Hello there!
How exciting to be invited to join in with this amazing collaboration. We have a whole week of really great blog posts for you. All you need to do is follow the links (which I've listed below) to see a host of new ideas and inspiration using some amazing PaperArtsy/Stencil Girl mash ups. In addition, we have an awesome GIVEAWAY for you to get you in the party mood. One lucky winner will receive a monumental $75 worth of Stencil Girl Products AND £50 of PaperArtsy products. Be still my beating heart! Too good to miss? You betcha! All the details and links you need are at the bottom of the page, so read on lovely people; I hope you'll enjoy what I made.
I had a folding chair which has been much used and much loved but could really do with an update. Our chair comes out if we need an extra garden chair or if we are going out for the day so I knew I wanted a travel theme. I chose PaperArtsy Hot Picks sets
1106 ,
1218 and
1206 together with
S307 Go Your Own Way With Arrows,
L361 Are We There Yet,
S161 Map 6 and
S126 Mimosa 6 Stencils (which I think looks a bit like tyre tracks). I was so impressed with how well everything works together and thoroughly enjoyed making my project.
Because this chair will be bumped about a bit, I decided to distress it a little just to save having to fuss about chipped paint. It will naturally distress more over time, which I like.
The cushion is made from some old shirts belonging to my husband (don't worry, I got them out of the rag bag, not out of his wardrobe :oD)
I used
Fresco Finish Paint by PaperArtsy throughout. The colours I used are
Haystack,
Slate,
Mermaid ,
Bora Bora and
South Pacific. To stencil the cushion, all I needed to do was add some
Golden Fabric Medium to the paint just before stencilling and then apply in the usual way (I used a stencil brush). This ensures the paint works into the fabric and I was really impressed with the results. Adding the fabric medium fixes the paint well enough that the fabric can be washed.
On the back of the cushion I stencilled and stamped before quilting the arrow shapes with my sewing machine
I did the stencilling using Slate Fresco Finish Paint mixed with some
Golden Fabric Medium, leaving gaps in the stencilling for my stamped images.
I was really pleased with how well the stamped images turned out. That is a testament to the quality of the red rubber stamps. You really do get a lovely crisp image with them. I used Archival Ink which I then set with a heat gun to make it permanent. Ink the stamp up really well and you should get a really nice clear impression.
Once I had stencilled and stamped all my fabric pieces, I joined them together so that I had two large squares just larger than the size of my cushion. I added a zip and, turning the two pieces of fabrics, so they were right sides facing, joined the two squares together to make a cushion cover - easy peasy. I also added ties to my cushion so that I can attach it to the chair.
For the chair itself, I sanded the whole chair lightly with fine grade sandpaper to prepare it for the paint.
I first painted parts of the chair with Seth Apter's
Midnight Fresco Finish Paint. The dark blue paint won't actually show until I sand back at the end but I like the contrast you get when you get hints of another colour showing through the top coat of paint. I then went ahead and painted the whole chair with two coats of Mermaid Fresco Finish Paint. Believe it or not, I managed to coat the whole chair twice using just one small pot of paint. Impressive huh!? I thinned the first coat down a little with water, but only a little and I use a large stencil brush to scrub the paint into the surface of the chair. It works really well and seems to make the paint go a really long way.
Now for the fun bit. I stencilled arrows all over the seat of the chair in
Bora Bora Fresco Paint
Next I added some lines of small yellow arrows in Haystack Fresco Paint. This ties it in with the cushion and adds a nice contrast with the blue. I also added some hints of yellow on the back of the chair to help pull everything together and break up the blue a bit.
Now for the stamping: I decided to stamp onto some good quality paper and decoupage it onto the chair rather than stamp directly onto the chair but you could do either. I stamped the images onto white paper and cut them out. I glued them onto the chair using heavy body gel medium and sealed them with a layer of gel medium over the top before leaving them to dry thoroughly. When dry I lightly sanded over the images and added another coat of gel medium which I left to dry again before sanding smooth. Now I could add my stencilled words and arrows with Slate Fresco Paint.
I left everything to dry for a couple of days and then sanded back areas of the chair for a distressed look. When I do this I tend to concentrate on the areas I know will wear naturally. Over time the piece will naturally continue to distress so it's constantly evolving.
When I was happy with everything I added a couple of coats of wax to the chair to seal everything and give a durable finish. I'm really pleased with how it looks and I know it will get years more use.
I hope you've enjoyed seeing how I made my project. Thanks so much for dropping by. The fun's not over yet. It's time to go to Kristie Taylor's blog
(Links to all blogs are below) for some more inspiration. Wait until you see what she's got in store for you.... You won't be disappointed.
GIVEAWAY
One lucky winner will receive a $75 Gift Certificate to StencilGirl Products
AND a £50 Gift Certificate for PaperArtsy!!
Visit the fabulous designers from both teams and comment for your chance to win!
The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!
(One comment per blog please.)
You have until Friday, December 30th at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.
Lx
