Spring-Inspired Chalk Painted Shelves

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

I recently finished chalk-painting a couple pieces, so I thought I’d share what I’ve been up to……

This sweet little mini curio cabinet had good bones, but really needed help.

Before:

After:

It’s always remarkable what paint can do.

This was not built very well, so I strengthened many of the joins with wood glue.

The door hinges were about as chintzy as they come, and it kept the door from closing flush. So I removed the door altogether, and filled in the screw holes.

Four layers of paint later, along with clear and dark wax and lots of distressing, she’s a little beauty now!

This corner shelf also had great bones…… Before:

After:

I used the same colors as the mini curio, painting the layers in exactly the same order.

The turned spindles and curved shelves gave me many opportunities for artistic distressing.
The middle shelf has a slight warp on one of its back sides, but since it would be flush with the wall, it was still quite redeemable. You would have to be displaying marbles for it to be a problem...:)

The base coat is a deep rosy Pink, followed by a light Spring/Celery Green, then Aqua, and finally a medium Leaf Green. And as always, clear and dark wax.

I have 3 jewelry chests waiting for their turn with the chalk paint, so I’d better get going.

Hope you all take some time to spread Valentine Love today!

Linking To:

Chalk Paint Magic On Plastic Sconces ... Episode 2

Oh my word! Has it really been a month since my last post? Oy…. Any other year, I would say it’s due to Christmas crafting overload and the fact that January is usually a slow month for my Etsy shop, as well as my birthday month. All those reasons are true, but this time the added reason is that I’ve been painting the interior of my clients’ new home. (Pictures coming soon!) I’ve just been too busy to do much treasure-hunting, and when I do, by the time I get home from painting, the daylight is gone to take pictures. I’ve just now come up for air long enough to get a few small items chalk-painted for the shop. So today, I finally have one finished to blog about. Before:

Burwood metallic gold, resin sconces…..
After:
Hello Gouhgeous!


I’ve painted resin plastic sconces before, and love what chalk paint and wax can do for them. While I could have left them gold for the opulent Hollywood Regency look, I saw way too much potential in the fleur de lis shapes to not enhance them.



I used a few colors, with the base coat being Annie Sloan Emperor Red. Red is traditionally the primer color for gold leaf, so I followed it with a high-pigment metallic gold, which I used sparingly in random areas to mimic gold leaf that has worn off over time. I then haphazardly dry-brushed a homemade Tiffany blue chalk paint to mimic verdigris. The final color added was homemade crisp Moss green, also dry-brushed, to look as if it developed over the verdigris.

I sealed these with a very subtle clear wax. I wanted the wax to appear almost non-existent, because verdigris and moss aren’t shiny. And while I could’ve stopped there, I felt the contours weren’t being accentuated enough, so I painstakingly brushed dark wax only in the deepest crevices. It is remarkable what a difference that made. They look so much richer now.




These resin pieces often show the mold seam marks, so I made a point of scraping and sanding them off, to remove all traces of them being plastic. It was especially noticeable on the front of the candle cups. I really wanted these to look like anything but plastic, and I believe I got my wish.


These are soon to be listed in my Etsy shop. Next post, I’ll have more completed chalk- painted pieces to share with you.  Come Join me on Instagram!

Magia Mia's Top 5 DIY Posts of 2013

It's been a really long year, filled with ups and downs,  and yet I'm very grateful for the many blessings I can count.....   It was a year that I discovered how much fun I can have with a glue gun, plastic, silver leaf, and chalk paint, as proven in my  Top 5 most viewed and pinned blog posts of 2013.
#5: Alarm Clock Planter
#4 Chalkpainted Plastic Sconces
#3 Tiffany Blue Chalk Paint
over Ebonized Wood
#2 Silver Leaf & Glue Gun
on Plastic Egg
and overwhelmingly, by a landslide, the most popular post on my blog is......
Witch Potion Bottles
Chalkpaint & Glue Gun
over Plastic Bottles If the greatest mark I ever make on Pinterest & the Blogosphere  is this ode to Halloween and all things Witchy,  my Right Brain will be happy.  It is my favorite holiday in my favorite season.
It just proves something I was told once:
"There's a little Witch in all of us"...:) Linking To:

Believe in the Magic

My Christmas Wish for All,
is an awakening
of the pure innocence
in your Heart
you felt as a child,
and a belief in something
greater than yourself.

Merry Christmas Everyone,
Maria

Tiny Tart Tin Topiary Tree

I know one thing for sure. No matter how far in advance I post Christmas creations, I will always have new ideas to the very last second. Last year, I put together the Tiny Tart Tin Tree just a few days before Christmas. I hadn’t planned to create with the tins again this year, but a recent acquisition had other plans.

I present to you the Tiny Tin Tart Topiary Tree!

I brought home this fabulous pyramid shaped topiary form, and I knew it had so many possibilities. It sat and sat, waiting for me to choose which direction to go in.

All it took was adding one tart tin, and I couldn’t stop. Unlike last year’s tree, I flipped the tins to show the outsides instead. It would seem that showing the inside is the most common practice for crafting, but I found the outside to work well for this form.

I could have really jazzed up the finial with a star or something, but instead I chose to keep it humble and simplistic with a few mercury glass beads strung on some wire.

I did pretty much the same thing as my other tart tree. I kept everything quick and temporary by adding the tiny earth magnets to the inside of the tins. This time, I added ornament hooks to the magnets, twisting the hook to stick out enough to hang on the mesh topiary form.

I had some small mercury balls, but these were the kind that are usually on foil-wrapped stems for floral accents. I wanted an easy, attractive way to keep the balls on the mesh without wiring them to it, so I hot-glued silver pipe cleaner around the ball neck. I also darkened the pipe cleaner with brown alcohol ink to look at place with the aged metal. Spiraled around the neck allowed me to twist the ball gently into a mesh hole, and the thickness of the pipe cleaner holds it in place.

To hold the topiary form in the urn, I secured a piece of Styrofoam inside with some putty. I stuck the topiary stem all the way down, then scooped in white beans to cover the Styrofoam. I’ve played with navy beans before, because I love that they’re winter white, and I’m a sucker for texture. Being a kitchen tree, the beans seemed a no-brainer, but other fillers would work too. Coffee beans, perhaps?

The other fun and instant accent was with my star-shaped baking tin.

I added a glass flower frog, and secured small, Swedish style candles in some of the holes. They are the perfect size for the holes, but it is important to use candle stick-ums to keep them from toppling over. I also kept the look simple, not covering anything with filler, to show off the tin interior.

These are just a couple quick and easy ideas for last-minute decorating. I’m sure there’s more where those came from, but we’ll see if I feel the need to share…..:)