Bon Appetit ~ Again!

Hey, Everyone!  I was at Walmart the other day and came across these cute wooden signs for about $10 each.  I grabbed a few different sizes; one was a rectangle 10" x 12" and the others were 12" x 12", each in different finishes.  Some were stained dark and others had a white wash finish to them.  I sanded them down and put a coat of wax on top (I just used the Waverly Wax Coat found in the craft section with the chalk paint).  Doing this helps the Chalk Couture transfer adhere to the surface.  I decided to use my Bon Appetit transfer again.  That's the nice thing about these silkscreen stencils ~ with good care and cleaning, they can be reused up to 8 times.  Perfect if you are planning on using them for a sign decor business!  Vinyl stencils that can be made with a Cricut or Silhouette can only be used once and you have to cut a new one out, weed the excess and add transfer tape for each project.  This is sooooo much easier!

Anyway, here is my masterpiece for today!

I am going to coat this lovely masterpiece with some varnish and hang it on the pantry cupboard in the kitchen.

Thanks for stopping by!  Please check out all the lovely transfers, chalk pastes, inks and surfaces in my store and if you would like more information about joining, drop me a note! 

Sam 🌸

Shop here:  https://www.chalkcouture.com/samanthaburns

Read the Catalog: 2018 Autumn / Winter Collection

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Pumpkin Patch Truck

Hey, Everyone!  I don't know about you, but I am totally ready for Fall to get here!  I am not loving the heat and with all of the forest fires going on in BC, Washington, Idaho and California, the wind has shifted a lot of the smoke to the Willamette Valley here in Oregon.  I am very thankful to have air conditioning and lots of projects to keep me busy in the house!

For today's Chalk Couture project, I am using the Vintage Truck and Fall Add-on transfers on an Aiden Antique White 12" x 18" Chalkboard.  

Let's Chalk!

Here's the layout I chose.  I love everything pumpkin, so that's what I went with.  The set also includes transfers for corn, apples, and hay bale themes.  This transfer is very versitile!

I placed the bottom body of the truck first and used the Couture Teal chalk paste for the body color of the truck.

I used Orange Peel chalk paste for the pumpkin patch piece.  I love the texture on the words!

I unintentionally applied a thick layer of paste to the truck body and was taking a while to dry, so I grabbed the blow dryer and sped up the process!

Next came the arrow and the truck itself.  I had heard a few misgivings about this transfer and that it peeled up some of the chalk paste from the bottom layer.  I made sure I laid it gently on the surface and didn't apply extra pressure to the transfer.  My white chalk paste was a little thick and I should have thinned it out a bit with some water.  The truck turned out perfect and the transfer did not ruin the teal body of the truck!

Next came the pumpkins.  So cute!!

I used the blow dryer again to help the pumpkins dry faster so that I could add the stems.

After I added the stems, I decided to use the truck transfer again and use a brown chalk paste on the wood looking bed of the truck.  In hindsight, I wish that I didn't.  I liked it better with the white.  Oh, well ~ next time!  That's the nice thing about these transfers; they are reuseable up to about 10 times, so you will get LOTS of projects out of them!

Super cute!!

Love the texture on the words!

I think it turned out awesome and any little bits of finger and chalk marks were easily wiped away with a damp cloth.  I love it!  This is definitely mantle worthy!

Thanks for stopping by!  More Fall projects to come!

Bon Appetit

Have you ever looked at something you have had around the house for a very long time, whether it's a nick-nack or piece of furniture, and said to yourself "time for a change!"?  I have this plate and stand set.  The plate itself is plastic with a painted apple on it.  Cute, but dated.  I had it on top of a cupboard in our current kitchen, tucked in a corner, and I barely noticed it half the time.  I bought it online from Terry's Village (they are not around anymore, but I loved this store!) with a bunch of other cute nick-nacks about 15 years ago.  We had just moved into our brand new house and it was looking a little naked.  Terry's Village had a great clearance sale with lots of cute stuff, so I ordered a bunch of stuff to fill in the nooks and crannies of our new house.  I loved it all!  But, when I looked up to this plate last week, I thought it was the perfect canvas for a Chalk Couture project.

Let's chalk!

Well, here it is.  It was very cute, but like I said, dated.

The apple and decorations were hand-painted and some of the paint was raised and left texture marks that would stand out after I painted it.

So, I grabbed some fine sandpaper and gave it a good once over to take the paint down and remove the texture.

There, much better.  A little worse for wear looking, but it's smooth and ready for paint!

I used this chalkboard paint I found at Walmart and gave the plate a couple coats, front and back.  This gave the plate a good surface for the Chalk Couture transfers to adhere to without sticking too much.  Some glossy paints stick to the adhesive on the transfer and will ruin it.  You don't want that!

It was smoking hot out that day, so it didn't take very long for the paint to dry.  The instructions on the paint can say that it is fully cured overnight, but I'm pretty sure the 95°F heat sped that up!

I cut apart the transfer and went to work!  Here is the link to the Bon Appetit transfer at my store if you are wanting to do a project with it!

I took my time and cleaned the leaf transfers in between chalk paste colors.  Doing that let the colors dry before I overlaid it with another.

I added the olives around the leaves.  Each time I used the transfer, it left a different chalk impression and didn't look so perfect.

I did the first layer of the Bon Appetit transfer in a light grey color.  Then I cleaned up the transfer, dried it and applied it again, offset just a bit, and used the white paste.  This technique gave it a cute shadowed effect.  I only had a glossy sealant on hand to put overtop the chalk, but I think it still turned out great!  Matte or glossy, chalk paste projects look beautiful either way!

I found these cute utensil drawer pulls online and used some E6000 to adhere them to the plate.  This stuff is really stinky and needs to set up overnight.  I made the mistake of standing up the plate too early and the fork and knife started to slide down.  Yikes, that could have been bad!

Well, I am thoroughly impressed on how this project turned out!  The light yellow chalk I used matched the stand perfectly!  I love it when a plan (eventually) comes together!

                          

                 

Thanks for stopping by!