~my two cents on chalk paint~

well peeps my long-awaited package of chalk paint arrived

let me tell you i was in that van so fast to pick them up, just couldn't wait to get started...

{by the way, did you know "fragile" actually means "turn me upside down and toss me around"

especially if it also says "this side up"!!}

now of course they arrived smack-bang in crazy week

but i did get to try them out just a little...

{who needs sleep after all}

i totally love the "provence" the color is so rich and just way nicer in real life than it looks in color swatches

i used it here on this tray

i found a foamie applied best on this surface, but foamies do absorb a lot of paint

so what do i think?

well, the jury is still out for me on chalk paint

i do love how it looks, but it took quite some coats to get good coverage

i look forward to seeing how it performs on a larger piece of furniture

but i totally love the look once the wax is on

i sanded this tray then waxed it and gave it a light buff

(you're supposed to wax, sand, wax again but this worked for me)

it sure showed up the color and detailing beautifully, and gives a little protective finish

i used "old white" to paint this chalkboard frame, which had been giving me trouble with the spray paint bubbling {first sanded off the bubbles}

i applied the paint with a brush this time

the chalk paint gives a great authenic vintage look

so i'll announce my final verdict once i've had a chance to try it out on a larger project

for now i'm really liking it, especially with the wax finish, but it's gonna have to wow me to warrant the price tag for future projects!

Tracey

white ruffle love...

today i get to show you two of my favorite projects...

first up, i'd been searching for a sturdy wooden tray, i could picture exactly how it would look, but do you think I could find it!!

i wanted something simple * sturdy * shapely

well, I guess Janis got tired of hearing me go on about my elusive tray, she dug this out of her basement for me

gotta admit, it was pretty scary, but you could see it had good bones

i can't even show you the back, remember back when you would take a blob of paint and blow through a straw and it would streak all over...

well that's what the back looked like, in bright red paint

sanded it for-evah with my supa-dupa mouse sander

(this is after a ton of sanding) 

those tole painted flowers were super gloopy!

then primed and painted it with pure white gloss

now I'm not usually a gloss girl, but somehow my tray was always going to be white gloss

didn't it turn out great, I just love it

simple * sturdy * shapely

but after a couple days on my kitchen table something was missing, none of my runners seemed just right

I KNOW!!!!! Some ruffle love needed...

so i sewed up this cute white muslin table runner with two ruffles on either side

and i'm loving it even more now

here it is wafting in the breeze

not forgetting my two little birdies - seeing all those birdies in blogland i needed some of my own

this pair were a pretty ugly brown, but for 80c and a little white paint

*ta-da*

so, before

 and after

check out the parties i'm linking up to - so many fab ideas out there!

happy days,

Tracey