Demoiselle 3 coloumn

Monday, April 30, 2012

My second attempt...not so much.

Have you seen the amazing Pin of the Painted chair? No? Well, it's here and it's AMAZING. The concept is amazing, the color is amazing, the whole idea is just amazing. I totally wanted a chair JUST like that one....yea. That's what started it. She makes it sound fantastic and SO easy. In theory... it is. In practice... it needs to be a perfect storm coming together I think. At least that is what I have deduced so far.

Here's my version:


Don't laugh.... ok, not quite as transparent as in the photo, but it's horrid. Amusing really. I'm still working on what to do with it exactly, and I'll get to that later.

First thing's first- This is the chair before:


Ugly, right? As it sat in my kitchen for nearly a week, it kind of grew on me. Yes, it was ugly..though I was a little sad to cover it all up. 

I finally decided to dig in. I L.O.V.E.D. the Teal color used on the "other" chair, so why not? Let's just use that color. 

I then did HOURS of research on paint, trying to find a fabric paint to brush on instead of spray like a hairspray bottle. Did I mention I over think just about everything? 

I fell in love with Simply Spray- a really cool spray paint like fabric paint that is easy to apply, and the fabric feels amazing. You can't even tell there is paint on it- not kidding. I found what looks promising in an opaque fabric paint made by Jacquard called Neopaque. (In hindsight, this probably would have been my best option) I found more tutorials than you can imagine about adding fabric medium to acrylic paints and even just using regular spray paint, right out of the can. Totally overwhelming. 

In the end, I decided experimentation was the best way to start. So I pull the bottom fusion from a slipcovered chair in my bedroom (with a print so bad I had totally forgotten how ugly it was) and went to town. 

Top right is the Simply Spray- Probably two coats. Not opaque enough to cover the pattern, so it was off the list. In the middle (brighter blue) was the fabric medium- It was too stiff and crunchy so cross that off. Bottom right was the Tulip fabric spray paint. Probably 3 maybe 4 layers to cover the print. I also tried the Tulip Soft Fabric Paint under the spray to see if it would help cover some of the pattern. Maybe... but it was too bright white and messed with the Teal color too much. The Tulip Spray was a little stiff but I figured with a little sanding it would be fine. That was the color I really wanted so I decided on that one. 

Now I took a good look at that chair- 

Can you see it? Yep, those lovely "pills" all over. Ok, time to get out the razor. I gave it a shave: 


It started to look like this: 


when I was done, I had a pile of fuzz: 


I started on the bottom cushion. I went outside and laid out newspapers, I sprayed and sprayed. I used a tool I found (No idea what it is) to hold back the piping: 


I kept spraying... when I was done, it looked like this: 


Well, that was only the first layer I told myself. It would look so much better tomorrow after I let it dry and sink in then spray it again... Right. 

2 more coats later- it looks like what you see above. It sits in the middle of my living room. It is SO much more green than it looks in the picture, almost neon and it sort of glows... I'm serious. I am not upset about it. I mean, I don't like to waste money and I wish it would have been so awesome the first time out of the gate, but looking at it makes me giggle. 

I haven't figured out what to do with it yet. I might try the purple Simply Spray over it. I might bite the bullet and buy the Neopaque I probably should have invested in to start with. Either way, I'll do something. I'll certainly update when I decide. Any ideas you may have would certainly be welcomed as well.   






My first go at recreating a Pin went pretty well. The young girl up the street was having a baby. We gave her a neighborhood shower. How fun! We all contributed to a gift, sweet. I wanted to do a little bit more. Who doesn't love handmade things for your new little one? Who doesn't love CUTE things to hang on her wall? The baby was going to be a girl! Score!! Super cute girl- things are SO easy to find on Pinterest. Had to be something I could do super quick though. I have 4 kids, the two youngest of which are 3 1/2 and 2 and crazy busy... into everything.

Button Art?! Yes, button art! Do I have any buttons? Of course not- I don't sew, I don't collect buttons, I don't scrapbook. SO it was perfect, right? Surely a quick run to JoAnn's Fabric and Crafts will fix all of that.

Have you ever been a not-so-crafty girl in JoAnn's? It's a tad overwhelming. Ok, found the buttons.. Umm, what size? what color? She's a girl, so pink is good. Surely there is some jar of buttons I can purchase and figure it out when I get home. Nope. That would be too easy. Ok, small bag of various shade of pink buttons, check. How many do I need? Ummm... probably lots and lots. I'll buy three bags and come bag if I need to.

Back ground for this "art"? Scrapbook paper... fabric might be too busy. Head to paper aisle... Wow! Umm, just wow. Seriously, SO many different kinds, finishes, patterns, oy! Decided on a solid after wasting WAY too much time looking for a small girly print that wouldn't hide the buttons. A light pearl-y purple.

On to frames... Oh dear. Is her furniture white? Is it dark? Is it natural colored? I vaguely remember her mother making a comment about espresso... a quick call to their house to ask her father... who had no idea and when he checked said it was "dark colored". Works for me, dark frame it is. Grabbed a cute oval frame and on to the next stop...

How to attach the buttons? Glue, what kind.. Do you have ANY idea how many kinds of glue there are? Good Golly- I do now. I decided hot glue would do it for me this time. (Ok, in hindsight, there are probably easier glues I could have picked for this project) I don't own a hot glue gun.. lol, the choices of those are vast as well. I decided the hotter one would work for longer term and bought the cheapest one as well as a small bag of additional sticks. It happened to be pink- I considered that a good omen.

Pretty sure I had everything- Lord knows how much the whole trip cost me. Thankfully I have misplaced the receipt and never listen to the cashier when they announce the total. Home again, home again, jiggedy jig.

I layer everything out on the table. I needed a letter to use as a guide. Oops, hadn't really thought that far. Checked out the "Pin" I was copying.. What luck! It was an "S" just the letter I needed. Printed it out as large as I thought would work for my frame and cut it out to trace on the lovely purple paper in pencil.

Then I laid out the buttons over my pencil marks to try to get an idea for how it was going to work. Turns out it was going to look pretty cute! Hooray! Wasn't this going to be so cute?! I then just went to town glueing buttons. This is where a thing a different kind of glue might have been a better choice. Hot glue doesn't move when you place it. White glue does. Sure, it takes longer to dry, there is just a bit more flexibility there. White glue is also less "stringy" hot glue has these string of plastic that just hang form the gun to your project. It's a chore and a half to clean them all up when you're done. It did work though, so as I didn't have additional paper, that was a blessing.

Here is the finished product:


All in all, not so bad for a first try. What do you think?

My Pinterest Problem

My name is Scottie, and I am a Pinterest-aholic. There. I've said it. I know I am not the only one. There is no way I can be.

The biggest issue? I have NO desire to stop. It's probably making my family crazy... ok, I KNOW it's making my family crazy. My 15 year old got a splinter last night.. before I tried to help her get it out I said "Oh, I saw a help for this on Pinterest." They all rolled their eyes and groaned... This is a common occurrence in my house lately.

I would curse the person who introduced me to Pinterest... except I am grateful. It sparks my creativity, my need to do something, and makes me feel like me. So to her, I say, THANK YOU!