Trash2Treasure

From OUTDATED gaudy gold to UPDATED shabby chic!

trash2treasure — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:07:46 +0000

I lost the original picture of these little framed cherubs. (bought them quite some time ago!) They were on a bright turquoise velvet backing in the frames. I took them apart right away, and stashed them in my ‘Valentine stuff’ supply box until I was ready to work on Valentine stuff!

I also had these, shown as purchased; ceramic and painted gold.

And these, cast plaster painted gold.

And this single one, plastic painted gold. NOW, what to do with all that gold and gaudiness?!?!?

Paint them, of course! Spray paint would be my first choice for items as intricate as these. But being in the midst of monsoon season here in Oregon is prohibitive to outdoor painting. So plan B is use craft paints. More coats required and more time consuming, but it gets the job done! MY flash went off in the above photo and washed it out a bit, but you can see how I painted them an off white before ‘glazing’ them.

Did all of them with the same treatment; off white paint, then Ralph Lauren tobacco glaze.

GLAZING: First, generously apply the glaze, being sure to get it onto all the nooks and crannies. I really just SLOP it on!

Then I ‘stipple’ over the entire surface to remove some of the excess AND even it out over the entire surface.

Then with a rag (I prefer CLOTH to paper towels; old socks work great!) gently dab over the entire surface. This is where you create the contrast, leaving more glaze in the detail areas.

And now another look at the before and after glazing. A couple more glazing tips: work quickly, it dries fairly fast. If you look closely you can see that foot on the left is NOT glazed, YET! Leave yourself something to hold on to. Go back and glaze that after the whole thing dries. Once the glaze is dry, it’s permanent! So it’s better to remove too MUCH, as opposed to too little. You can always go back and add more if you need to.

And then you have to figure out what to DO with your shabby chic cherubs. I started rummaging through my stash of frames and happened upon these plaques from Dollar Tree; which I bought mostly because I liked the scroll on top, and intended to use for making collages.

So, I positioned one of the cherubs on the plaque to see if I liked the proportions before I started looking for new background paper. HEY!!! The cherub covers up the bird, AND the ‘BELIEVE’ saying works with the cherub theme!! Where’s my glue???

I did both of that set on the DT plaques.

Then, after looking at them while the glue dried I decided it needed a little something more, crowns! NOW they’re really done!

And the tiny cherubs with the frames just got a new backing (old dictionary pages) and glued back into their original frames. I thought about using vintage sheet music on these, especially since they are playing instruments. But the music pages were too big and bold of a pattern, and I wanted a more muted back ground.

I stayed away from Valentine specific colors/wording on these; so they are something that can be used year round. The small oval framed cherubs will be going into my etsy shop soon. The bigger plaques have gone to my space at Stars Antiques.

Etsy shop back up and running!

trash2treasure — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:10:01 +0000

Five pages of listings down and just a few more to go! Close enough to being done for the time being though. Take a peek! Right n ow I’ve got to get outside and take full advantage of the 2 sunny and dry days that are forecasted! I can’t even remember tha last time we had 2 dry days in a row. I have several painting projects I’m hoping to get done while it’s dry. And I need to sort through and organize the storage trailer while I can set stuff outside too. I’ll be back to the blog and my etsy shop when the rain returns on Sunday!

TEMPORARILY CLOSING MY ETSY SHOP

trash2treasure — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:49:48 +0000

Just for a couple of days, hopefully. I need to go over and edit and update the shipping prices on over 100 items, to accommodate the recent postage increase. In the meantime, only my e-books will be up for sale in my etsy shop. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Vintage wall pockets / vases

trash2treasure — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:15:25 +0000

This is an instance where all you have to change is the COLOR of an item to update it. Vintage wall pockets or vases like this are quite plentiful at rummage sales, thrift stores and estate sales.

I usually look at the INSIDE to decide whether or not to buy a certain one. There is often, ‘all kinds of crap’ in there from years of use that will need to be cleaned out. Usually a good soak in a sink of soapy water does the trick; but I have passed up some of questionable contents!

The EASIEST way to repaint these is with spray paint, but it’s not very good ‘outdoors painting weather’ here in Oregon right now; so I hand painted it with my craft paints. A couple of coats, then a bit of sanding. Alternatively, I could have used a glaze to bring out the detail instead of sanding.

The gold peeking through the turquoise turned out to be a good combination in this case, and I was happy with the result. But I have been known to go back and paint over a finish that was not to my liking!

I had a few others in my stash that were already painted. Just sanded this one a bit for the original white to show through.

The one above on the left had a lot of texture to it, so I used a dry brush technique on it.

Dry brushing just hits the high spots, leaving the indented parts their original color. I don’t remember what color this one was originally. I had spray painted it black last summer.

VERY lightly sanded some of the raised detail on this one.

They have all gone to my booth at Stars, and hung inside a frame with a couple of white wire baskets added.

SAVINGS ALERT!! 25% off storewide sale @ Michael’s craft stores (INCLUDING sale items!)

trash2treasure — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:56:45 +0000

If you’re signed up for their email list, you already know about this sale. For those of you who aren’t on the Michael’s email list (I suggest you sign up NOW, to get all their sale notices and bonus coupons) Here’s the skinny:

MICHAEL’S MADNESS EVENT

25% odd your entire purchase INCLUDING sale items (some exclusions, see coupon in store)

Today only; Sunday, January 22, 2012 from 4-8pm

And just in case you haven’t fully recovered from all the hectic Christmas shopping, don’t let the proclaimed ‘madness’ title scare you off. I TRY to buy as much of my supplies as possible ‘on sale’ so I hit these ‘% off everything’ sales as often as I can or need supplies; and it’s NEVER been a mad house. Pretty much like shopping any other day. (at least HERE in my area!)

Still, I always plan to arrive an hour BEFORE the sale starts to get my shopping done before it gets a little busier. Then I’m ready to check out right at 4:oo! This also leaves me enough time to hit a second Michael’s about 1/2 an hour away; if there is something I need MORE of.

Happy shopping! Happy SAVING!!

Pictures of recently made hearts

trash2treasure — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:01:32 +0000

Most of these shown are bigger, about HAND size hearts that I’m selling individually in my booth at Stars.

Adding some *tea* stained vintage lace, felt and quilt batting.

*I don’t use actual TEA for my stain. Recipe is sold on etsy.

LOTS of buttons!

It’s really quite relaxing, searching for ‘just the right button’ to fit in each spot and making sure they are all different.

Layers are stitched to the front piece, then buttons, before stitching front and back together and stuffing.

Little French knots added between buttons.

I’m really “into” the LAYERS this year.

Smaller ones are packaged in cello bags in sets.

What is DRY BURSH PAINTING??

trash2treasure — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:32:23 +0000

I get that question often enough to warrant a post/tutorial (of sorts! No pictures though)

You can see pictures of numerous previous posts where I used the dry brush technique here, if you need some visuals.

I use this technique as often as possible. It’s super fast and easy, and works on surfaces that have a lot of TEXTURE, that would otherwise take a lot of work to FULLY cover with paint. And you get about the same look as painting, then sanding to distress.

I remember learning to dry brush in the 5th grade. We could only use primary colors and had to paint one of the zoo animals that the teacher had put up pictures of. Back then I was NOT very artistic. I painted a blue elephant! Anyhoooooooooooooooo . . . dry brush painting IS so easy a 5th grader can do it. It’s actually easier to DO than it is to EXPLAIN! I wish I could SHOW you how. That would be the ideal way to learn.

Don’t dip your brush in any water and don’t load very much paint onto your brush.

Have a ‘blotter’ next to your paint container, dip JUST THE TIPS of your paint brush into your paint, then swoosh your brush around on your blotter to distribute that little bit of paint on your brush and make it nice and DRY. LIGHTLY, ever so lightly brush your first stroke across the surface of the item you are painting. You should get about 50% coverage; leaving 50% of the area it’s original color.

It’s easiest to do on TEXTURED surfaces, like woven baskets, wicker, rough cut wood with a lot of raised grain; because if you lightly apply your paint you will only hit the HIGH SPOTS.

Practice on a scrap piece of wood or the back or under side of a piece of furniture until you get the feel for it. OR buy an old basket for 99 cents at a thrift store and practice on that. Then you can use the basket as a gift basket later on. The secret is to have as little paint as possible on your brush. Remember, if you don’t get as much coverage as you’d hoped with the first stroke, you can always go back and add MORE. But if you get TOO MUCH on the first time, you can’t take it away.

Go look at the posts/pictures and you’ll have a much better idea. Happy painting!

Vintage baskets; basic brown to beachy blue

trash2treasure — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:13:22 +0000

Thrifted oval wicker trunk.

Thrifted wood slat picnic basket with cheesy PLASTIC eagle emblem, and solid wood top.

Removing the eagle was harder than I thought. A bit of collateral damage to cover up some how.

I ‘dry brush’ painted both baskets. LOVE dry brushing! Love how it looks AND how quick and easy it is to do! Took maybe a whole 15 minutes to paint each basket. My remedy for the damage from removing the eagle was to glue on a wood star and tie a strip of tea stained muslin around it.

Both baskets are for sale in my booth at Stars:

This oval one would actually make a nice little coffee table by adding a tray to the top.

Another wood slat basket with an open top, that I’ve had for a while atop the lidded one I just painted.

NEW in my etsy shop!

trash2treasure — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:46:57 +0000

Finally getting caught up on adding new product to my etsy shop too! Here’s a quick peek at what I just added:

More new signs in the works and coming soon.

Proposal gift sets!

And some ‘regular’ heart bowl fillers.

Some ‘new’ vintage goodies coming soon too!

1,111th post!!!

trash2treasure — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:17:16 +0000

My last post was my 1,111th post. Wow! I’m truly amazed that I have managed to find that much stuff to post about.

SO, what shall I do to commemorate this momentous occasion? How about a ‘top 11′ list?

I had actually put together a top 10 list a while back (before all the computer drama!) and set it aside to use on ‘one of those days’ when I couldn’t think of anything to post. Now if I can just FIND that list. Should be easy enough to come up with one more item to add to it. SO, here’s my top 11 list of things I ALWAYS look for (IF the price is right!) when I am out shabby shopping. These are MOSTLY things I am buying to sell in my booth, shows and on etsy; not personal collectibles.

AJ’S TOP 11 LIST OF MUST HAVES: (in no particular order)

1) Vintage /cream chenille bedspreads and embossed coverlets.

2) Eiffel Tower and Paris memorabilia

3) Little chairs; doll and child size.

4) Blank picture frames; just about any kind!

5) Vintage cherub vases and candle holders (any color – just paint them white!)

6) Clear apothecary jars.

7) Vintage suit cases; any size/color (I paint these too!)

8) Vintage picnic baskets.

9) Cloches

10) Little vintage foot/step stools

11) Vintage white dishes / Ironstone most preferable. Mostly look for: Large platters and serving dishes, soup tureens, pitchers and tea post, creamers and sugar bowls, gravy/sauce boats, canisters and crocks. Sub-collection of chicken/duck/swan stuff.