Sorry I’ve been MIA…I have a post I’ve been meaning to publish about the simple pleasures enjoyed on my trip back to CT, but you know how it is when you return back from a week long trip: you hit the ground running once you return and this last week was no exception.
In addition to catching up on orders, I knew I needed to beef up my display at The Barn, so I spent some time this weekend making more magnets (strangely my most popular item there the past two weeks), creating new items and upcycling thrift store finds and painting/embellishing old goods to make them new again. (Full disclosure, my photos are pretty awful, but I was either in a hurry, forgetting to take photos along the way or trying to dodge customers on a busy holiday, so please bear with my pitiful photos!).
So I painted over a bunch of thrift store frames with chalk paint (a great all-in-one, meaning no stripping/priming needed, paint that is great for distressing; and I painted inside because the huge wildfire in New Mexico made for a very smoky day that would have killed my lungs and eyes and this paint is non-toxic and doesn’t smell one bit)…
And for the large frame, I added strings of wire…
Which I then hung some vintage inspired magnets in my booth:
I made two new paper cone wreaths, including this star-shaped one (which I’m now not sure should be considered a wreath?)
Embellished simple ho-hum buckets with some paint, distressing and vintage hardware…
Painted some chicken wire baskets and whitewashed/embellished a birdhouse that was originally painted in hideous colors…and even painted and distressed this awful looking thrift store find:
Into this (wish I took more photos of the top but just got so busy and forgot…but the curves/lines and legs on this baby looked great painted over):
(Note I forgot to add the hardware knob prior to taking this picture! Ay, it was a bad weekend for photos; will try to remember to take more before, during and after photos next time!) This is my first piece of painted/distressed furniture (after spending a year reading/learning/following blogs and practicing on frames and smaller objects). That’s it. I’m addicted and can’t stop looking at furniture in thrift stores and imagining how I can turn pieces into something new!
After we reset my booth and added new items, we spent the rest of the day antique shopping and hitting up all the thrift stores on our path as many of them had 50% storewide sales because of the holiday. Even ran into Mondo, the winner of Project Runway All Stars in a Denver thrift store! Found a lot of great things and will share later in the week.
If you follow my artwork and are wondering why I haven’t posted anything recently, it’s because I haven’t painted in several weeks. If you’ve followed me for a while you know that I’m not a paint-every-day kind of girl. I have ebbs and flows…weeks of massive creation followed by sometimes long breaks. I’m a creative girl and painting/collaging is just one of the many things I do to feed my creative inclinations (as evidenced above). Sometimes I just feel like focusing on papercrafting, sometimes its painting things (rather than painting art), sometimes it’s cooking/baking; I try to follow my muse and wherever it takes me. So my artwork will probably come back to me in a wave in the near future. For now, I’m having fun going back to my roots and upcycling/making new uses out of old things.
Hope you all had a nice long weekend!
