Monday, June 16, 2014

French Stamp End Table

Before:  Nondescript, blah table:



After:  Wow!





I like to paint with Annie Sloan chalk paint (old white).  The Graphics Fairy has fantastic images.  I really like this french stamp image.  It was tiny, but The Graphics Fairy has a tutorials on how to enlarge images and various methods to apply the images.  The stamp printed out on 6 pages (reversed image)!  After cutting it out, I applied Mod Podge on the top of the painted table; carefully placed each piece (face down) on top of the Mod Podged table and smoothed out all the bubbles.  After a night of drying, I used a wet sponge and with  a lot of patience, gently wet/pealed away the paper until I got to the image.  Some of the image pulled away, but I liked the look.  After the image dried again, I applied 2 coats of Mod Podge (drying between coats) to the top of the image.  Then hand sanding.  A dry brush with a bit of Annie Sloan Emperor's Red chalk paint. More sanding.  Finished with Annie Sloan clear wax; dark wax, clear wax. <whew>

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Tunnel Vision

On our way to Virginia Beach, I became mesmerized by the lights of the Hampton Roads tunnel. 




Not a bad photo with an iPhone and traveling at 55+mph!

Sunday, June 1, 2014