Another little Cradle: Antoinette

diy art for kids rooms, diy canvas art, mod lodge canvas letter art, music quote art

Singing in the Rain: Canvas Art

12 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in Canvas Art, Crafts, DIY for Kids Rooms, DIY projects

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My three-year-old son loves singing and probably before he was even two, he decided that Gene Kelly’s Singing in the Rain was his favourite song. He loves to watch the clip of Gene Kelly on youtube and has more than once been caught outside with an umbrella singing the song and imitating him… it’s seriously cute, and no, I have not yet been able to catch it on video (his impromptu bursts of song always catch me unprepared). I wanted to somehow incorporate this song into art for his bedroom. I can’t take any credit for this idea – it’s one I pinned from Southern Belle Soul Mountain Bride Heart. I just put my own spin (or tune) on it! I used some of my sons’ favourite lines from the song: I’m laughing at clouds (so dark up above); the sun’s in my heart (and I”m ready for love); Dancing and singing in the rain.

I had four blank canvases that I had purchased at Michaels’ a while back - one of which I used for my Pottery Barn Santa. I loved the idea of using wood, but had these available and they were the size I wanted, so I decided to use them instead. I also had on hand one roll of music note wrapping paper that I had picked up from Ikea at Christmas. I love this paper and wish I had bought more… there are so many things you could use it for! I used mod podge to stick it to the canvas and basically wrapped each frame like a present.

As you can see, I tried a few different colours of wrapping paper, but ended up liking the music sheet best and ended up re-doing the other one. I bought some vinyl letters (3 inch I believe) and carefully placed them where I wanted them and painted over top. One word of advice – if you are going to do this, I would strongly recommend buying at least two packages of letters. I only bought one and quickly realized that I did not have enough of the letters I needed, so I had to do the canvas in sections. It was a pain!! All in all I’m happy with how they turned out and I like having something personal like this in my son’s room. I think he does too!Almost time for a haircut!!

I think my favourite part of this project is that the music note paper shows through in words of the song. How fitting!Sharing here:

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doll cradle, painted doll cradle, shabby chic doll cradle, stencilled doll cradle

A Cradle Fit For a Doll

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in ASCP Projects, furniture

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My little niece celebrated her first birthday last week and I got this doll cradle painted for her just in the knick of time! It was already a creamy white to begin with, but a little blah, so I layered it with Duck Egg Blue and then distressed it a bit. I added the bird stencils, and then waxed it. It matches her rocking chair which I posted about last year, I think that one was for Christmas. I can’t wait to see a picture of her playing with new baby doll in it!

Shabby Art Boutique

chalk paint, FAT paint, french upholstered chair, grain sack upholstered chair, shabby chic painted chair, vintage painted chair

Another Chair And Some New Chalk Paint

30 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in Chairs, Chalk Paint Projects, DIY projects, FAT Paint Projects, finding furniture at thrift stores, furniture, Upholstery

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I had a lovely visit to New Westminster the other day. For those of you not familiar with Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, New Westminster is well known for it’s antique shops along Front Street. I took the kids bike riding along the Quay and then we stopped in to meet the lovely Victoria at the new FAT Paint flagship store. I absolutely love the space for their new store - all exposed brick – it’s just beautiful. I picked up a couple of new colours as well, Jute and Antique Wedgewood. We also popped into a thrift store a few blocks away and I found this chair. Here it is crammed into my trunk along with the bikes and stroller (hehe).

I haven’t been entirely happy with my office chair – not only the colour scheme I chose, but I’ve also discovered that it’s a little bit too high for my desk and I’m getting a back ache when working at the computer.

I love the curved lines of this other one and tried it at my desk and it’s a much better height. I decided to try painting this in the Antique Wedgewood. I love this colour and it coordinates really well with my kitchen. I only used one coat and then distressed it and waxed it with clear and dark wax. Like my Baked Freshly sign? I just got it in the mail from Decor Steals. I’m waiting until I repaint the kitchen (a slightly lighter blue) to hang it.I’m loving it. I still think I’m going to paint the other one in a different colour… maybe Jute?!

Happy Easter everyone!!

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The Shabby Art Boutique

Redoux

antibes end table, antibes green, antibes green end table, antibes table, ascp antibes table, painted end table green

Antibes Side Table

24 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in ASCP Projects, DIY projects, End Tables, furniture

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A few weeks ago I left this table at the thrift store, and when I went back a week later it had been reduced to 50% off, so I picked it up!

I felt like something bright and cheery was in order… antibes is a colour I’ve been wanting to try for a while and it felt like a good choice for spring.I think it looks nice with my fern too! I used dark wax to tone down the green a little and give it some dimension.

Cheery isn’t it?

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ASCP chairs and table, chalkboard backsplash, DIY Chalkboard Backsplash, french inspired kitchen, shabby chic chairs, west elm owl salt and pepper shakers

My Chalkboard Backsplash And Some New {Old} Kitchen Chairs

14 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in Chairs, Chalkboard Paint Projects, Decor, DIY projects

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It seems like forever since I last posted. I’m sure it’s been less than two weeks, but in the blog world, that seems like forever. I have been busy working on a few different projects, but just haven’t had the time or energy to upload and edit photos. Sometimes these things just have to be put on hold for awhile (I’m sure you can all relate)!

I thought I’d give you a tour of my kitchen… I’m planning on a few changes in here – the walls and ceiling both need new coats of paint - I like the colour and think I will stick with a fairly similar shade of blue. The most recent “update” is the new chalkboard backsplash. The backsplash and countertop is laminate that was installed in the 70′s. I’m not a big fan of laminate, and the colour doesn’t make it any more appealing in my opinion. A few years ago, I painted over the laminate with the same paint I used for the walls (sorry, no photo). It held up quite nicely, but was starting to show wear in a few places, so I figured it was time for a change. I applied three coats of chalkboard paint - no primer! I think it’s a big improvement and am loving my French Menu!! The countertops are really bugging me now though!! I’m not sure what to do with them… I’d love to see some butcher block there and maybe a new farmhouse style sink, but I will have to do some more research. The cupboards also need hardware – I”d like to find some simple black knobs.

I’m a big Decor Steals addict… like my countertop storage? I’ve also ordered the black and white bakery sign and can’t wait to hang it somewhere in the kitchen.

I absolutely adore my West Elm owl salt and pepper shakers.

I realized when I was photographing the kitchen that I forgot to post about my new chairs. I picked these up on Craigslist a couple of months ago and painted them to match my pedestal table.

One of my next projects in here will be a drop cloth ruffle valance for the window. The pictures on the wall also need to go, and the fridge needs to be moved to where my desk is, but I’m getting too far ahead of myself, so we’ll save it for another post!I’m also toying with the idea of installing some Ikea shelves {with drawers} on the wall to house some of my daughters’ art supplies. I’m not super fond of storing it all on top of the fridge, but right now there’s no better alternative. We’ll see…Sharing here:

diy upholstered chair, diy upholstery, grain sack chair, grain sack furniture, shabby chic chair

Grain Sack Upholstered Chair

02 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in Chairs, furniture, Uncategorized, Upholstery

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I picked this chair up recently at my favourite thrift store and couldn’t wait to start painting and upholstering it. I recently purchased some grain sack inspired fabric from Decor Steals, and have been looking for a chair that would work for my computer desk. The fabric has a blue stripe, and I wanted the chair to have layered blue underneath, so I painted the base coat in a mixture of blue acrylic paints around the house. I don’t normally paint furniture with acrylic paint, but wanted to use what I already had on hand and figured since this was only a base coat, it would work just fine. After one thick coat of blue, I painted over it in ASCP Old White. I did 2 coats of this and then distressed it quite heavily, so that the blue would be quite visible. Then I started on the upholstery. These types of chairs are very easy to do. I bought a piece of foam, which they cut to size for me and used a little spray adhesive to attach it to the chair base. Then I added some batting to the top and stapled the batting on the underside. It must have been my lucky day at the foam store… the owner was having some surveillance cameras installed and I think didn’t want to bother ringing in one piece of foam, because she said it was “on the house”! I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before! She also gave me a huge piece of free batting.I positioned my fabric with the stripe running down the centre of the seat, and then began by putting one staple on each of the four sides. I’ve always found corners a bit tricky, but if you cut a little triangle out (see below) I’ve found it gets rid of unneeded fabric and makes it easier to staple.Here it is now with a coat of wax and the seat re-attached. I’m not sure that I’m loving it… I’m wondering if it would look better with white as the base coat and blue on top? I can’t make up my mind, so I think I’ll live with it for a few weeks and see what happens. I’m leaning toward repainting it though… Any suggestions?

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Photo by: Vintage Charm Restored

My Favourite Thrift Store

17 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in furniture, Thrifting

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Decor and Design, Furniture, goodwill, Home and Garden, Paint, thrift store finds

As many of you already know, thrift stores can vary greatly in the kinds of things they carry. Some are better for clothing, others for books or toys, and yet others for furniture and home decor. In Vancouver, I have my favourites that I try to hit regularly, but there’s one that always seems to have the best selection of furniture. It’s also the store that is just a little bit out of my regular route and has very hard to find parking! I was able to pop in this weekend, however, and was not disappointed.

One of the first pieces I spotted was this waterfall dresser. I’m not a huge fan of this style, but I did like the detailing on the top drawer and even though you can’t see in the photo, this dresser is on castors, which I love. The hardware is falling off, but that’s no big deal as it would be replaced anyway. It’s quite scratched, but overall in pretty good condition. I could just picture this in MMS Flow Blue Milk Paint with a lovely chippy finish. I didn’t take this one home with me, but was tempted! It’s still bothering me a little that I left it… maybe it’s still there. I’ve been looking for an armless chair for several weeks now to use with my small secretary desk. This one caught my eye and was in great shape. All it needs is some paint, new foam and fabric – an easy update. I took this one home. These little side tables caught my eye as well. I love the legs on the little one. That’s a piece of marble (I think) on top, which has come unglued. I’m not sure if I like the larger one, but it could look good repainted in the right space. I think this is a sideboard… I like the glass door in the centre with the detailing. The two different sized drawers would be great for storing cutlery, or possibly media storage. I think this would look lovely in a pure white or even something vibrant like the La Craie St. Anne (see below).

I totally fell in love with this little secretary (in fact I didn’t leave it’s side until I flagged down the store clerk to let her know that I wanted this). This desk is child sized and my daughter immediately commented that she could put all her art “stuff” in the drawers. She was quite excited about the whole thing until I told her this meant that we will have to let go of another piece of furniture in her room to make room for this one. Tough choices! Needless to say, this baby came home with us.

Here’s some of the other pieces I’ve picked up here in the past:

My Coffee Table with Storage

Secretary Desk
Damask Cane Chair
French Provincial Coffee Table Not too shabby!

All in all a very successful day at my favourite furniture thrift store!

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Cork Trivet Mouse Pad

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in DIY projects, Image Transfers and Stencils

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cork trivet mouse pad, diy mouse pad, diy stencilled mouse pad, Martha Stewart, Mousepad, Trivet

I love an easy DIY, and this is about as easy as it gets! I’ve been doing without a mouse pad for some time now (I can never find ones I like), and I finally had enough! I picked up a round cork trivet at the Dollar Store and within minutes had this:

This is something you can do even if you have only 10 minutes to spare. I used one of my Martha Stewart Stencils from Michael’s and used Bella Blue chalk paint (FAT paint). I stencilled both sides, which turned out to be a good idea because I quickly discovered that the mouse sticks too much to the cork (pictured above) and the bottom surface of the trivet was sliding around on my desk…. so now I’ve turned it over and use it with the cork side down. The cork sticks nicely!

I’m still getting used to my new iMac, but I’m slowly figuring it out.

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Another Rocking Chair

10 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in Uncategorized

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Happy Lunar New Year! I can’t believe it’s almost mid February! For the past several weeks our household has been plagued with virus, strep throat, and various cold and coughs. Is it just me, or has this winter been worse than ever for being bombarded with nasty bugs? Lets just say that I’m happy it’s a long weekend (our first Family Day holiday) here in B.C.! We had a beautiful day here in Vancouver, which was a nice surprise! We even got out for a walk, and I was also able to finish sanding some chairs for our kitchen.

Speaking of chairs, here’s another children’s rocking chair that I painted for my niece Juno.

Livia helped me with the layering. We did one coat of Old White ASCP, followed by about one-and-a-half coats of Duck Egg Blue. She is a good student. I’ve taught her how to make sure she gets off the excess paint from the brush before sweeping it onto the chair, and how to hold and angle the brush to get the best coverage. I enjoy sharing in these projects with her, and I can see that she gets a similar feeling of satisfaction from getting “…lost in the making of something” {Kelly Doust, Fun Family Crafts: 2011}. I love that description - lost in the making of something – I recently picked up Fun Family Crafts at Costco and love how Doust describes the importance that creativity and crafting plays in ones ability to internally create feelings of contentment and pleasure, as well as connection with others (2011). What a great skill to have and to teach!I think Juno likes her chair, however she doesn’t use it as intended… she uses it as a walker, pushing it around on the hardwood. Yup… she’s a going concern!!

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DIY Bulletin board, Reverse Stencil, reverse stencil bulletin board, reverse stenciled cork board

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Reverse Stenciled Bulletin Board

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in DIY projects, Image Transfers and Stencils

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For Christmas I DIY’d this little bulletin board for my sister and her husband for their home office area. I love reverse stencils and wanted to incorporate a “nature” theme, as it fits with their home decor as well as the lovely natural surroundings of Vancouver Island where they have a beautiful new home.
This was an easy DIY. I picked the bulletin board up at a local thrift store, but you can also find cheap cork board at the dollar store, Staples and craft stores. I liked that this one has a substantial wooden frame.

If I were to do this over, I would have painted the frame first… I’m not sure why I didn’t! I applied the wall decal and carefully pulled it up and re-arranged it until I got it in the right spot. You’ll also notice some holes in the cork, near each corner. I filled these with wood filler and sanded them down.I used 2 to 3 coats of latex eggshell paint to cover the cork and wall decal. Any imperfections in the stencil when I pulled off the decal, were filled in with a small brush.

Still not sure why I decided to paint the frame last! I lightly distressed and waxed the frame.

Here it is! I like the cork showing through, similar to reverse stencils over wood grain on furniture.

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chalk paint mason jar, mason jar soap dispensers, mason jars, painted mason jars, painted soap dispenser, shabby chic soap pump, vintage soap dispenser

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More Mason Jar Soap Dispensers in Layered Chalk Paint

21 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in DIY projects, Mason Jars

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I posted these on my facebook page last week and thought I’d share them here too. I’ve been making more of my mason jar soap dispensers and playing around a bit with colours and layering chalk paint, instead of spray painting them.

Aqua (my own custom mix) layered with Duck Egg Blue:

Mix of Graphite and Old White with Old White on top:

Aqua layered with Old White:

Mix of Graphite and Old White (No layering):

I think my favourite so far is the Duck Egg Blue. I think next I will try a few with my new FAT Paint in Caribbean Blue and Bella Blue! I’ve added them to my Etsy Store, which I finally got around to adding on the sidebar!

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diy painted grain sack chair, diy painted grain sack stripes, french inspired rocking chair, grain sack furniture, grain sack inspired chair, shabby chic children's rocking chair

Grain Sack Rocking Chair

17 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in DIY projects, furniture

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Well you know what they say… imitation is the best form of flattery! I am a huge fan of European grain sacks, so when I saw this dresser on Pinterest I absolutely fell in love with it… and UMMMM, well… copied it! Isn’t it gorgeous?! Kathleen of Musings From A French Cottage is certainly very talented. I also love the hardware she chose – the black is such a nice contrast with the red and old white.

The victim for my version was this little rocking chair that my daughter spotted at one of our thrift store “stops” during the summer. It was in rough shape. Literally. The seat had a very bumpy surface with many small cracks in the wood. I covered it with a huge amount of wood filler and gave it a good sanding. Can you spot the dead spider?

Little Ugly Duckling Jr. then helped me paint it in ASCP old white. We used painters tape to add the grain sack stripes with red acrylic paint. I distressed the whole thing and then used my new FAT Paint bees wax to finish it off. I also happened to have a No. 7 stencil (similar to the one on the grain sack dresser – although I think the talented Kathleen did it free hand), and I’m loving it!!

Do you love grain sacks as much as I do?

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Tatertots and Jello

diy cutting board, french cutting board, French Graphic cutting board, graphic transfers, refinished cutting board, vintage cutting board, wood burning graphic transfer, wood burning tool

French Cutting Board Upcycle

05 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in DIY projects, Image Transfers and Stencils

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Happy New Year everyone! I thought I’d start off the year with a little DIY project using a wood burning image transfer technique. I really hate it when I forget to take BEFORE PHOTOS! It always seems to happen when the “after” is {in my mind anyway} very dramatic. I really could kick myself for NOT snapping a photo of this little cutting board my mom asked me to salvage for her.

It was heavily varnished with some very ugly little flowers painted on it. I wasn’t sure if it was even worth tackling, but I decided to sand it down anyway and at least strip off the varnish and paint. I thought it would look good with a graphic on it, but didn’t want to paint it or use a lot of ink, because I wanted the end product to be food safe. I ended up transferring a the graphic lightly using Citra Solv and then used my Versa Tool to burn the image into the wood (my hope being that this process would burn off the ink and simply leave the darkened wood). The image is one of my favorites from the Graphics Fairy. The wood smelled so nice as I was burning it!

The Versa Tool is very handy. I picked it up last year at Michael’s and it includes a stencil cutting tool (hot) as well as a wood burning attachment. I’ve used it a lot, but this is one of the first times I’ve used the wood burning attachment. I like that the image is REALLY permanent – nothing except some heavy sanding is going to fade the image.

This year one of my goals is to get rid of all the plastic cutting boards in my kitchen and replace them with wooden ones. I think this wood burning tool will come in handy…

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Ikea Hack – Reverse Stencilled Stepstool

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by Ugly Duckling in CeCe Caldwell Paint Projects, DIY projects, Image Transfers and Stencils

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diy Ikea hacks, diy Ikea painted step stool, ikea hack step stool, Ikea step stool, painted ikea stool, reverse stencilled Ikea step stool, Wall decals

Happy New Year everyone! I’m excited about sharing a few projects that I couldn’t publish before Christmas, because they were gifts (so I had to be hush, hush)! You may all know by now that I love Ikea, so what better way to start off 2013 than by showing you how to hack an Ikea stepstool and really customize it to your decor. This wooden Ikea stool runs about $18 and is real wood, not MDF (woohoo!!).

I wanted to personalize it for my niece, so I went with some branch/bird wall decals that I picked up at the dollar store, and paired those with some CeCe Caldwell paint in a soft Kentucky Mint green. The stool did not need any sanding, so I just applied the decals and re-arranged them a little until I got the look I liked.

Then I painted directly over them with two coats of CeCe Caldwell.

After the second coat, I carefully removed the decals and used my fingernail to gently push out any small areas where the paint bled under the decal. After the paint was completely dry I lightly distressed some of the stools edges and applied two coats of satin poly acrylic. DONE! I really like the wood grain showing - this is the cool thing about reverse stencilling.

I might just have to go and pick one up for myself – this stool is the perfect height for a vertically challenged person like me to reach the top cupboards in the laundry room!

Have you ever done an Ikea hack?

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