Feature Friday: The Lucas Moller Bench

Happy Friday!

It's such a dreary Oregon day here in Astoria today, hoping some of you have a slice of sun left.  I've got a lovely feature for you today courtesy of Rhoda at Blue Creek Home.

She rehabbed a cute little bench using some know-how and one of our stencils.

I love the distressed paint!  She used canvas for the upholstery and then tea stained it for a vintage look.

Then she applied our popular Lucas Moller stencil with grey paint to give it that grainsack look.  I love the way it came out!

Lucas Moller can be found in our feedsack section of the website, which you can access here. 

Here's the original post for this bench, it went to live at the Old Bank Antiques Mall with some equally beautiful pieces. 

Blue Creek Home has a great blog, which you can check out here. 

She also sells on Etsy and had some super cool made and found objects.  Check it out here. 

Etspiration Wednesday: Coffee!

I love coffee.  Cafe au lait the color of caramel.  Turkish coffee so thick a spoon could stand in it.  Fru fru lattes for when I need a sugar and caffeine pick me up.  I don't discriminate.  I think there's a time and place for coffee any way you brew it.  My mom and my sister both make a killer cup of coffee.  I think there's something about having someone else make you a cup of coffee that makes it more special.  Just like when I'm visiting home and my mom makes me a sandwich.  It's always better, you know?  Even if it's the same exact tuna fish I'd make at home. 

We found out we're going to have another little one, so my nose has been turning up at the smell of coffee these past few months.  It's very sad because I still love the idea of coffee, but my stomach wants nothing to do with it. 

So today I cruised around Etsy just thinking about coffee while I ate raisins.  It's all that sounds good lately, lol.  And pickles.  I'm such a cliche.

1A:  Bee Queen Coffee Mug Image Courtesy mudstuffing
1B:  Woodland Bird Coffee Sack Basket Image Courtesy BrinandNohl
1C:  Dutch Enamel Coffee Pot Image Courtesy NorthSeaVintage
1D:  Coffee Subway Art Stencil Image Courtesy Maisondestencils

 I am blown away by how cool mudstuffing's ceramics are.  You absolutely have to check out the Etsy shop.  Great stuff!

2A:  Coffee Handmade Wooden Sign Image Courtesy ShopHomegrown
2B:  Espresso Stencil Image Courtesy Maisondestencils
2C:  French Peugeot Coffee Mill Image Courtesy ShopYU
2D:  Burlap Coffee Sack Africa Pillow Image Courtesy TheWatsonShop

 This Peugeot coffee mill is just off the rails.  I love the color, love the emblem. 

3A:  Cappuccino Stencil Image Courtesy Maisondestencils
3B:  Recycled Burlap Coffee Tote Image Courtesy TheGreenBeanBag
3C:  Syracuse Railroad China Demi Tasse Cups Image Courtesy Diantiques

 I don't think anything really needs to be said about how gorgeous the print on this recycled coffee sack tote is in 3B.  Wow! 

4A:  3 Red Enamel Canisters Image Courtesy BrimfieldFinds
4B:  Coffee Items Red Tea Towel Image Courtesy tlane
4C:  Mrs Claus Coffee Shop Holiday Stencil Image Courtesy Maisondestencils
4D:  Cafe Au Lait and Beignets Print Image Courtesy NolaTawk

I dig this red tea towel in 4B, which has sort of a 2D poppy Jim Flora feel.  Would look great in a bungalow kitchen.

That's all I have for today.  Got a snazzy feature for you on deck for Friday.

Feature Friday: Musee D'Orsay Chairs

I've been really tardy with my posts lately.  I was all set to post this on Friday and then my toddler got the 24 hour flu.  Just when I thought my husband and I had escaped catching it, we both came down with it over the weekend.  I spent all weekend laying on the couch and I was exhausted from that.  On the plus side, we're all caught up on TV!

But we're all on the mend now and I have been waiting to share this awesome transformation with you guys.


Ange from Chair Up (great blog name!) took these balloon-back chairs from whoa to wow.

Gorgeous right?  Now check out the before pic!

That fabric, oh my goodness.  There aren't words.  So needless to say, just recovering the seats made a HUGE difference.  But she also painted the chair frame with a grey and white antique finish.  Looks amazing.

There's some great detail work on these chairs.  I love this floral carving and the shape of the legs.

Then she used our Musee D'Orsay stencil package (you get the address and scrollwork and the chair is separate) and did the chair in a muted grey, address in black.  Looks very sharp!

And then she made 4 of them!!  Don't they look marvelous at that dining room table?

You should absolutely check out Chair Up, it's a great blog.  Here's a link to the specific post I'm referencing here. 

Here's a link to our French section, which has the Musee D'Orsay stencil. 



Is it Tuesday already?  We'll be back tomorrow with our regularly scheduled Etspiration!

Have you gotten your pumpkin yet?  I think I'm going to paint a pumpkin this year instead of sacrificing my kitchen to pumpkin guts.  I saw this chevron pumpkin on Apartment Therapy that was too cute but there was no explanation as to how it was done.

I'm going to use this tutorial and report back!

Special Wednesday Post: Art Is Beauty Giveaway

Hey all!

Got exciting news for you today!  We have been featured on the blog Art is Beauty!

Karin, moderator for the blog, had a free cupboard door she transformed with CeCe Caldwell Paint and our 12x12 Cafe Des Artistes stencil.

It looks fab.  But the real reason I'm mentioning this to you is we're doing a giveaway on her blog!  If you pop on over, she has instructions on how 2 of her readers can win our stencils.  We're giving away one 12x12 and one 5.5x11.5.  Exciting!

Click here to check out the blog post with the giveaway info.

We'll be back on Friday for our regular feature post.  Sorry the blog has been so light these past few weeks, we've been swamped getting orders out.  (That's a good thing though!)

Until Friday!

Etspiration Wednesday: Something to Crow About!

Hiya everyone!

Back in Oregon after back to back trips to Arizona and California.  I missed my pine trees.  I missed feeling cold!  I got back yesterday and there were crows perched on every roof and high wire.  I don't know a surer sign of Fall in the Northwest than that.

Crows are such a mainstay in Primitive art.  We don't do as much with them as our designs have more of a French feel, but we do have quite a few holiday listings with crows in them.  Etsy, as you might imagine, is chalk full o' crows.  I did some browsing today to see what crow treasures I could find. 

Here's some great stuff!

1A:  Halloween Crow Pillow Image Courtesy 112FarmhouseLayne
1B:  Paper Mache Old Crow Box Image Courtesy HanwayMillHouse
1C:  Crows Gather Here Stencil Image Courtesy Maisondestencils

2A:  Three Crow Brand Allspice Tin Image Courtesy DownEastCollectibles
2B:  Primitive Halloween Burlap Bunting Image Courtesy SweetMeas
2C:  1851 Hand Colored Bird Plates Image Courtesy LandofNodStudios
2D:  Roland Bauer Feedsack Stencil Image Courtesy Maisondestencils

3A:  Primitive Crow Candle Holder Image Courtesy HitOrMissTreasures
3B:  Blank Crow Note Cards Image Courtesy NatureGoods
3C:  Potting Shed Stencil Image Courtesy Maisondestencils

4A:  Farm Fresh Pumpkins Stencil Image Courtesy Maisondestencils
4B:  Halloween Silhouette Pillow Covers Image Courtesy TheBobbinsNest
4C:  Crow Handpainted Ceramic Mug Image Courtesy OtisRein
4D:  Hitchcock The Birds Sign Image Courtesy ZietlowsCustomSigns

See you on Friday for a wonderful feature!

Feature Friday: The Thorsten Eckart Pillow

Good Morning Everyone!

We have been so busy with our 20% sale.  Just in case you aren't on our mailing list, right now all our stencils are 20% off now through Sunday.  Just use code: stockup20 when checking out on our website!

I wanted to show you guys this great pillow though, courtesy of FunkyShique.

FunkyShique makes these out of feedsack inspired fabric as they are bed pillows.  The fabric has a more soft feel, which I can appreciate.  I don't think I'd want to lay my weary head on a grainsack.

She sells these in her etsy shop as a single listing and a two pillow listing.

They look just perfect on that bed!


Thorsten Eckart is one of our German Feedsack stencils, I just love it.  You can check out it and it's other German brethren in our Feedsack category.  

Here's a link to the listing for this item in FunkyShique's Etsy shop.  You should totally check out her Etsy shop, it is filled with amazing stuff!

Feature Friday: The Bordeaux Headboard

Hi Readers!

Sorry for the late post, we've been so busy lately!  I wanted to show you another in-house project Laura did.  We have a wonderful client who requested a custom design of a Bordeaux Wine Label.  Well we designed it all and cut it and the first version turned out to be an "oops" stencil where we goofed up on an R.  Now we couldn't send it with a flaw like that, so we had to redo the stencil and mail that version. 

That left us with a 99.9% perfectly great 24x24 stencil, which seemed terrible to just toss in the trash.  So Laura decided to redo the headboard in one of her bedrooms with it.  Check it out.

Great, right? 

Here's how she did it, wish I had a few more process pics for you!

She roughed up the headboard with sandpaper so the paint would adhere better (it was just a plain wooden headboard).  Then she glued on the scallop-work that's at the top and bottom corners.  (I call that stuff gingerbread, not sure if it has an actual name). 

She painted an undercoat with a taupe base color.  Then she applied Folk Art Crackle Medium.   Next came that deep blue top coat.  She sanded the edges to expose some of the taupe base coat and then stained the edges with a wood stain.   The gingerbread got a coat of Folk Art metallic bronze paint. 

That left her at this point.  Do you see how cloudy the top coat is right now?  There are a few options to rectify that.  You can spray on sealer, which we have done many times.  I have problems with spray paint and so does Laura.  I have a really heavy hand and I almost always get a blotchy seal and drips from spray paint.  What Laura did here was brush on Modge Podge for a sealant and it worked great. 

Big difference, right? 

We just loved this custom, so we wanted to share with you.  This is an exclusive design and not for resale, but if you are ever interested in having custom work done, just shoot us an email. 

Hope the rest of your weekend is swell.  I'm sitting here getting caught up on work and listening to Ray Charles.  Doesn't get much better than that!  :)