Category: just stuff.

Congrats to Ellen, the winner of last week’s blogiversary giveaway.

Back at the end of November I promised to give away a few of my favorite things from some of the companies that have provided me with products to try and share with all of you here on the blog.  I’ve already given away Miss Mustard Seed’s products, Fusion products and Dixie Belle products.  Today will be the final giveaway and it features transfers from Prima Marketing.

I have to say, discovering these transfers has been a game changer for me.  I absolutely LOVE them and really can’t say enough good things about them.

I will put them on just about anything including dress forms …

or ironing boards …

or walls …

or on wooden tool boxes …

or galvanized watering cans …

or foot boards made into shelves.

But my favorite thing to put them on is furniture.

My first transfer project was fairly simple.  I added the Specimens transfer to the primitive cupboard where I store my painting supplies in the winter …

This Specimens transfer also looked amazing on a bench that my handyman/neighbor Ken made out of a bed …

There are a few transfer designs that I’ve only used once …

That’s not because I didn’t love them, but simply because there are just so many to choose from.

But I quickly grew attached to the Seeds transfer and used it on numerous pieces.

There is just something about the typography on this one that appeals to me.

So I keep using it, over and over again.

It was the perfect choice for the ‘garden beds’.

It comes in the large size, but also in a smaller size that is perfect for smaller pieces of furniture.

or for small stools.

And then Prima Marketing came out with some more elaborate and more colorful designs earlier this year like the Rose Celebration transfer.

And the Imperial Garden transfer.

The French Ceramics transfer was perfect on the inner drawers of this linen press dresser.

They keep upping the game and coming out with even more fabulous transfers.

I totally fell in love with their new knob transfers the minute I saw them.

I’ve done a couple of projects with them.

If you haven’t already tried the transfers you really should!

I’ve found them quite easy to apply, although you do have to be somewhat careful with them.  Here are some q-tips for working with the transfers.

• If your transfer is stuck to the waxy backing sheet, try popping it in the fridge for 15 minutes or so first.
• If your transfer isn’t sticking to your surface, try warming up the surface first with a blow dryer just a bit.
• Don’t allow the transfer to fold over on itself, that can create a mess as it will stick together.
• Don’t apply a transfer over a freshly waxed surface, wait until after applying the transfer to add wax.
• When working with a transfer that comes on multiple sheets like the Imperial Garden or the Rose Celebration transfers, lay them out and make sure you have them in the right order before removing the backing and placing them on your piece.
• It’s tricky to apply a transfer over really chippy milk paint that hasn’t been sealed.  The milk paint chips will stick to the transfer sheet rather than the transfer sticking to your piece.  If you want to use a transfer over chippy milk paint, seal your milk paint first with something like Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat and then apply the transfer.
• When applying a transfer on glass be sure that you have it positioned exactly where you want it before it gets too close to the glass.  Once the transfer and the glass meet, the transfer is there to stay.

And now, here’s your chance to give them a try without having to buy them.  Today’s giveaway includes these three Prima Marketing transfers.

And I say three because there are three packages, but you’ll really end up with 7 transfers because the Dairy set comes with 2 versions of the word ‘Dairy’ and the Always Fresh set comes with 4 designs.

Of course, I’m also including another Italian decorating magazine and some Croatian soap and chocolates with this prize as well.

Thank you so much to Prima Marketing for supplying the transfers that I am giving away today!

The basic rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment of any kind on this blog post.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

Normally I make a point of answering every comment left on my blog.  If someone takes the time to leave a comment, I like to acknowledge that.  I usually only get 10 to 20 comments so it’s easy to fulfill that promise.  But I suspect I’ll get a few more comments on this post so I’m going to warn you up front that I may not be able to answer each one, so I hope you guys will cut me some slack on that.

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, December 21, 2018 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $100, if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 23, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

On Wednesday I shared our incredible tour of the Luigi Bevilacqua velvet weaving workshop in Venice.

The gorgeous velvet fabrics they create are filled with rich colors and many of them have metallic threads shot through them as well.  I especially loved this combo …

A vibrant pink with a metallic gold background.

Although their fabric is well out of my price range, I decided I could easily make my own Bevilacqua velvet inspired wrapping paper for Christmas.

I started by gathering my supplies.

I’ve got plain brown wrapping paper, Dixie Belle’s Peony, Fusion’s Pale Gold, Prima Marketing stencils in Imperial Damask and French Damask and a small foam roller.

Next I added gold ‘threads’ to the brown wrapping paper by using a cheap chip brush to dry brush Fusion’s Studio Metallics Pale Gold over the paper.  The texture of the cheap brush made it perfect for this technique.  Just use a small amount of paint and lightly brush it over the paper.

It didn’t take long to do the entire roll.  I just kept unrolling the paper as I went and stretching the roll across the room to dry.

By the time I got to the end, the beginning was dry enough to start loosely rolling the paper back up again.

Next, in an ‘it was meant to be’ sort of way, I found that the Prima Marketing Imperial Damask and French Damask stencils fit almost perfectly across the width of the brown paper.  The design portion of the stencils is about 22″ x 26″.

I like to use a small foam roller when working with these larger stencils because the paint goes on much more quickly than it does with a stencil brush.

I just pour the paint onto a paper plate and then apply it to the roller.  As always with stenciling, I used a fairly dry roller so that my paint wasn’t too sloppy.

I just kept going down the length of the paper, lining up the pattern at the edge of the previous pattern each time.  I wasn’t super careful about that, this was only wrapping paper after all.  But even so, I can’t really tell where the edges were in the finished paper.

I think the matte finish of the Dixie Belle Peony paint was perfect for recreating the look of velvet, and the Fusion Studio Metallics Pale Gold underneath adds just enough shimmer and mimics gold threads perfectly.

You aren’t limited to just wrapping paper with this technique, it also worked beautifully on a cardboard hatbox …

and also on brown craft paper gift bags.

So even if we can’t quite afford that beautiful velvet fabric from Venice, we can certainly make our own knock-off faux velvet wrapping paper at a fraction of the price!

The only problem is that these presents are so pretty no one is going to want to unwrap them!

If you enjoyed this post and you like the idea of making your own gift wrap, be sure to check out the copper gift wrap I made a couple of years ago.  I paired it up with some lengths of old player piano music rolls …

And then there are last year’s pink gift boxes.

It seems like it’s turning into a bit of a tradition for me to create my own gift wrapping each year.  I suspect it’s a bit of a luxury to have the time to get this elaborate with my gift wrapping.

How about you?  Do you take time with your wrapping, or are you up until midnight on Christmas Eve just hoping you don’t run out of tape?

 

 

First things first, the winner of last week’s blogiversary giveaway no. 2 was Melanie from Virginia.  She and I have already exchanged emails and I’ll be getting her prize in the mail this week.  Congrats Melanie!

I was looking back this weekend and realized that I haven’t shared a furniture makeover since this pretty little washstand that I shared way back on October 29 (and the outdoor photos have the fall leaves to prove it).

Between taking a two week vacation, taking two more weeks to get over the jet lag (I’m finally starting to feel normal again), holiday and birthday dinners, holiday decorating, holiday shopping, holiday baking and working on a huge project at the day job that required some overtime, I just haven’t had the time (or energy) to get the paint out.  I totally feel like my painting skills are getting a little rusty.  I’m really suffering from withdrawal too.

You might think this little intro means that I’m finally sharing another piece of painted furniture with you today, but no.  I still haven’t found the time for that.  However, my painting skills aren’t the only thing that’s getting a little rusty around here.  So are my blogiversary giveaways!

Yep, in case you’ve forgotten, it’s time for blogiversary giveaway no. 3!

Today’s giveaway features one of my very favorite unique products, the Dixie Belle patina paint.

I don’t know about you, but I love rusty stuff.

If given the choice between brand new or rusty, I’ll choose rusty every time.  But sometimes you just can’t find the right rusty piece.  Or maybe you’ve got some piece that would be just perfect with a rusty finish, but it’s not actually metal.  In the past I’ve tried some of the painting kits that are designed to mimic the look of rust, but to me those always end up looking fake.

Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint kit creates actual rust.  The paint contains metal flakes and the spray reacts with the metal to create rust (or a copper verdigris, depending which paint and spray you are using).

Last summer I used the Iron paint and the Green patina spray to turn a rather hideous painted plaster pedestal into a rusty garden masterpiece.

Which reminds me, at the time I promised to report back to you at the end of the summer to let you know how well this finish held up outdoors.  I posted something on Instagram, but I don’t think I ever mentioned it here.  Here is a photo I took of it in October …

Even without a sealer, the pedestal held up incredibly well.  If anything, it got even a little more rusty looking … which is a good thing in my book.

There was just one little spot near the base where I thought the finish had worn away, but when I got closer to inspect it … well … I think something had been trying to eat it!

Seriously, don’t those grooves look like tiny little teeth marks?

How bizarre.  I’m trying not to think about what kind of critter was eating my garden pedestal!

Dixie Belle just came out with a new product called Patina Guard that is meant for sealing your patina’d pieces, so even though my pedestal held up well without a sealer, next spring I may just go ahead and seal it for good measure.

In the meantime, if you want to read more step by step instructions on how to use the Patina Paint, check out my how-to post here:

And if you’d like to win today’s giveaway prize, be sure to leave a comment today!

Today’s prize includes:  an Italian decorating magazine, Croatian soap and chocolate bar, Dixie Belle Patina Paint in Iron and Bronze, Prime Start, and Patina Spray in Green and Blue.

Thank you so much to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying the Patina Paint collection that I am giving away today!

The basic rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment of any kind on this blog post.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

Normally I make a point of answering every comment left on my blog.  If someone takes the time to leave a comment, I like to acknowledge that.  I usually only get 10 to 20 comments so it’s easy to fulfill that promise.  But I suspect I’ll get a few more comments on this post so I’m going to warn you up front that I may not be able to answer each one, so I hope you guys will cut me some slack on that.

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, December 14, 2018 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $100, if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 16, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

First things first, congrats to Jamie, the winner of last Monday’s giveaway.

As you may recall from last week, a little snafu resulted in my turning what was supposed to be one big blogiversary giveaway into four smaller giveaways that I’m stretching out to one per week until Christmas.

Today I’m giving away some amazing products from Fusion Mineral Paint.

First off, you’ll receive a jar of their gorgeous shade of green called Park Bench.

I absolutely love this color, especially on mid-century pieces.

Revisiting these pieces makes me realize I need to do some more Park Bench pieces this winter!

You’ll also receive a jar of my favorite shade of Fusion white which is Limestone.  It seems to me that most people go for one of the brighter whites like the Raw Silk or Casement, but I love using the Limestone.

It’s a warm creamy white that you can bring into a room without suddenly making the other whites look dingy.

You’ll also receive a 7 oz. jar of Fusion’s Clear Furniture Wax along with the Staalmeester Series 3600 #20 brush.

I initially thought this brush was for painting, but as it turns out I love it much more for applying Fusion wax.  Because the Fusion wax is a little bit softer than some of the other waxes on the market, you don’t need to apply as much pressure with your brush.  I feel like the longer bristles make it easier to avoid over-applying the wax.

Fusion has also included a tube of their Brush Cleaner for the giveaway.  This is my favorite product for cleaning brushes.  I use it all the time and have gone through countless tubes of it.  This is what my tube looks like most of the time …

It works for cleaning paint brushes and wax brushes.  If you haven’t tried it, you really need to ask Santa to put some in your Christmas stocking this year (here’s a handy link to give Santa so he can find either a local retailer or an online retailer).  That’s assuming you’ve been good of course and aren’t going to be just getting coal.

And of course, today’s prize includes new and unused versions of these things not my well-used versions that I’ve pictured above.

Finally, I’m also including some goodies I picked up on my recent trip including another gorgeous Italian decorating magazine, some Croatian chocolate and fantastic smelling soap.

So to recap, today’s prize includes:  the Italian magazine, the Croatian soap and chocolate bar, a 500 ml jar of Park Bench, a 500 ml jar of Limestone, a 7 oz. jar of Fusion’s Clear Wax, a tube of brush cleaner and the Staalmeester brush.

Thank you so much to Fusion Mineral Paint for supplying all of their products that I am giving away today!

The basic rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment of any kind on this blog post.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

Normally I make a point of answering every comment left on my blog.  If someone takes the time to leave a comment, I like to acknowledge that.  I usually only get 10 to 20 comments so it’s easy to fulfill that promise.  But I suspect I’ll get a few more comments on this post so I’m going to warn you up front that I may not be able to answer each one, so I hope you guys will cut me some slack on that this week.

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, December 7, 2018 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $110, if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 9, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

Oh boy you guys.  I have been struggling to pull together some kind of blog post for today.  I so wish I had a beautiful piece of painted furniture to share.  Or even just a simple painting project of some kind.

And actually, I do have a couple of small completed projects that I could share if only I had good pictures of the finished pieces.  But these days I go to work before the sun comes up, and I return back home after it sets. I have to either take all of my photos on the weekend, or try to get home on my lunch break to take photos with natural light.  I’m playing catch up from my trip at the day job though, so that just hasn’t happened.

I was working on trying to pull together a post without good photos, but I just couldn’t do it.  I do have some standards after all 😉

In the meantime, I had gone back through my blog archives looking for something from last year and I was reminded that I did quite a few crafty projects last Christmas.  So I thought, hey, why not just recap all of them today and include links back so that you guys can revisit them as well.  Maybe you’ll get some ideas for things you want to play around with this weekend.  Let’s call it the blog version of a holiday play list.

Let’s start with the Cut & Carry Saws.

I’d picked up a bunch of old hand saws at an estate sale earlier in the year.  I transformed them into Christmas decor with some paint and a stencil.

I sold some of them at Reclaiming Beautiful, I gave one to my sister and I kept one for myself.  If only I could remember where I put it now!  I’ve been looking around for it, but so far it has not appeared.  I’m sure I’ll find it this weekend when I get serious about decorating for Christmas.

Updating a more traditional tree wall hanging was a quick and easy project last year.

The original red and green color scheme wasn’t really me.

So I painted the ‘branches’ white and added a Prima Marketing transfer.

Another black and white project involved revamping some vintage sleds.

I had simply stenciled over the original wood slats the year before, and that just didn’t have quite the right impact.

So this time I painted first and then stenciled.  I kept one, and sold one at Reclaiming Beautiful.

I also painted and stenciled some faux wooden skis.

It was another simple project that made a big impact.

Adding some Christmas spirit to a vintage wooden sock stretcher with some IOD Decor Stamps was a simple project too.

I was hoping to find more of these stock stretchers at garage sales last summer, but no such luck.

I might re-work this one this year.  I like it, but I have another idea for it too.  We’ll see if I get around to it.

And then there were the pretty in pink projects that I did using what was then a new color from Fusion called English Rose.

I painted cardboard gift boxes in English Rose and a paler Fusion pink called Little Piggy.

Then I used Fusion’s transfer gel to transfer some 12 Days of Christmas graphics onto the boxes.

Finally, I also painted a pair of ice skates in English Rose.

This was such a fun makeover, I think mainly because the skates started out so grungy …

but they ended up looking so gorgeous.

I hope you enjoyed revisiting some of these holiday projects and that maybe they’ve inspired you to create your own holiday play list this weekend.

I’ll definitely be working on a few things and hopefully I’ll have some new projects to share with you next week!

You all know of my love for vintage suitcases, right?

I put them into two categories.  First there are those that are charming ‘as is’ and should not be altered.

Like these …

And then there is the 2nd category, those unassuming old suitcases that just don’t quite have enough personality on their own, like this one …

It’s rather beat up and just not terribly attractive (in my opinion).

I have used milk paint, chalk paint and Fusion acrylic paint on suitcases in the past.  I find that Fusion doesn’t always adhere well to vinyl.  Milk paint works perfectly well, but you don’t get the chippy quality that makes milk paint shine, so I feel like it’s rather wasted here.  So these days my go-to paint for a suitcase like this is chalk style paint.

Before I started painting, I cleaned the suitcase with Krud Kutter Kitchen Degreaser.  I then rinsed it down with a damp cloth.  Then I gave it two coats of Dixie Belle’s Caviar.

Once that was dry I added a French Laundry stencil using a warm white craft paint.

Somehow it seemed appropriate to put a laundry advertisement on a suitcase.

I used parts of the stencil on top of the suitcase too.

You’ll notice that I painted every bit of this suitcase including the handle and the clasps.  I don’t always do that, but this time I’ll admit I was feeling a bit too lazy to cut around those things.  Plus, I rather like this look.

Once painted I went over the surface ever so lightly with some 220 grit sandpaper just to smooth it out a bit.  I followed that up with some of Fusion’s Clear Wax.

Boy, I wasn’t planning on keeping it, but it sure does look great paired up with Collette and Lula.

I never planned to keep Collette either (the one on the left), but after I finished giving her a makeover I couldn’t part with her.

So now I have two dress forms in my bedroom.

And even though the suitcase looks fabulous with them, I don’t really need another suitcase at my house!

In fact, I already brought it in to Reclaiming Beautiful to be sold.

Plus I still have a couple more suitcases in this style waiting in the wings to be painted, so if I change my mind I can always paint up another one to keep for myself.