Kitchen Art

Look at these great Vintage fruit crate covers that have been framed that I found on One Kings Lane Tony Duquette's Tastemaker Tag Sale this week. There were a few other peices I would have like to have had, but most of it was sold or on sale within minutes of openeing, gotta be quick ;) Can't wait to get these in and add to the kitchen for a burst of color, I especially love the deep blues in the first and thrid one, what do you think?

Finished Chevron Art

Remember my easy Chevron Art tutorial here, well I finally got around to getting a picture of it hanging. I ♥ it, and it's even beginning to grow on my hubby, very understated, but still something playful to catch your eye :) What do you think?

Bar Art

As we are slowing sifting through the things in my Nina's condo, it has been almost an adventure looking though all the old photos and treasures we come upon when opening each new drawer and cabinet. In a dresser I found a stack of wine labels.

For those that don';t know, I'm a complete Wino, it runs in the family ;) They had a great aged look to them, and automatically my mind started whirling what I could do with them. I wanted something larger behind the bar in our man room, and these fit the bill.

PS..before we get started, I know the photos are kind of awful, once again the Nikon is dead and I have placed the charger in a handy place, I just can't seem to remember where that is...

I'd already purchased these 12x12 square frames from Michael's with 8x8 white mats included, and wasn't really happy with how they looked with family pics, I wanted something with more of an "art" look. 

I looked through all of my craft closet trying to figure out how to actually display the labels, and found in my scrap booking paper loads of the leftover 12x12 cardboard sheets they put in the packs to keep the paper from being bent, perfect!! I felt such validation from hanging on to them and now being able to use them, lol!

A paint brush and the big ole bottle of Collage Pauge in matte, and I was in business... 

I used 3m Velcro hanging strips, and just used a level for spacing, so much simpler then measuring and nails, I just don't have that kind of patience! 

Michael's had only had 8 of the same frame, they were a bronze color with a simple concave frame, but the had the same color and style, only with a convex frame, so I used this for the middle square, and put in this old sepia photo we took up in Gatlinburg with my mom and brother several years back, and it fits perfectly for behind a bar, look at little Miss B and Grier, sooo cute and too funny!!

The finished product...

What do you think, I love it. It fits the space much better, it's something that reminds me of my Nina, and it's involves wine, what not to love ;) And yes, they are a little crooked, I've got to  get those little rubber pads to put under to keep them from slipping to different sides,but at least there not scattered on the floor anymore :) 

Refreshed Art

There is a painting that was in my grandparents house, in the front foyer, that I always loved as a little girl. It was horses in a pasture, that my grandfather purchased in Italy. When my grandmother downsized, she passed it along, with many other pieces, onto my mom, and my mom, knowing how much I loveed it, gave it to me.

I love the heavy gold frame, and the green linen mat was okay in my other house, but didn't match anything in this house, so I decided to give it a face lift.

I taped off the frame, and then mixed some white acrylic with a little water, and layered several coats.

After removing the paint...much brighter.

And now it actually looks great on my walls, before it was just too heavy.

I think I may go back and actually wrap the mat with new linen, but this is a vast improvement for the meanwhile.

A Little Bit of Chevron Please

I love all things Chevron, and after pinning a million things on Pinterest, okay maybe not a million, but I remembered I had a large white canvas in my craft closet, so I thought I'd try my hand at doing a simple clean Large scale Chevron painting for my living room. Before we even begin, sorry about the bad pictures, I had left my camera at the office, so these are all wonderful phone pics :)

Being lazy resourceful, and not wanting to spend a million hours with a ruler, I cut the corner off of an envelope to use as my guide for taping off my Chevron pattern, after I taped all the straight lines, I went back and added a second layer of tape to make the white stripe thicker. 

I didn't have any white paint, so I improvised and used Duncan Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage in matte, mixed in a dime size drop amount of black acrylic, and then added a few drops of silver liquid leaf for a very light metallic effect. After mixing well I had a grey-wash kind of consistency.

Then I layered on two coats with a 1" sponge brush, making sure to start on the tape and drag the paint towards the middle, this helped ensure a nice crisp line when you pull off the tape. I also wrapped the paint on the side too, as I don't plan on hanging this in a frame, and wanted the gray to almost blend right into our walls.

Here's the finished project propped against my wall, so you can see how it almost blends with the dove grey color of our walls. I didn't really want a color that popped, I wanted it to be more of the Chevron pattern that popped. I haven't gotten around to hanging it yet, so check back later in the week, for a Completely finished pic :)

Looking Back: Paris

Another place I loved getting to visit....the city of Love, PARIS. Though only a brief visit, I really enjoyed Paris, again such exquisite architecture and beautiful surroundings! The food, the museums, the shopping, all wonderful!