Ally Pally and a Chalk Board

Thanks so much for stopping by,Life is all over the place at the moment as I am mid move and things are everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Last weekend (12&13) I was lucky enough to me at the big craft show in Ally Pally demoing the new Decoart chalk paints for Crafting Time I was there with Andy Skinner who was demoing the new Decoart Media line. 

In between making samples of tags and door hangers I found time to shabby up this chalk board.

The board started life as plain white with a fairly boring graphic over the top. It's Crafting Time's colours are Purple and Green so I had a starting point of where I was going to end up.

I started by giving the frame a coat of Relic and decided to use the Vaseline resist technique, for the second coat I used New Life and once dry wiped away the paint on the Vaseline covered areas, some more Vaseline and a top coat of Remembrance was applied. Once all was wiped back I decided I  wanted an even more distressed look so using my sanding block I went to town going through all the layers in places and giving a nice smooth finish.

I was lucky enough to get my mitts on a prototype stencil and added all the details using Relic and Lace sanding back once dry to stop the lettering looking to stark.

Before the Gates were opened (the calm before the storm)

I almost look like I know what I am doing ;)

                           

As you can see Andy was kept busy as well.

It was a great weekend, the chalk paints went down really well as did the new media line which was great and it was so nice meeting so many people, putting people with their blogs and names to faces, I was even given a an incredibly tasty Cup Cake and card by Kerrie-Anne so thank you.

xxx

A Shabby B'day Present For My Sister.

Another quick post here for me today, It was my sisters B'day a couple of weeks ago and she wanted her bed set made over, this is the end result.

Everything started out like this, boring plain Pine. Sorry no before pic of the bed.

I used Decoarts Chalk Finish Paint, Vintage for the base colour and Lace for the top coat.I have applied the top cat very hap hazard and thinner in places, This after a little sanding back along the edges and surfaces helps give a much more subtle and distressed look.

Both Drawers and the bed were done with one tub of each colour with plenty left over for some more makes.

The pieces were finished of with two coats of clear cream wax also from Decoart.

I will be at the Big craft show at Ally Pally this weekend (12/13) Demoing the new Decoart Chalk Paints, If you are there it would be great if you come over and say Hi. xx

Shabby Chic Service Trolley, French Style.

Evening, Thanks for stopping by, I have just finished a little service trolley that I picked up at my local Red Cross charity shop. Every time I pop in there I seem to come out with at least two new items to renovate.

Sorry I got carried away and had my first coat of paint applied before thinking about taking a before pic. 

All I can say was it was an uninspiring varnished dark wood trolley.

Here is what I used. The new Chalk finish paints from Decoart and two of their new stencils that go with the range..

The trolley was base coated with a couple of coats of 'Relic' and 'Lace' was applied with a stencil brush through the 'Parisian Street' Stencil and the 'Distressed Harlequin' Stencil.

I took some fine grain sand paper and lightly distressed the edges of the Trolley and also over the Stencilled images just to soften them up and make them look less stark.

The trolley has been finished off by having two coats of Decoart's clear cream wax to add a layer of protection and to give it a nice soft sheen.

Welcome

Welcome to a new blog for me, I thought it would be a good idea to keep the more Shabby chic makes all in one place, this blog will focus on more furniture make overs and projects using the New Chalk Finish Paints from Decoart. I will be doing link up posts on my normal Speshink blog so nothing should get missed ;)
I hope you will all join me here as well as there xxx
Thank you for all your support

2 tables

Evening, Thanks for stopping by I have a couple of shabby tables to share. These were both picked up at one of my local charity shops.Both of these tables have been painted with the new Decoart Chalk Finish Paints. The first table was fairly rough, the varnish was flaking off etc.

I sanded back all the loose varnish to get a solid base and tested a little area to see if the wood or old stains would bleed through. I am glad I tested an area first as the paint started to turn yellow as the old varnish started to stain through.

I used the Stain blocker product in the range and coated the whole piece.  The table was then given a couple of coats of Vintage and left to dry. Using sand paper I started to distress the surfaces to reveal the wood underneath.

To finish of I gave it all two coats of the Soft Touch varnish to protect the finish and to give it a really nice tactile feel.

The smaller table was given two coats of Relic, a beautiful dark grey colour. 

(I promise I will start taking before shots from now on) 

I used The Flower Market stencil from the chalk range and used the Whisper colour paint stippled through. Once dry the whole table was given a little light distressing revealing some of the wood beneath and just scuffing the stencil to make it look worn.

To finish the table was given two coats of the clear wax.

I will be dropping both of these off at Lovingly Made next week where they will join my chairs. Hopefully they will find a good home soon.

As always thank you so much for stopping by. I love having you here. xxx

More Tim Holtz Chairs

Evening all, I have just finished some more chairs, the first two have some more Tim Holtz fabric for the cushions, the second pair have a check pattern in a nice wool cover.

Both pairs have been painted using the new Deocart Chalk Paints. I have used the colour Cameo for the base colour and Whisper for the top coat, It is more of a cream white and a little warmer, it also pics out the base colour of the fabric.

The chairs have been finished with a couple of coats of Decoarts clear cream wax.

Finally to finish off I also painted up this little foot stall.

I used Serene as the base and Lace as the top coat and I have used some more Tim Holtz fabric to cover the top section.

Sorry for the photo heavy post with not a lot of words but thanks for sticking with me xx

I am very happy to say that I have found a local shop that will be taking these chairs and selling them for me so fingers crossed  they can find a new home soon ;)

A Vintage Journey are having their first challenge, the theme is anything Tim chairs and box. Not your usual crafty entry but I really wanted to take part in this new blog with such an amazing new DT.

Tim Holtz Shabby Chic chair

Thanks for stopping by, After a very crazy but very enjoyable 4 days I am back home and just about recovered from the CHSI (Stitches) trade show.

First of all I would like to say a very big thank you to Stan, Patrick and Andy from DecoArt who had me demonstrating their new chalk paint range at the show, It was brilliant to meet you and I was honoured to be part of your stand.

It was also great to meet so many people new and old, they guys from Country Love Craft and Personal Impressions,  who are the UK distributors for DecoArt,  Lindsay Mason , Jenny, Brenda, Gabriela and so many other lovely people.

Ok so on with the post.

Now the show is over I can start to share some of the pieces I made for the display and as samples.

Today I am sharing my favourite piece, my charity shop dinning room chair, this cost me £12 and was perfect for the chalk paints.After Kelly saw it finished I was told to go and get the other three chairs and a table to match so we could have them in our new home when we move.

The chair started out like this, pretty ugly but it had all the right features for the type of finish I wanted, some hard edges but also some areas of detail and a little bit of shape, not just flat and square.

I wont go into to much detail of what I have done here as once all the samples have been posted Ill work on some tutorial pieces including another chair.

What I will say though is the paint is amazing, there was no prep work involved at all, no sanding or stripping back involved, I just started with the colour I wanted to show through my top coat.

When I saw the fabric range that Tim Holtz bought out last year I new I wanted to get my hands on several of the designs but was really struggling to think how I would use them in the sort of work I usually make.

As soon as I knew I was going to be working with these paints I had my answer, for me this pattern was the perfect fit for the chair.

The old cover was taken off, Tim's fabric was lined with an iron on piece of fabric (forget what it's called) just to make it a little more durable and the cusion was re covered.

Thanks as always for stopping by, Ill be posting more of my samples over the next couple of days and I also have a new clock class sample coming using the chalk paints.

Simon Says Stamp are having a 'cameo appearance' challenge, they asking us to be creative with the theme, you could use a normal cameo, or think of actors who have made a cameo appearance in a movie or TV show, I know I am pushing it but my cameo appearance is the Tim Holtz fabric ;)

Artistic inspirations are having an anything goes/masculine challenge.