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Sunday 30 December 2012

Hand Painted And Distressed Small Furniture Forms

I'm not sure if I already mentioned this, but I have found a completely new passion in my life. Browsing in one of the furniture stores I came to the conclusion that none of the objects on display was worthy of my attention. Simple shapes, narrow selection of colour and plastic imitating wood. Maybe it comes from constantly searching for something which is not made by the dozen. Apparently I am the type of person who is constantly seeking change and cannot seem to sit still.

Several weeks ago I was inspired by a course in finishing furniture, and because I still had four weeks of holiday in my pocket, I bought a ticket and went without hesitation. I traded walks on the beach for workshops with paints and brushes.
During this accelerated course I learnt several techniques of finishing:

WHITE-WASHING FURNITURE OR BLEACHING 
(exposing the grain of the original wood )



         HAND PAINTED STEP STOOL


RUBBED FINISHES
(DRY BRUSHING)

 GREAT COMBINATION OF WHITE AND GRAPHITE PAINTS

SHABBY CHIC 



        WHITE SHABBY CHIC JEWELLERY HOLDER OR KEY CABINET 

AGING FINISHES 
(PATINA EFFECT)

PATINA EFFECT JEWELLERY BOX 
 WORN STEEL



         
Multicolour rubbing, the last technique I have learnt. This tray I have also decorated with a blue poppy rice paper.

MULTICOLOR RUBBING


In a week I will show you my first piece of furniture made using one of the techniques I learnt - or my creative interpretation of them.

By now I wish everybody a Wonderful and Happy New Year. May all your dreams come true.
As someone once said:
"Our wishes are presentiments abilities that lie dormant within us, announcements of what we can accomplish."

                                                                                           Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


Tuesday 20 November 2012

Vintage Style Tea Box And Decoupage Paper

Hello 
 
It is so cold and rainy here. Nobody bustling around. I think this Is the perfect weather for me because I don't have to hesitate whether to stay home or go out. I can give onself my favourite activities in the quiet corner of my room.
Well, one of my tea boxes was made with absolute pleasure.




 I have played with pieces of great quality classic and very thin, almoust transparent and traditional decoupage paper.
For those who never did anthing like that I can say that paper plays a crucial role in decoupage. It is very best to use specially design for this technique in order to obtain good results. Motives on such paper tend to be very well sepatered from each other to be able to cut them easy. Most of the classic papers are made from high-strength material that easily stick to various surfaces such as wood, metal or even glass.



This box is a combination of everything: paper, acrylic paints and patina and a little bit of imagination. It was so popular so made another for one of my cutomers.




Thank you my dears and have a lovely week....

Thursday 1 November 2012

Bring tired furniture back to life - Hand Painted Chairs DIY

Today I will show you my old Victorian style chairs, which undergo a tranformation from Ugly Duckling to the Princess and the Pea.
I really liked the chairs until I painted them again with a dark paint, probably a teak color, which started to dissolve the finish and even now I can take the paint off with my fingernails.

                                        Here is the first chair before I began.

                                                 Here it is during the process.



In the meantime, my partner noticed my excitement and decided to buy me a modelling and engraving set. Now even the hard to reach places will be easy as pie.




The second stage will be purchasing matching fabric and upholstering the chair, as well as painting, finding the right trimmings, and here I have to say that this is my next goal for the future.
 I'm finding myself a bit short on time for these chairs, especially before the holidays, and since each one requires sanding with sand paper outdoors on account of the dust - and who wants to sit outside for several hours in the cold, at this time of the year?

You can follow my projects in the next few entries and hopefully, this will be one I will finish before the end of this year.


Enjoy your day!

Friday 14 September 2012

Decoupage Bottle Lamp - Old Newspapers Scraps

First of all I would like to thank everyone who took part in my giveaway. |The clock has already gone to Sadie. Hopefully she likes the clock.
Back to the begining of my decoupage. How much I like to devise something like that.
Long time ago I was glowing by new, modern and cheap items and what was most important, shiny. But since I got into my passion and work I began to look at the world through the mirror. I have made a phenomenal discovery of what is the handicraft. Therefore my outlook of the surrounding objects also gained another blunt. As far as I can remember one of my lamps was in a pitful condition. Probably I had a few removals and therefore the lampshade had bent and gone completely gray and unattractive. 

My craft project's go was to decorate the lampshade using pieces from the old newspapers.








  The scraps were simply glued with PVA but before I had spent so much time preparing all the necessary materials. I was collecting all sort of newspapers where I could find old pictures of people and old fashioned font. I have ripped small pieces of my favourite images and made it looks older with the flame method. I didn't actually put the paper into the flame. The idea was to use the heat from the flame to burn the paper slowly not to burn it completely.











Now my lamp is used in my crafty room as my extra source of light.

Thursday 6 September 2012

The Happy Winner

Good morning everyone.

I'm having fantastic morning by choosing one of you to be a happy winner of my decoupage wall clock giveaway.


I'm happy to announced my clock is going to  Sadie

 Thank you everybody for participating.

Sunday 2 September 2012

DIY - Decoupage On Metal And Shabby Chic Tutorial

How many of you decided to get rid of unnecessary items from your home and garden or replace them with new, tailored to the interior of your kitchen or bathroom decorations?
Simply by following my steps you can change any dull and boring object into an attractive decoration.
This is easy, quick, cheap DIY and above all you don't need great painting or decorating skills.



                                                           MATERIALS NEEDED

  • metal containers/tins
  • washing liquid
  • acrylic paints (light, dark - ivory, brown)
  • medium drit sand paper
  • paper napkin
  • kitchen sponge (cut for small pieces)
  • small piece of candle
  •  acrylic varnish (matt or gloss) 
  • decorative string, rafia 


1. Wash the metal containers with washing liquid and wipe dry.
2. Rub with medium grit sandpaper and flick 
 the dust. This is a very important step before painting.


 3. I have decided to mix two colours of paint, a little of gold and a little of bronze. 
You can use any colour you have at home but make sure that the first coat is darker than the top one.


4. Slowly coat the tin with the base coat without leaving bleeds and bubbles. How I usually say, tap tap slowly your tin and leave to dry. This will create the smooth surface.


5. Now I'm going to age the container by rubbing a candle in selected places. Remove bits of wax before next step. 


6. Apply top coat of light paint leave to dry. At this step you can start cutting your chosen motif.


 7. When your tin is completely dry ( I usually leave it for at least 12 hours) start your shabby chic process by going all over your metal object with medium grit sandpaper. 


8. Separate the remaining two layers and gently apply the motif using Pva glue, when dry repeat the step.






 9. Add a bit of shading and finally varnish at least three times with acrylic lacquer.
10. As a final touch you can add a decorative ribbon or anything you prefer. 




Enjoy the creative process.....

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Decoupage Clock And My First Giveaway

Tody is a vey special day and despite the fact of that day I'm not upset or unhappy. It is a round year of my birthday and all what I can say is that it ends with zero.


To celebrate my Birthday and a new blog design I'm going to giveaway one of my decoupage dream clocks. 




The simple idea of this design unexpectedly came to me out of my dreams. I was dreaming abouth millions of colourful ribbons waving over my head. Unfortunately I could not reach any....
Here it comes the clock with three colours of ribbon - yellow, blue and red brick.
The giveaway starts today and finishes September 5th.

TO CELEBRATE WITH ME PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION, SHARE MY GIVEAWAY AND FOLLOW MY BLOG.

1. What art of decorating I have used to make this clock?
2. I would love you to join my blog.
3. Share my giveaway on  twitter, facebook or your own blog.

Please mark your moves under this post
Remember anybody can enter.
The number of participants shound not be less than 5.

The lucky winner will be chosen randomly on 5th September.

Have a lovely day.

Tuesday 14 August 2012

My New Blog Design And Country Roses Clock


Don't you think Karen is a very talented, creative and generous woman? Yes, it is Karen from My Desert Cottage. A beautiful blog about hobby, craft and friendship. This was my first impression when I visited her space long time ago. She helped me to realised my dreams and worked out other more complicated things in my head.
So, I have decided to treat myself very well this year and got a new blog design. It is hard to describe it just in one word but all  what I feel is romanticism and the desire to create.
Along with the blog design I have made a large wall clock with sympathy to the two pots of roses bought for me by my friend.


 Country Wall Clock

Unfortunately they haven't tolerated the atmosphere in my house and I had to cut them back and leave until the next year to flower. Instead of I have to enjoy my red roses decoupage clock.




To celebrate my new blog design I'm going to spread some love and run a giveaway. The piece I'll be giving away is very special to me. I will tell you some more in my next post.

All the best.

Saturday 30 June 2012

Clothes Hangers With Crackle Ground Effect

I’m extremely excited because I just received a beautiful small decorative  pillow. It's stylish, delicate olive colour with an elegant bow at the top and it was the giveaway prize from Random Button run by the Not Mass Produced blog a couple weeks ago. 



Laura is the owner of this creative shop and makes a great selection of bespoke fashion accessories and interiors. This little pillow perfectly matched my velvet sofa and I decided to picture my clothes hangers with it. 

 The hangers are a part of my small 'Old Country Roses Collection' and are painted in a vanilla bean colour and finished with a crackle medium and golden pigments.


Tuesday 26 June 2012

Decoupage Clock - Artificial Marble And Decorative Painting

Everyone of us probably has a person they admire, someone who influences us or just gives us a kick to live. For me - decoupage is my kick. It stimulates my mind and awakens my imagination. I like relaxing with a paint brush in my hands and afterwards a glass of wine.
I have decided to try new technique. I took me a while to be ready for it, but once I was, I didn't even have to practise how to learn it - I just sat down and did it.
This is my first clock using a marble effect and hopefully you like it. 



The piece is finished in matte, further highlighting the vintage style of the clock.



I decided to stay with grey as a main colour with a litte bit of purple and blue, and obviously this beautiful young little girl had peered at me all the time in thoughtfulness.