A French Country Bench Makeover

This last weekend, I finally was inspired to paint and makeover this bench. I had visited a few participants in the Funky Junk Interiors link up party and saw graphic transfers on furniture and decided to dive in and do it! I got this bench at a garage sale (over a year ago) and it was waiting for a makeover. I had always envisioned a graphic on it, I just didn't know what to do. 

After spending lots of time on the Graphics Fairy website, I finally decided on a French advertising logo that would look good on my bench. It had a dog and chicken on it - very country and "us". I read a few how to's and got busy. 

This is a before picture. I decided to paint out in the greenhouse, so excuse the background mess. 

I used Ivory Lace by The Plaster Paint Company - its my favorite paint and I just love the color name and that I can by it locally. It's cheaper than some of the name brand chalk paints as well.

 So here came the technical part that made me think! This was the image I decided on. There were a few more images I loved, although they wouldn't fit correctly on my skinny bench. I decided on the wax paper image transfer method, described here. You print on wax paper and then it transfers your image to your project.

 I had to save the image to my computer, reverse the image and then needed to resize it. I read about an option to resize using BlockPoster.com and then tried it out, only problem was it was going to print on three pages and I was going to have to piece it together. With wet ink and wax paper, I didn't think that would work for me and having to line up three separate images sounded like more precision than I cared to get into.

I opened my image in Microsoft Word and figured out how to resize my page setup to 22 x 8.5 and stretched my image to fit the page. I cut my wax paper neatly and tried feeding it through my printer. After it wrinkled up three times, I broke out the spray adhesive! I glued scrap paper to the wax paper and it fed trough the printer fabulously. Now on to getting my image on the bench!

Insert tiny squeal of excitement here! It worked! 

Now on to waxing. I waited until the next day and took the bench back to the greenhouse for better ventilation and fresh air. I get ask about waxing all the time. I use the paste wax from the Plaster Paint Co and tint it to give the piece an aged and distressed look. Scoop out a helping of wax on a paper plate and a squirt of stain. Think lumpy mash potatoes with some BBQ sauce mixed in. Take an old sock and wax the furniture.This was all it took to give it two coats of wax.  One tip when using stain - go with the wood grain or you might get a look you don't like.

The wax can have an odor problem that bothers some (not me), so out of respect for the Mr. and the pets, I left it out in the greenhouse a couple more days before it came back indoors. 

 I had fun rearranging furniture and staging my living room for a photo shoot. I also printed out the French typography sign on a piece of drop cloth and framed it. (Next week, I'll share more about it.)

 Now, I'll admit, our living room is really crowded and our furniture is really close together. I refer to it as layered or #smallhouseproblems.

I was excited how it all turned out and I'll definitely be adding graphics to more furniture pieces. It was so easy, once I figured out the sizing issue and gluing the papers together. I never really thought of our house as French Country, but I'm loving the look!

A Sneak Peek!

Here's a sneak peek of what I've been working on lately -

New Curtains

A French Country Bench Makeover

French Country Signs (its from a florist)

Burlap Wedding Orders

Demolishing lots of dust bunnies for this photo shoot ;)

Up to this point, I would have never considered my decorating style French Country. I've always liked the look in magazines and on Pinterest, but never had a French influence in our home. This past weekend, I browsed the Funky Junk link up party and was inspired to makeover this bench (its been in the shed over a year.) That led me to the Graphics Fairy website and I made use of several French advertisements and graphics.

 I'll  share lots more in the next few days - Stay tuned! 

Turquoise and Yellow Burlap and Lace Weddings

 I recently had two custom orders for turquoise and yellow burlap bouquets. The first wedding was for butter yellow and turquoise bouquets, while the second wedding was a sunnier, brighter yellow burlap with bling and feathers.

 The first bouquet was based on this pink and white bridal bouquet that I made last year, with lots of lace, doilies, bling and pearls, along with burlap roses.

 The bridesmaids carried bouquets of yellow and tan along with turquoise and tan burlap roses and ivory lace.

 The weather was cold and damp, so I set up my photo shoot in the hay barn, using this old sewing machine table.

 This next wedding had several pieces. Here is a group shot of all the sunny yellow and turquoise. It sure cheered me up to work on all the yellow, while it was so cold and dreary outdoors.

 The bridal and toss bouquet had feathers and bling, while the bridesmaid bouquets had pearl accents.

The bride envisioned 2 smaller roses in turquoise and yellow and I helped bring her vision to life for all the men in the wedding party.

 This was on of the wrist corsages from her order. See the chill bumps on my arm? I told you it was cold!

I'm always thankful to work with wonderful customers and wish all the families the best as the prepare for their upcoming wedding and new marriage. 

Fun Friday Finds

I saw an ad for a single garage sale in the mid-week newspaper and made up my mind that I was going early Friday morning. So I put on my warm layers, wool socks and big jacket and tore out early this morning. A yard sale in January is a rarity around here, so many junkers descended upon the scene. 

The shabby pink lamp was hid under another plain shade. I wondered what was hiding under the white shade and found this fabulous vintage hanging light! Now, it's got a few tares in it and the fringe has a few frays, but oh my stars, I love it. I came home, put a lightbulb in it and plugged it in and it works. Oh yeah, I think it needs to hang in our bedroom! 

My finds definitely took on a lamp theme. 

Two of these little chandeliers were in a box and I quickly snatched them up. We had a monsoon yesterday (okay, just a couple inches) and the box was wet. Halfway to checkout, the box fell apart. My heart sunk. I was relieve the globes didn't break though! One is complete and one is missing a few jewels. Now what to do with them? 

I had already checked out and went back and got this light. I had passed it up at first, but felt it would be the one thing I'd regret not getting. It may replace the globe in the camper, whatcha think?

And I got a lace wedding dress! It's hanging in my shower right now. Remember the monsoon? It was wet, so it's hang drying. When I buy a vintage wedding dress, I always get the same question: "So, you getting married?" Then I explain I do vintage burlap and lace weddings and bouquets, so I use it in decorations. (The last one is my curtain in the camper.) 

The old metal gas can jumped in my pile of goods too, along with a couple wreaths and the blanket. Don't get me started on those plastic jugs and flimsy spouts they sell today... 

 I drove home smiling - It was a pretty great morning! So do you have any recent thrifting treasures to tell about? 

Dreaming of Spring - New Wedding Bouquets and Home Decor

This week has been a beautiful, sunny, 70 degrees of perfection and certainly has me ready for spring, yet winter will be returning tomorrow. I've been cleaning in the greenhouse and gathering supplies to start planting. It's also inspired a little early spring cleaning in the house and several new products, including burlap bouquets and some rustic home decor items for my shop. 

I was dreaming of an abundant, lush garden when I created this bouquet. Various pastel shades of pink, lavender, lime, jade, yellow and tan burlap are used to create the blooms in this bouquet. Roses varied in size from tiny tea roses, to full size blossoms, along with yellow callas, lots of lace and lavender flowers that remind me of hibiscus plants. I can see this in a spring garden wedding. 

These two items are used featuring a new shade of blue burlap - meet Billow Blue! 

The burlap and cross wreath would be a great Easter and spring wreath to display on your door. 

For the Cowgirl - how about a pink lariat rope wreath? Roses, hydrangeas, tulips, dahlias, and orchids in various shades of pink are included along with cascading greenery and a burlap bow. 

This bird cage is something a little different to my shop and there's not any burlap involved! A gold glittered birdcage holds a bouquet of blush and cream flowers, feathers, and greenery. It can be hung (like shown in my glamper) or set flat on a table as a centerpiece. Very shabby chic and girly! 

As mentioned earlier, we've been doing lots of cleaning, decluttering, and redecorating lately. This wall pocket found its way to my bedroom wall after I photographed it. We have a small house, so all storage space in important, especially when work and home are the same place. I'll just say, I'm storing on the wall! 

I've had this lamp painted turquoise for a while now, it just needed a neat shade and finishing touches. I stripped up burlap to create ribs and attached to a lamp shade and added the key today. I wouldn't mind if this stayed in my living room for a while though. 

All items pictured are ready to ship now and custom orders are always welcome!

 Come shop in my etsy store and see all the other new products that are available. I've been adding several home decor items recently, so its not just weddings. There's still a couple Christmas wreaths on sale and I'm planning my 4th Anniversary Sale coming up in a few weeks. 

Are there any types of products you would like to see me carry / create? 

Also, what type of sale would you like to see? 

The Sunset

Friday night's sunset will be one I won't soon forget and others will be compared to. 

I was headed home on the back roads and the sky came to life. It had been pretty bland earlier, so I never expected such a show. I love being on the quite black top and being able to come to a screeching halt, jump out of the truck and capture the moment. The steers were curious as to what I was doing and lined up nicely on the horizon for me. 

 I'm sure no one else notices it as they drive by, but I love the old wooden post and rusty barbed wire of this fence. To me, it's so photogenic, especially when there's an awesome sunset behind it. 

The fabulous show has surely made up for all the gloomy winter days. 

I finally got back in my truck and headed on down the black top. This was my last picture before I got on the highway. I'm so glad I get to drive west in the afternoons and can enjoy the painting in the sky. By the way, no edits or filters were applied, just my watermark.