I am a sucker for nostalgia. It seems the older I get, the more I enjoy seeing things that remind me of 'days gone by’. It isn’t as if I want to live in the past, but I think that those old fashioned items bring back many of the memories that I associate with them. Memories of people and places and perhaps times when I had a bit less responsibility and life (for me, anyway) was a little simpler. It is somewhat comforting seeing these things and remembering.
The other day when I was at a Winners store near me, I saw (and ultimately purchased) a foil-covered Easter Bunny piece. I had remembered items like this from my youth and I thought it would make a wonderful centerpiece for my spring table. there were some other foiled items as well, but they were a bit pricey. I thought the splurge on the bunny was all my pocketbook could handle at the moment, and was happy with that.
Yesterday I sat down to work on my next couple of projects that I had been showing you the past few days. When I pulled out my supplies, I found that I had an extra box of faux eggs that I had intended to repaint and use for my own decorating. This box was pre-colored, but the colors were rather ‘blah’ and I thought I would be able to figure out something much nicer. To my dismay, many of them had cracked and they looked even worse. I was ready to throw them out:
Then I had an idea …
What if I covered them in foil like my new bunny and used them that way? I think that would be pretty cool! But I didn’t want them all silver, I wanted them to be in pretty colors to match my new bunny.
I thought about all the different kinds of paint that I had here and in searching through my supplies, I came across my DecoArt Glass Stains. They would be PERFECT for this project! Not only are they semi-transparent, but they are also made to adhere to slick, non-porous surfaces (like the foil!) and should work well. I crossed my fingers and got started 'playing’ …
I cut a piece of foil a bit larger than the egg. I GENTLY crumpled it and uncrumpled it to give it some texture and laid the egg in the center:
I then got out my bottle of Aleen’s Tacky Glue. I knew I needed something that was thick and had some body to it so the foil would sitck.
I covered all sides of the egg with the glue (the crack in it wouldn’t even matter!) :
… and I spread it around the egg using first an old paint brush, and then I figured that it was easier just to use my fingers. (No pictures of that – I didn’t want glue on my camera!) I left the glue semi-thick so that it could 'grab’ the foil.
I then gently rolled the egg in the foil and cut off the excess. I didn’t want lumps in the egg. There were a couple of places that I cut a little 'short’ where I saw the egg sticking out, but I just put some glue on a small, irrigular piece of foil and patched the hole. You would never be able to tell where that was!
I then rolled the egg on a hard surface to flatten the foil as much as possible:
This also helped the glue stick. After letting it 'dry’ for a bit (about an hour) I went back and made sure there were no loose 'flaps’ where the foil overlapped. If there were, I gently cut them again with sharp scissors. If need be, I added little patches where the foil shifted, but this wasn’t necessary except in a few places.
Once the six eggs I covered were dry, I was ready to add color. I picked six pretty colors of the DecoArt Glass Stain to use. For my project, I used the transparent ones:
I simply used my deerfoot stippler to tap on the color. I loved the effect! Even the 'darker’ colors looked pretty and bright!
(HINT: You can always add another coat after the first is dry if you want more intense color!)
I used a variety of colors and I was THRILLED with the effect. Even the ugly, broken eggs had new life added to them!
I then had ANOTHER idea …
What if I tried to cover my SLDPK211 Bunny Ornament Cutout using the same method??
It WORKED!!!! It took a little more trimming and patching around the detailed areas, but was not hard at all! :D
While it kind of side tracked me from my task at hand, I felt this was a wonderfully productive day! I changed a piece of damaged 'trash’ to a pretty 'treasure’ and gave it new life!
I am so excited about this because it has the three elements of a successful project – Easy, cost effective and BEAUTIFUL!
Here is a photo of my new eggs and bunny with the bunny I had purchased:
Don’t they look spectacular together???
I suppose I can mention that you may want to spray the pieces with a GLOSS clear coat if you like. I didn’t spray mine yet because I wanted them to dry overnight. I imagine you would just need a light coat for protection.
Thank you to DecoArt for offering so many amazing products! I am really beginning to think you have 'something for everything’!!
Now on to completing my new surfaces and patterns as I intended to do yesterday. I wonder what other surprises I will think of while doing them? I guess you will have to check back … .
Happy Friday to you all!
via Tumblr http://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/139174758099
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