Chalk Painted Rococo Bombe Chest in 1:12 scale

Hello Friends,

It's been one of those weeks..really, I should say, one of those months or years, as it's just been one thing after another around here. Trying to keep my chin up.  I try not to post personal junk but life is getting in the way a bit here and I am a bit down. It will all work out. :) I apologize, not trying to dump on you, just had to get it out.

On to the fun stuff, I promised to post about chalk paint. I should have taken pics of how I mixed up the paint but I didn't...so, I will just explain. It is very simple, anyway.  I also wanted to give credit where due. I first saw the chalk paint mentioned at about.com in an article from Lesley Sheperd.

You need:
Acrylic or Latex Paint
Plaster of Paris
Water


I used regular old acrylic craft paint, folk art brand that comes in the small bottles. The kind used for decorative and tole painting.  I had some small jars here to mix the paints in.  I poured some bottled water into the little jar - about half full - and then put in small amounts of plaster of Paris till it was the consistency of a little bit thicker than liquid hand soap. Don't make it super thick and not super runny either.

Next, add your paint. I used about equal parts paint and plaster of Paris/water mixture.

My little jars have tight fitting lids and so far, only one has set up a tiny bit in the bottom and by chance that was the one that had a little bit less acrylic paint in it.

I made this paint in small batches, about two oz. or so.

So, here is the result. I only used the chalk paint as the off white base coat for this piece. It covered really well, I used two coats. This little bombe chest had a shiny red varnish on it to start. I did run some fine sandpaper over it just to give it some tooth but honestly, I probably wouldn't have had to. I distressed this piece a little more than I meant to but I kind of like the result. :)  I'm a bit out of practice with my decorative painting, I want to do some of these little chests with some pastoral scenes.  I also learned that my gold leaf paint needs to be sealed before you put antiquing gel on top...

All in all, really really like the soft, flat look of the chalk paint for base coating and the nice coverage it gives.

Hugs and kisses for now,  I hope you will try this and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

One Down, On To The Next!

Good Day Mini Friends! Hope you had a lovely Easter and are having a wonderful week.

The Tree Stump House is finished :) She is going up in my etsy shop today. Will be sold un-furnished. Shipping won't be expensive as this house is very lightweight!

I am currently working on a new project for the Greenleaf Dollhouses Annual Spring Fling Contest. I won't be able to share much with you about the project but I will offer up tidbits and sneak peeks once in a while :D

This is a floor...I added each little floorboard. I like it :)

I will post the tutorial for the vintage scales on Tuesday of next week. I haven't had a chance to do that for you this week.

XO

More Work at Rebecca's House

Hello Friends, hope you are having a lovely week!

Still work to do but it's coming along :D

Not feeling very well at the moment...stupid viruses going around. Off to try and sleep.

Tea at Rebecca Feedlebaum's

Hello Friends :)

Looks like the vote is in on the next tutorial. I will show you how to make

a vintage style kitchen scale. I will try to get to this next week.

Meanwhile....

Miss Rebecca Feedlebaum has just returned from the strawberry patch and would like to invite you in for 'a cuppa' and a nibble.

Hmmm...who put the tea way up there?

We are still building and decorating but she was so eager, I couldn't tell her no.

I started this project last weekend.

The whole family joined in the fun :)

We started with foam core board and the hot glue gun. I'd been envisioning a tree stump home for about 12 years now and have finally taken the leap.

The process is fairly simple, really.

I first cut three 'floors' from the foam core board, each being the same shape but smaller in diameter.

Next, we scored more foam core in order to be able to conform it to the curves of the 'floors'. 

Once this was accomplished, we cut windows and doors and added insulation foam to the outside to imitate the outside of the tree.  Windows were made from the plastic from various recycled packaging. The 'leading' was done using slick, dimensional tee shirt paint.  We added papier mache to the outside....still waiting for that to dry so we can paint and add greenery and flower boxes!

I created fireplaces from the insulation foam and the floor is grunge paper from Tim Holtz. Cardstock would probably work or paper egg cartons.

The stove was made from a heavy cardboard tube from gift wrap, along with wood doweling, a wooden flower pot and a wooden candle cup and other scrap wood shapes.

Shabby Boxes

Going in the shop this evening.

Away Too Long!

Well....Hello! I have missed you and missed blogging! I am so sorry, I didn't mean to stay away so long. It's been an icky winter. There won't be a long list of excuses, just life in general, getting in the way of hobbies. I hope to try and catch up on all my favorite blogs.  And, I come back to find that Blogger is yet again doing something crazy to layouts and my beautiful fairy background is gone all wonky and I couldn't figure out how to fix it..ugh...sorry for the ugly, plain blog. Will try to find time to work on it.
I have 'unburied' my ministuff and dusted off the farmhouse (as well as acquiring two Coventry Cottage kits) and am eager to work on some new ideas.
For now, I've redone the kitchen in the Vermont Farmhouse..ahem, but I'm really thinking I might start all over on that house and make it a country primitive style, which I love very much..almost as much as shabby.
I kept looking at the house and just knowing that the French/shabby/elegant theme was all wrong for that style of house. I knew it when I bought it.
Still can't make up my mind, maybe that means I need another kit for the country/primitive house, a saltbox and yet another for the Shabby French? HAHA, any excuse to build another house?  I do love this front opening house for the French house:

http://shop.greenleafdollhouses.com/Cheltenham-Front-Opening-Dollhouses.html
or this one (I saw one at a show and it was much cuter than this pic and I would add another floor to the bottom:

Still looking for a true New England style saltbox kit. I may have to coerce hubby into helping me build one from scratch. I would also like to tackle some room-boxes, my father cut some for me in 1/6th scale but I asked him not to cut the windows as I hadn't decided what size or where to put them...duh, now I have to try and do it myself.

Meanwhile...

I've been painting little hutches and cabinets and decorating the farmhouse kitchen.

Sorry for the above, horrible photos...hubs has misplaced the camera battery charger - had to resort to my phone camera.

 I love making kitchens ;)

I found the little stove in a local antiques mall. It is metal and sooo cute!

I think it might be 3/4 scale though? I purchased a new/old fashioned stove and it dwarfs this one.

Some ReMent that is really too large for this scene but I love the Pyrex colors :)

I hope you are all well, and happy.

XO