Category Archives: shabby chic

Shabby chic magazine/file holder

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This is the time of year where I really try to get rid of or use some of my stash that I have accumulated over the years.  I love Anna Griffin papers and I had wanted to use them in some scrapbook pages but they didn’t really match any of my photographs so I thought I would just sell them or swap them at my next scrapbook crop.  But I then thought I would decorate my numerous plain magazine or file holders and that way I would still get to look at the pretty papers.  The holder is made of thin wood so I painted them first with white gesso then applied some pink rose and ivory emulsion very haphazardly inside and out.  I cut the patterned papers to fit leaving a tiny borfer around each section then using PVA stuck them each side.  When everything was completely dry I then sanded the edges and parts of the images to distress them and get a softer shabby chic look.  I might need to give them a coat of sealer but I am really glad I didn’t get rid of my Anna Griffin papers after all.  Only another 17 more to cover!

Printers drawer project (ongoing)

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Remember this printers drawer from Last year?  Well it now looks like the picture below.
In my first post about this project I said that I would keep the look of the wood, just clean it up a bit and not paint it.  Ha ha as you see I have changed my mind slightly (master of understatement!).  First of all I cleaned it, sanded it then painted it all over with a mix of Deep sung cream and Dark truffle.  Not one single piece of wood is actually straight and each section is a different size.  I did try to take out individual pieces of wood in order to increase some of the sections but this just broke the wood as they are all nailed in (at an angle).  Once it was all painted I added Tim Holtz tissue tapes, bits of stamped tissue paper and old adverts over the sides and edges.  I still didn’t quite like the result so changed my mind and went down the route of shabby chic.  The sections are quite small so I will be using the drawer to display some of my miniature mice and other such little items.

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I painted it all white then pale blue and did a bit of sanding again so that some of the wood, tissue tape and adverts would still show through in places.  I have added some patterned paper to some sections and left some blank.

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Here is a wee close up of one section which I will display a tiny pewter bird in nest pill box.

It is all taking rather a long time to do as I have found it rather difficult to position the tray in such a way to paint it without getting sore shoulders in the process.
Once it is all finished and on the wall I will take a few more photos.