Feature Friday: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Books

Technically it's Saturday, but it's been that kind of week.  :)

I just had to share with you guys, the lovely ladies at Annie Sloan Unfolded are using our stencils. 

Their most recent post highlights how you can use stencils and Annie Sloan products to create amazing antiqued books that look like they time traveled from the days of Gutenberg.  Gorgeous stuff. 

Debbie Dion Hayes did these books and I must say, they are stunning!

Also I learned from this blog post that Annie Sloan is making fabric now.  Like I needed another amazing product to spend $$ on!

So the process here is that you get a book, Goodwill would be a treasure trove for this.

Paint the book with Annie Sloan Graphite (2 coats), let dry.

Stencil with Annie Sloan Old White.  As far as I can tell, the stencils used here are Ave Des Champs Elysees SKU 551 - Chateau Gothic SKU 705 - Marche Aux Puces SKU 641.

Wax with Clear Soft Wax and Buff, Wax with Dark Soft Wax and Buff.

Dip a finger with Silver Gilding Cream and run along book edges.

I think the Gilding Cream is really what takes it to the next level.  These just look amazing.

Also, if you're considering becoming an Annie Sloan stockist, you get to use our stencils in your training class.  How cool is that?! 

All the stencils used in this project can be found in our French category. 

If you want to check out the original post, look no further than Annie Sloan Unfolded. 

Have a lovely weekend.  It's grey here, but not currently raining and we're supposed to have a 48 hour stretch of no rain.  Thus begins the eternal dilemma for Coastal Oregonians, do I paint or not paint?  The winter here is rough on a house, I repaint our porch and sills every spring. 

My little boy has been standing at the window and staring this morning so maybe we'll just go for a walk!  :)

Stencils Are Like Donut Holes

They are, trust me.  Delicious little confections, donut holes!  Are they really the leftover dough?  Probably not, but I like to think that every part of the donut is being used.

Have you ever thought about what happens to all the stuff we cut out of our stencils?  Where does it go?  Say you buy a fleur de lis stencil.  You essentially receive a square sheet with a fleur de lis cut out of it.  Which means that here in stencil production land, we have a fleur de lis donut hole.  A leftover part.  We cut a LOT of stencils every day, so we have lots of these donut holes.

I hear you asking, what do you do with all those little bits?

Well, we recycle a lot of the boring stuff.   In a perfect world, I would collect every letter and have a bin where all the like letters could go and if you wanted, I could send you a big bag of Es or a giant tub of Rs.  I think that'd be neat.  But please, I have a 2 year old.  I'm lucky if I get to vacuum and get my teeth brushed!

My confession is that I save all the neat stuff.  All our animals, our crowns, big chairs and chandeliers.  We have these wonderful neighbors next door and one of our neighbors works at the local shoe store, Gimres.  (Do visit if you live in Oregon, it's the oldest shoe store in the Western US and has wonderful shoes).  Gary, our shoe selling neighbor, has taken a lot of our floral bits to use in displays.

I think we need a stencil with a shoe graphic so we'll have leftover shoe bits for his next display!

A lot of my stencil donut holes I save to ambush my husband's office.  We had a run on Easter stencils this past month, and rabbits multiplied all over his desk over night!  

Special shout out to Embellish and Restore - who bought a few of our small horse graphics set recently.  I corralled those wild stallions to hang out on my husband's laptop today.   Whoa Nelly!

Hope you all are doing well!  We're busy busy with sales and I try to post every so often.  Keep sending in those pictures of your finished products, we'll get to them all in due time.  I've got a great project on deck for Friday.

All the best!

Feature Friday: Monika Wagner

Guten Tag und Glücklicher Freitag (that last bit means Happy Friday!)

We just had to share a fabulous set of stenciled things from one of our lovely German crafters, Monika Wagner.  She's got a Dawanda shop, which is basically like German Etsy, as far as I can tell.

Look at the treasures:

Pinboard using our Musee D'Orsay Address Stencil

Our Simple Family and Friends Stencil on a Leather Satchel

Key Collector with our Chateau Villandry Stencil

How great are these?  I love the satchel and I never would have thought to stencil on that!  She also has a bunch of amazing found objects, you should absolutely pop on over and check them out.

Thanks to Monika for letting us feature her wares!

Keep your eyes peeled for a promo code coming up this weekend.  We'll advertise it on our Facebook and Twitter as well.

Take care!