French Tin Makeover

 

 

So we have this tiny cabin in the mountains, think tiny house living, and we recently removed all of the upper cabinets in the kitchen area. Storage is at an absolute premium.  There is no pantry and now, no upper cabinets either. We have installed open shelving because that visually opens up the space and I needed something pretty to store food and other essentials that will go on the shelves.

This is where ingenuity and crafty comes into play. Thrift store tins and Prima to the  rescue! With Prima’s new stamps sets, I have created some beautiful French inspired tins to store all of the essentials and I’m going to show you how you can make some too. These are also great for craft supplies or anything else you need to organize.

Lets get started!

 

First, go to your local thrift store and locate a variety of tins. Or, you may already have some of these lying around your home from Christmas.

Gather up your supplies. I used chalky finish paint in white and a variety of stamps from the new release of Prima Decor Stamps from Iron Orchid Designs. The beauty of these stamps is that they all coordinate and can be mixed and matched to create something wonderful. I even used some of the stamps from previous collections.

Here is a complete list of what I used:

IOD Decor Stamps “Fantastico” Item #815998

IOD Decor Stamps “Ode to Pere Boulard” Item #816025

IOD Decor Stamps “Tromp L’oeil II Item #816063

IOD Decor Stamps “Signage II Item #815387

IOD Decor Stamps “Alpha III” Item #815738

IOD Decor Stamps “Alpha I” Item #815400

IOD Decor Ink “Soft Black” Item #815011

IOD Dry Foam Stamp Pad Item #815134

 Acrylic Block Item #815004

Chalky Finish Paint in White

Paint Brush

Thrifted Cookie or Popcorn Tins

 

Wash your tins with warm, soapy water and dry them thoroughly. Once completely dry, paint them with the chalky finish paint. Allow the paint to dry. While it’s drying, ink your stamp pad. I squirt the ink onto the dry foam pad in a zig-zag pattern. Then take and old credit card, gift card, or any hard, rigid plastic that can be used as a squeegee and spread the ink into your dry foam pad. Now its ready for inking stamps.

 

Simply peel the stamp from it’s acetate backing and mount to the acrylic stamp block, or, for this project, I needed something that would bend around the tins. It allowed me more control. I simply use the protective acetate sheet that comes with the stamps. The stamps mount right to it.

Now ink the stamps and postition the sheet over the tin right where you want your image to go. See above, how it bends around my tin?

Press gently and then remove.

Aren’t they wonderful?

The perfect storage solution. Beautiful and functional!

I hope I’ve inspired you to create some pretty and functional storage tins for your home too. Happy crafting!

 

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DIY French Street Signs

I love the street  signs in France. You know the ones, the simple arrow pointing in the direction of a town.

Well, I decided to make some of them using my Iron Orchid Designs Decor Stamps. Want to make some too? Come on, I’ll show you how!

First, lets gather our supplies. This is what you’ll need:

Scrap Wood

Chalky Finish Paint in white and black

Paint brushes

Jigsaw

Ruler

Pencil

Sand Paper

Painters Tape

Iron Orchid Designs Decor Stamps – Alpha I – item #815400

Iron Orchid Designs Decor Ink in Soft Black – Item #815011

Dry Foam Pad – Item #815134

Iron Orchid Designs Acrylic Block – Item #815004

First, cut your wood into 2 – 24″ X 3 1/2″ pieces.

Use your ruler and a pencil to draw lines to create the arrow point on one end of the wood as shown above.

Cut on the lines and sand smooth.

Now, tape off your arrow so that you can paint just the outer edge of it as shown above. Paint it black. Do this for each arrow you are making.

Remove the tape and allow to dry.

Remove the letter stamps from the acetate sheet and place them on your acrylic block. Add the ink to your dry foam pad and then ink your stamps. Place the block with inked stamps over the location that you’d like to stamp and then press firmly straight down onto your arrow.

Do this for each of your signs and let the ink dry.

You’re finished!

Enjoy your new signs made with Iron Orchid Designs Decor Stamps!

Have fun creating!

Thrifted Tray Makeover

This was a quick and easy project, completed in about and hour. I can’t believe that I forgot to take a before photo of this, but it was originally a vintage brown basket intended to hold a hot Pyrex dish on the table. It was missing it’s dish but I envisioned it holding mail, keys, etc…on a table by the door.

 

First thing I did was paint it white with chalky finish paint. I love the leather handles so I was careful not to paint them. Then I wet distressed it on the parts that were woven so that some of the brown showed through.

It was a bit plain though and needed something else. The perfect piece for some Iron Orchid Designs Decor Stamps.

I used pieces from three different sets and some soft black ink.

I used:

Signage II

Alpha I

Grainery

I stamped my image in the center…

…added grain sack  stripes on the edges, and some decorative elements on the top and bottom of my image. Lastly an “S” in the center of the image for our initial.

That’s it! Super quick and easy!

I hope you’ll give it a try too.

Have a great day friends and happy crafting!!

 

DIY French Panel

Hello DIY Decor friends!!

Have you ever seen those beautiful, French panels used in decor? You usually see them propped against something or hanging on the wall. They’re amazing and they are also expensive. Well, today is your lucky day because I’m going to show you how to make one of your own. All you need is a board from your local home improvement center and a few Iron Orchid Designs products. Ready? Let’s get started!

Here is a list of what you will need:

12″ X 5′ board (you can use a smaller board if you prefer)

IOD Vintage Art Decor Mould ” Fleur” item #81529

IOD Vintage Art Decor Mould “Moulding 1” item #815325

IOD Vintage Art Decor Mould “Nautica 2” Item #815332

IOD Paper Clay item #814991

Wood Glue – I used Gorilla brand wood glue

white chalky finish paint – I used Amy Howard One Step in Baunhaus Buff

blue chalky finish paint – I used Americana Decor in Serene

antiquing glaze

gold acrylic paint – I used Folk Art Metallic Antique Gold (658)

paint brushes

paper towels

Gather all of your supplies together. You’ll notice I’ve used a paper clay that I picked up from Hobby Lobby. I didn’t have any IOD paper clay on hand. I ran out during my last project and this is what I had available.

The first step is to dry brush your board with the white chalky finish paint. I took mine outside for this step so it would dry really fast. I’m kind of impatient that way.

Once it dries, apply antiquing glaze to the entire surface and then wipe it away. This will give your board a weathered look. Now it’s time to make mould castings.

 

I used the small angels, the garland and tassels, and the beaded moulding you see here, for this project. I pressed the clay into the moulds to create the castings and then set them aside as the glaze dried on my board. A little tip: lightly brush the insides of your moulds with a bit of cornstarch to help the clay release super quick and easy.

 

Apply the moulds to your completely dry board with wood glue. Make sure the glue is applied all the way to the edges of your casting so that it adheres really well all the way around. You can glue the castings to your board while the clay is still wet.

This is what your board will look like once everything is glued into place. At this point, I set it aside and let the mould castings dry overnight.

The next step is to dry brush the entire piece with the blue chalky finish paint. Then I used a smaller, detail brush to completely cover all of the mouldings with the paint.

Once dry, use another small brush to paint just the mouldings with the gold acrylic paint.

Once that step is complete, your project will look like this. The next step is where the magic happens. Antiquing glaze!!

Dip your paper towel into the glaze

and start applying it all over your project. This is where you can customize the look that you want. Go as heavy or as lightly as you want. This is where you create depth and age in the paint and in the exposed wood areas. I used another small brush to get in the detailed areas within and around the moulds.

Wipe away with a clean paper towel as you go to create a beautiful, aged patina.

That’s it! Easy Peasy! Now sit back and admire all of your hard work. You now have an amazing piece of old world French art.

Thanks so much for joining me today! Happy creating!!

 

 

Rocking Chair Makeover

I found a rocking chair at the thrift store about six months ago and it has been sitting in our living room patiently waiting for a makeover. I finally got to it on Sunday.

Here is the chair before. It’s a nice chair and the fabric is cute, but it just isn’t my style and didn’t match a thing in the house. I added an Iron Orchid Designs Decor Mould on the top and painted the whole thing gray. Once the paint was dry, I distressed it in certain spots to add the look of age and use.

I wiped away the dust and applied antiquing glaze over the entire thing to add beautiful depth to the color.

Finally, I recovered the seat with some striped ticking fabric that I had on hand. I like it much better now! What do you think?

Have a great day friends!

DIY Cedar Chest Makeover

Hello to all of my DIY friends!

I’m here today to show you how you can take an old cedar chest and give it some French Farmhouse flair!

Here is a list of supplies that you will need to complete the project.

-an old cedar chest or any other piece of furniture you may have

-any white color chalky finish paint

-paint brush

-IOD Decor Stamps – Grain Wreath – item #815431

-IOD Decor Stamps – Grainery – item #815424

-IOD Decor Stamps – Laurel – item #815455

IOD Decor Ink – Soft Black – item #815011

IOD Decor Ink – Provincial – item #815103

IOD 10X12 Acrylic Block – item #815004

(2) IOD Dry Foam Pads – item #815134

Ready? Let’s get started!

Here is the cedar chest that I found at a thrift store. The first thing I did was paint the chest white using a chalky finish paint.

Now that the cedar chest is painted, it’s time to add the best part! We’re going to stamp it using the IOD Decor Stamps listed above.

Take your dry foam pad and squirt the ink onto it in a zig-zag pattern. Use an old gift card or other hard plastic item that can be used as a squeegee to spread the ink and press it into the pad. Use a different pad for each color of ink.

Now remove your stamps from the acetate sheet that they are mounted on. Place them on your acrylic block and then ink the stamps.

We’ll do the grain sack stripe using the Grainery set first, using the Provincial ink.

Followed by the laurel wreath from the Grain Wreath set, using the soft black ink.

It needed a little something else, so I also added the words “DE FRANCE” using the stamp from the Laurel stamp set.

Since this was a much smaller stamp, I just mounted it on the lid from the foam pad.

Go ahead an use the soft black ink for this too. Stamp and you’re done!

I love how it turned an old, boring piece of furniture into something pretty special. Very simple and easy to do. I hope you’ll give it a try!

Have a great day!!

 

Lamp Shade Makeover

Hello Everyone!!

Do you have a lamp shade that’s tired and worn out or maybe it’s just kind of bland and needs a little something?

Well, I’m here to help you out. I’ve used Iron Orchid Designs Decor Stamps by Prima to take this boring white lampshade from bland to grand!

You just need a lampshade and a few Prima supplies. Let’s get creative!

Supply List:

IOD Decor Stamps – Laurel  – Item: 815455

IOD Decor Stamps – Alpha II – Item:815417

IOD 10X12 Acrylic Block – Item: 815004

IOD Decor Ink, Soft Black – Item: 815011

Dry Foam Stamp Pad – Item: 815134

Fabric for the ruffle along the bottom of the shade {optional}

Let’s get started.

The first thing you want to do is add ink to your dry foam pad. I just squeeze the ink onto the pad in a zig-zag pattern and then use an old gift card or any hard plastic item that you can use as a squeegee to help spread the ink and push it into the foam. You could also just use a foam brush to apply the ink to the stamp, but I prefer the ink pad.

Now peel the stamps from their acetate backing and mount them to your acrylic block. I chose the small wreath and the crown from the “Laurel” set as well as letters and numbers from the Alpha II set. I used the “S” for our last name and the “No” and “24” All from the same set.

Lay your lampshade on a table or other firm work surface. I placed a book on either side of my lampshade to keep it from rolling around.

Use your ink pad to apply ink to the stamps.

Now, center your block and stamps over the lampshade and carefully press the inked stamps down onto the lampshade. I used my free hand to support the shade from the underside, to keep the shade from buckling or bending while pressing the stamp. Use a straight up and down motion when pressing the stamp onto the lampshade and removing it, taking care not to slide your stamp around.

That’s it! Super easy and now you can admire the beautiful grain sack inspired lampshade you’ve just created!

*For my lampshade, I also added a little ruffle to the bottom of the shade with a glue gun and a small strip of fabric up top. This is totally optional and the only reason I did it was because my shade was just a bit too short. Without the ruffle, I could still see the lamp socket, even with the shade on. You can see what I mean in the “before” photo above. You don’t have to do this. The lampshade looks great without it too!

Have a great day friends and happy creating!