I'm Back and Painting LARGE!

Hi Everyone

Hope you all had a wonderful summer.  You may already know that I went with my family to Florida and had a fab time.  The weather was scorching but I must confess to wearing a cardigan in any restaurant we went too!!!  Boy the air-conditioning is turned up to the max!

Once I get my photos off my iPad I will share some with you but 'till then back to the crafting with a vengeance.  I have just finished prepping for my Monthly card class tomorrow.  If anyone lives in the Derby Nottingham area and wants to join us just email me and let me know.  We meet once a month at Elvaston Village hall and have a fab time getting inky!

This week I finally got round to a bit of up cycling!  You may remember that I revamped Callum's room now he is grown!  He wanted a New York vibe and although we got the major jobs done as often happens things stalled a little (money and time!!!)  Here is where we got too:

I bought an old Lebus Dressing table intending to up cycle it into a TV and game consul stand but it has been naked for a while!

I took the mirror off and the handles and I am ready to paint.  I am going for a chalkboard look and of course I am using Annie Sloan Graphite chalk paint.  I was thrilled not to have to sand.  I just gave the piece a quick wipe down and then on with the paint.

I put on two coats of the graphite.  It was very quick drying so it is easy to get two coats on in a day.  I loved how quickly it covered the wood.  The paint is very thick so if you want a smoother finish I would opt to water it down a little and perhaps use a roller to apply.  I am going for a distressed finish so I don't mind the brush strokes at all.

Now you can see the chalkboard look coming together.  I used a tester pot of Old White to add the chalky edges.  I used a combination of my finger and a piece of sponge to brush the white on to the edges of the piece. I smudged things out with a wet wipe if I was a bit heavy handed.  Be careful though as this is a water based paint and if you are not careful you can wipe all the paint off!  I think it looks like it has been made of old chalk board pieces - what do you think?

I haven't decided what colour to paint the legs yet.  The next job is the drawers.  I am going to use words that remind us of the lovely holiday we had in New York 2009/2010.  So I am getting out the Cricut to cut stencils from vinyl.  I want to use lots of different fonts so my Cricut cartridges are going to get a work out.

I will post more pictures as the project progresses.  It is my card class and crop weekend so I will probably get back to this on Sunday.

This has definitely given me the urge to do more up cycling so I am keeping an eye on ebay for more potential pieces to cover in paint.

Wishing you all a fab weekend.  Welcome to all my new subscribers.  Hope you have fun exploring all the many projects on my blog.  Don't forget to pop along and subscribe to my You Tube Channel too X

Thank you for popping by X