From 80's Folksy to Shabby Chic Cabinet

Can you believe we are saying goodbye to August?

WOW

where did summer go?

As wonderful as it still is,

I am ready for fall.

With lots of projects on the drawing board,

I've been overly busy lately 

and

if truth be told,

 business gets a bit overwhelming this time of year.

However, looking back over the last few months

a lot has been accomplished 

including~

a special custom painting for a dear client who became a special friend over the years.

We met long along when I was in a brick and mortar shop stocking my treasures for the day.

Nearly 20 years later, here we are, like sisters!

Swinging my paint brushes has blessed me in more ways then I ever imagined.

At one time, furniture painting made up most of my business

and it sure kept me very busy.

Now I specialize in the smaller items for decor

and smaller furniture treasures that are easier to ship.

I eventually moved out of the brick and mortar shop after 15 years,

and love being on line selling my treasures the last 13 years.

Being a member of the

National Society of Decorative Painters for nearly 30 years

and working in  Interior Design

has given me opportunities galore!!

I just love to design, create and decorate.

Well, now you didn't stop by to read about all that,

so let's get into the title of this post,

Folksy to Shabby Chic!

It all begins back in July when

my dear friend had an Amish cabinet made about 27 years ago and 

hand painted with a folk art look and style.

It really is a jelly/pie cabinet. 

This style was popular back in the 80's and  90's.

She really wanted a new look for the cabinet and had ideas

to move it from her kitchen to a room in her home designed in 

shabby chic to display her gorgeous doll collection.

She wanted cottage roses added somehow to this treasure.

So I took on the project to help her dream come true.

Here are a few before pics.

It took 2 weeks to complete from start to finish including dry time.

Someone placed a lot of time in the old folksy paintings on the doors and pull down door.

This is what took place in my studio~~~

Lots of sanding to remove the old painting

 and lightly sand the entire surface to give a bit a tooth to grab the paint.

My hubby helped me with this part since my painters elbow and wrist

didn't like this step very much!!

That's a whole other story going on since it seems

computer work and swinging paint brushes have taken a toll on my arm.

Anyway, as for the sanding~~

do you know, the shadow of the couple would not sand off.

Oh the paint went away, but their silhouette stayed etched in the wood like a shadow!!

It's like they wanted to stay with the cabinet.

So it took layers and layers of paint to cover them over.

Somewhere in the many paint layers sleeps the folksy couple

forever to stay with this cabinet!!

Once the prime work and prep was done,

It took 4 coats of paint to cover inside and out.

You can see how pretty it looks in the lighter shade of

Honeysuckle Bloom!

This is a gorgeous flat paint perfect for furniture.

It is not chalk paint but I have used it for years

and it works beautifully and works just like chalk paint,

which I have found takes more then one coat too.

No matter what they tell you,

one coat of chalk paint doesn't cover completely.

At least that's been my experience!

Once the surface cured the design was ready  to paint

adding cottage roses to the pull down and doors.

Nothing over done, just a simple pretty delicate design.

I found some gorgeous ceramic drawer and door pulls to add.

To the pull down, I stenciled a few French pretties

adding something to view when open.

A swag of roses trail down each door.

 And, another French design is painted on the inside of each door to see when opened.

More roses here would have been too much.

Lastly, I had to included a little "Dolls" sign 

hand painted on a oval tray for her new shabby room.

It really met her idea perfectly and she loved it.

BEFORE

AFTER

This was a fun project taking a Folksy jelly/pie cabinet to a Shabby Chic style

with a little paint and cottage roses.

Thank you for stopping by to see what I've been up too.

Now it's back to lots of fall and Christmas designing in the weeks ahead~

but for this week,

I'm off to the Hill Country to give my arm a little rest.

Hope to do a little junkin while there too. 

I'll let you know what I find!!

See you when I get back.

Have a great week!

New Life Chairs~

Hope you enjoyed a nice 4th of July.

It was hotter then hot here but relaxing just the same.

***********************

A few months ago, I decided to change up these two

wood chairs I had in my stash.

They were painted white in another life

and part of  a square table set that I sold some time ago.

These chairs are very sturdy and a great size,

but I just didn't have a spot for them inside any longer.

You know by now, I change things up a lot!!

So my talented hubby, attached them together to make a bench.

He then painted them in the gorgeous outdoor paint in the pool blue I used on the vintage metal chairs

shared in another post last week.

There are 7 door entries in this house and this area is a back entrance.

It's the perfect spot to have the repurposed bench by that backdoor entry.

Now I decided  I needed to make a cushion for the bench seat,

and I found some cheerful fabric with colors used throughout the yard

 which happened to be on sale at Hobby Lobby.

To begin, I used two seat cushions the exact size of the seats.

The best part is,

 I didn't have to cut these to fit like I would do if they were a roll of foam.

To keep  the seam from separating on the cushion,

I glued the two together to keep them in place.

Lastly to secure, I added a piece of white felt to hold all in place.

I simply wrapped the felt all around and glued in place.

So I measured the size and pinned the fabric to fit right sides together.

Sewed it up on my trusty machine!

Turned the fabric and placed the cushion inside.

Sewing the open edge with a blind stitch to complete.

 To the four corners I decided to create an easy  finish like this instead of rounding the edge and cutting.

I had enough fabric left to make a coordinating pillow

and added two vintage buttons to the center.

It's so comfy and a nice welcome seat at the back door.

Above the bench I kept this old window in place with a little bough of greens

tied with a piece of the fabric.

The wire basket has 3 pots of posies.

Another project marked off my list and the old chairs put to better use.

If I need extra seating on the patio, I can simply bring it around to that area.

Win, win all the way!

I love to find new uses for old treasures giving them a new life.

How about you?

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a great start to JULY!!

See you next week.

xo

Flowers in Watercolor~

Happy First Day of Summer!!

Hope you enjoyed a nice Father's Day weekend with your family and friends.

The temps are soaring here in Texas
and now it is a challenge to keep the flowers going strong.
The ole water meter is going round and round in our attempt to keep the flowers
alive and pretty.
My trusty large umbrella is a big help.
I simply open it up and place it by flowers in the direct sun.
It really helps to shade and give the blooms a little relief from the heat.
I move it around through the day where needed.

Speaking of flowers~~~
Here is a little share from the past giving flower photos a watercolor edit.

**********

Recently I cut a few long stems from my garden to bring inside and enjoy.

Lovely blooms of pink, red and yellow.

Using my photo programs, I created a pretty watercolor of this bouquet.

I use PicMonkey, or for quicker edits, PhotoScape.

Each has it's own specialties.

Here's another idea~

The photo was a little blurred.

  But perfect as a watercolor.

Lastly, a little bouquet of knock out roses in my kitchen.

 
Becomes a watercolor perfect for a little frame.

These watercolors were all completed using PicMonkey.

If you use this program and do not know how to get this look,

open the edits section under Effects then scroll to Posterize.

I had to experiment a lot to find this for watercolor. 

You would never think posterize would contain this edit, but it does.

From there you can raise or lower the percentages and degree of the changes for the intensity,

then save your work.

In PicMonkey, 

I have the Royale version

 which is a pay every two years program for the more involved edits. 

I'm not sure the free program has this edit version for watercolor

but if you use PicMonkey you can try and see.

Have a great first week of summer and thanks for stopping by.

See you next week.

cm

Tray Menu Sign

Have you started spring cleaning yet?

Recently as I was doing some spring cleaning,
I dusted this large tray turned Menu sign
and thought I would share it with you once again
and how I painted it with the word Menu.

Found at a local antique market,
I loved the large size to fill in space above my kitchen cabinets.

This tray measure about 20" round.

 I gave it a coat of glass and tile medium which I have shared here many times.
Metal primer can also be used
but I was out it so the glass and tile works just as well.

 This step gives the surface some tooth for the paint to adhere.
After applying the medium
it's best to let cure 24 hours before
painting.

The Glass and Tile medium is by Folk Art
along with the black paint that I used for the design.

After the background is painted with chalk paint in a light ivory,

  I made a copy of the menu graphic

 from

 The Graphics Fairy
and traced it on the surface
using graphite paper.

and a stylus~

Next I
painted the design by hand.

Sometimes I love to do this over the easier versions of transferring.

It gives a hand painted look and is really a lot of fun and relaxing
a bit like adult coloring.

If you remember the graphic above, it had the shading lines included.

At this point,

 I could have painted those lines too, but I floated the shading instead.

This is a term and technique used to bring a shadow to the design.

Next, the edge needed a little something too.

So I hand painted black and white checks all around and added light sienna shading.
You know how I love checks~~

Here is the tray now on the top of the cabinets with a black and white rooster.

Thanks to The Graphics Fairy

 for always sharing the best designs to create with.

Have you painted anything lately??

I'm on to redesigning some bedroom pieces from the 1940's.
More about that soon.

Have a great day
and

 Happy Creating!

Celestina Marie
xo

joining
cooking and crafting with J&J
Roses of Inspiration

Home With a Heart

Before the holidays,

I kept eyeing this darling HOME pillow  with a red heart on the Pottery Barn site.

I thought it would be a nice addition when I refreshed the living room,

Waited for it to go on sale,

 but missed out along the way

as I lost track of it.

So with that, I let the idea  go.

Then recently on a supply run to JoAnn

I came across the same style

HOME pillow at a huge discount

but the heart was not red like the PB pillow.

No problem 

and nothing that a little fabric paint can't change.

Using acrylic paint

mixed with Fabric Medium~

any paint can be turned into paint for fabric.

I wanted to change the tan heart to red.

This pillow has a zipper opening,

so I took out the insert pillow.

Next I cut a piece of cardboard 

to lay inside and under the heart area.

I covered the board with parchment paper.

This is to insure no paint bleeds through the fabric 

to the backside.

If the pillow did not have the opening,

I could have painted right over the heart.

Since it would not be open, no problem with bleed through to the back.

To make the fabric paint, 

I mix equal parts,

paint to medium.

For example,

5 drops of paint to 5 drops of fabric medium.

Mix all together and begin painting.

Here is where you need to stay in the lines!!

When completely painted, let dry.

After dry, it may need a second coat.

This one did.

Once dry and complete, 

pull out the cardboard

and replace the pillow form inside.

You can see in the pic above, the paint never came through even the top layer.

Heat set the paint, by using a dry iron on medium heat

over the design covered with a soft cloth.

Just heat for 30 seconds or so and done.

Don't iron per-say, just hold in place to heat.

The heat set keeps the color from fading when cleaned.

I do not recommend washing this however,

spot clean or dry clean for best longevity.

So here it is on my PB loveseat.

LOVE IT!!

and a close second to the PB pillow I first admired.

The red is the same color on this Paris pillow!

Completed pillow project and ready to enjoy.

Love how the pillow I thought I lost,

found me while looking for art supplies.

AND ON SALE TOO

Score!!

Perfect for the month of February and beyond~~~

I'll be back to share more refresh changes in this room.

Till then

have a great week.

xo

Joining

a new link up starting today called~

Thoughts of Home on Thursday