Thrifting

I've become slightly obsessed with thrifting...

Yesterday I made my way down to Richmond, hoping to ransack 6 thrift shops.  Alas, that was not the case, but! I did score some great finds!

1900's wood/gesso frame; this was filthy; cleaned up nice!

 

 1950s Italian watercolors

I'm planning on doing the tent sale at On a Whim in Lucketts, VA in mid-August.  It will be my first tent sale; hoping to get on the list for Chartreuse!

Moooooooo

Saw a group of cows this morning and had to pull over to photograph.  This pretty little lady was quite curious about me and my camera.

 

Dad

Today is bittersweet for me; my father passed away unexpectedly 6 years ago. 

Dad was my superhero, which isn't surprising...he jumped out of perfectly good airplanes and landed safely; well, must of the time. Upon graduating from West Point, Dad choose to go Airborne Infantry; became a Ranger and took the family on a helluva adventure.  My childhood was controlled chaos; 17 moves and 10 schools by the time I graduated high school.  We were the rolling stones; no moss gathered on this family...

 

 

I miss him...

French Demilune

This project took me 3 days, and my hands show it!

The table was inexpensive and I could never find a place for it; it was just too dark and blah.  I used 2 coats of Old White ASCP.  I used a french label from The Graphics Fairy.  I enlarged the image and  printed the image on Lesley Riley's Transfer Artist Paper.  I think I used the iron too long and transfer was yellowed.  Soooo...I got a little crazy with sandpaper.  Once I sanded the image, I was committed to sanding the table.  I  applied silver leaf on the dark brass medallions on the front of the table. I used Annie Sloan clear wax, then her dark wax. Some more sanding. And repeat wax sequence.

Et voila!

wow...my windows need a serious cleaning! <lots of lab nose prints!>

...and yes, my dining room walls are painted a watermelon red.  My house looks like a crayon box; soft green living room, french blue kitchen, provence yellow in the family room, etc.  :-)
 

Vintage Pumpkin Triptych

Good Morning!

I have been a busy Lizzie...

Here are the 3 pumpkins images.  I used the same technique as with yesterday's Rooster image.

Next project; painting a small accent table.

Vintage Rooster

Heat, humidity, post-surgery recovery and no drinky-poos makes Liz a grumpy girl...

So, in an effort to get out of my funk, I've been working on a few projects:

Combing through my photo files, I found some that had potential and played with Photoshop/Lightroom plug-ins.

I went to Home Depot and picked up a 1"x12"x48" pine board.  I asked the board to be cut into 4 12"x12" pieces.  I don't trust myself with a saw (yet), and the first 2 cuts are free; the last cut was$1.  Works for me!

Here's my rooster.  The original photo was just blah; but with some tweaking I roughed up the image.  I sanded the board to soften the edges/corners; stained the board with fruit wood stain then a coat of provence stain. I used Mod Podge to adhere the photo directly onto the board; then 2 coats of Mod Podge on top of the image.  Then to seal the board and buff up the sheen of the image, I used a small amount of Annie Sloan clear wax.

 

I have 3 pumpkin images that I am working on; should have them ready by the end of the day.

Union Jack Tea Pot

It's now day 4 post-gallbladder surgery (acute pancreatitis), and I am going stir crazy!  I never realized how busy my life is until the brakes have been put on it...and frankly, I am very cranky.  So, I needed a new project.

I am a self-admitted Anglophile.  Gave Mom a list of sundries to bring home (She's on holiday; visiting friends in Woodchester, Oxford and London). I am hoping that William and Kate's baby will be born while Mom is in the UK.....ooooh, to think of all the tacky royal baby souveniers for purchase!

I knew I wanted to do a chubby teapot with the Union Jack flag.  I googled "free teapot template" and found this cute teapot.  I found the Union Jack image on The Graphics Fairy.  I combined the 2 images in Photoshop CS4; then printed the image from home.  I recommend to use a laser printer versus ink jet; less color smearing.  Then again, the smearing worked in "aging" the image.

 Ink jet image:

Cut out:
 

I used a solid side from one of the many veggie crates that I collected from Wegmans. I stained the wood first.

First coat of Mod Podge:

 

Sanded the image to rough it up:
 

Second heavy coat of Mod Podge:

I waxed the dried image with Annie Sloan Clear Wax, then antiqued the plaque with Annie Sloan Dark Wax: