Fancy Smancy Frenchy Table

Gee, I haven't posted anything new since 2013. Oh, I've started at least 3 new posts that never got finished, and now here we are into April. Time sure does fly!

You can usually tell my excitement for Spring by my anticipation for blooming flowers in my gardens, especially after the long, snowy winter we've just had this past year.  

We STILL have a 2 tiny piles of snow left in our yard, & no, we didn't just get hit with that snowstorm that Minnesota & the Dakotas (& Canada) just got a week or so ago (thank you Lord!)

 

Of course, these piles are from the massive piles that my husband created from plowing our driveway & we live in the woods, so the shade from the trees help to keep them around even longer than usual.

I do have some very tiny flowers blooming right now, so that's good to see!

These little blue ones are some escapees that I need to transplant somewhere else. I've learned that these will spread like crazy if left unchecked! I want them by the edge of my woods, behind my garden shed where they can just "go to town!"

My poor looking Rhododendron tree took a hard hit from the long term freezing temps. It's looking pretty rough! I wonder if I'll get very many blooms on it this year? It's never looked this bad in the 11 years we've lived here.

This is what it looked like last year in 2013, I guess we'll see what May brings for it.

 

However, as much as I LOVE to see my plants and flowers emerge in the spring, there just might be one other thing I love a tiny bit more....

 *

 *

 *

...GARAGE SALES!! 

In years past, it's been warm enough once in a while that there might be some as early as late March & even more in early April. This year, nothing in March in my small town. But there was one yesterday in a nearby town. I tried to be good & not go there, and I didn't! Buuuuut, I learned that my sweet hubby was working in that town & it just happened to work out that he was able to go scope it out for me at the end of the day. I'm sure there was more there that I would have probably liked, but what he sent me pictures of with his phone was enough. 

He found a wicker-like birdcage, a pitcher and bowl in a wash stand, and this beauty!

I had no idea the table looked this pretty based on the photo my hubby sent. It had pillows sitting on one side & a throw on the other & it was far away, so I didn't notice the inlay detail.

It does have a repair that looks easy enough to take care of. I've dealt with worse.

I had my husband do a little wheelin' & dealin' on a price for everything - a little "bundling".... you know, American Pickers style!

I want to get started on this piece right away, because I have an Artisan Market on May 3 that will have the kind of clientele that just might be in the market for something like this. I'd love to keep it myself, but I don't think it's a right fit in my woodsy, rustic home. Well, I could if I wanted to redo the entire living room over, which would be much to my husband's dismay.

So keep your fingers crossed that you'll get to see a post on the finished table! (and maybe say a little prayer that we have great weather for the artisan market too)

Have You Had Enough of the French Post Mark Tables Yet?

Courtesy of Graphics Fairy

click on image to go directly to her printable version

This has been one of the more popular graphics that Karen from the Graphics Fairy has had over the past couple of years. I know anyone that sees it on my projects just go CRAZY over it. I have to admit that it's also one my own personal favorites as well. 

This was the first table I used it on. 

I apologize for how dark the photo is. This table sold in the first hour of the craft show I had it in, and I think I could have sold it a dozen times over that day. If you want to read the story behind it, feel free to go check it out here.

I figured I was onto something after all the rave reviews I received on that first little table. 

So I made another one, and that one proved to be a phenomenal success and I'm kicking myself for selling it (I knew I would). It has been repinned so many times and still continues to be every single day. If you want read about how it came to be, you can read my post from last year here.

The table itself was a great style to begin with, and adding those vintage metal accents just took it over the top.

I used the freezer paper transfer method for both of these tables and it worked fine for the most part, but I found it limiting and I didn't always get good results, which required me to quickly wash it off. My printer has waterproof ink, so if it came out a flop, then I have to be quick with window cleaner to remove it before it sets.

I contemplated getting an overhead projector & I even found one for sale cheap, but being basically lazy like I am, I didn't want to go that route, because you have to trace the entire design by hand each time. Nah. Not for me, plus I have to have some place to keep a large projector. I think I may have mentioned a time or two that I have some slight hoarder tendencies...hence my blog's name "Under A Pile of Scrap!" and there's just no place to keep one here - and they're a bit heavy.

My next idea was to use my new Silhouette Cameo that my darling son got for me for Christmas. He is such a sweetheart & so generous.

With using the Design software upgrade for my cutter, I thought if I could trace the design and kind of clean it up a bit, it might work out better than all the other options. Then I can save the design once all the initial effort has been put into it, plus, I can make it any size I want (for the most part anyway) without having to reinvent the design every time. I just cut it out with contact paper or stenciling vinyl that Silhouette now offers.

Can I just say that I hopefully never have to resort to the old way again! Not that this method is perfect either, but it's easier to get the results I'm after than the others.

But this post isn't just about creating the image to cut with my Cameo. It's also about how I made a table out of 3 different things.

You see, I sold the table that I'm kicking myself over to an acquaintance. She loved it so much that she asked me to find & make her 2 more tables, only they can't be any wider than 18"! Really? 

Ok.

I thought I found 2 tables, but one ended up being a total nightmare & I notified her that I gave up on it as a table and will have to find her another one. And the other one? Well, I didn't really find her a 2nd table, but I had a plan to create one out of bits & pieces I had.

The top was a just one of those lightweight pine trays that sits on a criss-cross wooden TV tray type base. The legs used are from some sort of little bench or seat that had a ripped out cane seat. I felt that tray was just a little TOO lightweight to use as a side table, so I decided to add some stability and, if I'm lucky, create a more rustic look to it by adding.....
.
.
.
.
.
....these

Paint Stir Sticks

Yep. The longer, thicker ones. I got them at Walmart.

I seen them being used on some other projects at a few blogs and on Pinterest (of course). These were the perfect thickness I needed and if I was lucky, which I'm usually not, they might be the perfect width to fill the tray, without having to cut any lengthwise to fill an odd gap. Guess what? 

I was LUCKY!

It's a tedious job and for those that have made the amazing herringbone designs with them - I bow to you and your determination! I had to test each one out in the tray, as some had a slight bow to them and needed to placed just so or replaced with one that would fit properly. Then they had to be sanded individually, then stained, keeping them in proper order the whole time. 

Next, I glued them in place with E6000 glue, except for an inch on either end. I did that so that I could add some a little more rustic look. Not sure it was the best idea, but it is what it is.

I added some dark brown tack nails at the ends of each strip. Since the paint sticks are thin and I was nailing so close to the edge, I needed to drill pilot holes for each one so the sticks wouldn't split. I forgot on the to do that one on the first stick & realized it was splitting.

So that I could keep the tacks in a straight line, I first put down a piece of painter's tape to use as a guide.

After all that, I finally applied the Postmark image that I worked so hard on to perfect. There's lots of tiny detail weeding to do on this image, but the end results made it worth it.

If you look closely, you can see where my husband got just a little carried away with getting the tack heads set flush and some are actually more recessed than I cared for, so I had to go back and touch up those spots with more stain so they're less noticeable. 

The blue design in the top left corner is not really that bright blue, but I just couldn't get the color adjustment right in Picmonkey.

I painted the base using home made chalk paint, then aged, distressed it & waxed over the entire piece.

I don't think this will be the last Post Mark table that I'll make and I think my customer is just as thrilled with it as the other one she purchased from me. Since she wants one more smaller table, I'm on the hunt for one more.


Non-furniture related topic...

...today is my daughter's last day as a 3rd grader and it's her first night of rehearsal in the children's choir for the play Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She's so excited! I'm also going to try my best to go have lunch with her today. PB&J's! Yum!

 

 Parties I'm linking to:

Funky Junk White Party

 

Feeling A LIttle Frenchy ... Oooh La La!

I have been working feverishly, & the fever is not brought on by the heat of the 100+ degree temperatures we've been having either, but by the need to get enough projects done to fill TWO large booth spaces at my favorite craft venue in November.

A little background about myself, if you don't already know this... I am a procrastinator in just about every stretch of the imagination. I also don't do well with finishing projects either, so this does NOT make for a good combination when you have deadlines. I am determined to change this pattern this year. I've done it one year in the past, but once summer came, I fizzled out and then found myself still scrambling at the last minute with not so fabulous ideas that didn't end up working out anyway. I cheated & purchased manufactured items to fill the void. It worked, but I want more hand crafted stuff, even though the majority of the customers don't seem to really care either way.

Another "issue" I have with this craft show? I'm also moving to a different location than I'm used to, which historically draws TONS of people. It's kind of scaring me to move, since the girl I shared the space with before will still be in that location that everyone knows to go to first.

Enough about my fears & inadequacies....

If you haven't read some of my previous posts that showed some of my Primitive styled projects, you can check them out here & here.

I'm not finished with the Primitive projects yet, but for now I'm switching gears by going more in the French shabby chic/country direction. I'm starting with a basket that I picked up at a garage sale earlier this summer. Here it is in it's finished state.

The image I used came from Graphics Fairy and you can get it here. I printed it in black on my home printer onto some drop cloth, then I stitched around the edges in black. I really like how the stitching frames it and will keep the edges of the fabric from fraying beyond the stitching, so it serves 2 purposes. I applied a light coat of spray glue on the back of the fabric to adhere it in place so I could poke holes for the black scrapbooking brads that permanently attach it at the corners to the basket. I don't trust the glue to last, but needed something just to keep it in place.

I painted the natural colored basket with a flat white spray paint. The basket soaks up a lot of the paint, which I like because it gives it that worn look without having to do anything to it! I painted the top rim (inside & out) and the handles with black acrylic paint and distress sanded those.

I think this would look so pretty at the top of a pretty painted hutch or at the foot of a tall accent table in an entry. It could hold magazines too, if you want it for function.

************************************

This project was featured at:

 

 
I'm linking  to these parties: