Then she disappeared which felt like hours and I started to panic...had she given up on me now?!!...Noooo!

Then she re-appeared with a print in hand and I heard her say that its the Pappillon graphic from The Graphics Fairy. It took her a while to decide because there are so many awesome stuff offered on the site!

Well, she started vigorously scratching on the back of the paper with a graphite stick and I lifted an eyebrow...what now? I tried to guess her next move!

Then she placed the paper face up on my hood and started tracing the graphic...Ouch, that hurt just a little!

Then she grabbed paint pens and went over what she had traced. Next she used the same technique to transfer a little bird on a branch!

Then she distressed the heck outta me...'suffer for beauty' I silently moaned!

Then I got lovingly waxed and buffed....that felt good and made up for my earlier 'suffering' and then for the big reveal!

I am flipping with happines, I am strutting my stuff. I think I am darn cute now...!

I am not just a pretty face...cos I have storage for magazines, remotes and such under my hood!

You can often find me at these parties: