SHABBY CHIC ALTERING

...Creativity takes courage...

- Henri Matisse -

...hello everyone, here in England it seems to be doing nothing but rain and rain and rain...well, I've come to the conclusion the best way to beat the Winter blues is to get your paint out!...on a recent rummage through an antique store I found a large hideously painted letter E, just crying out for some DecoArt magic...

...a quick prime with two coats of DecoArt's wonderfully thick quick drying Gesso...

...big improvement already, next a coat of Americana in Pink Chiffon (a wonderfully pale & delicate shade) then a layer of one step crackle all over, applied extra thick in random places (I left this to completely dry over night)...then the next step was to mix some Traditions in Quinacridone Violet (a beautiful vibrant pink) with some staining/antiquing medium and rub this all over the gorgeous crackle, wiping back with a soft cloth to vary the depth of colour...

...when applying the one step crackle medium you can see from the picture the different sizes of crackle that you can achieve with the thickness of your coating...

...I had also wanted to achieve a very flat finish so gave the whole letter a rub down with a fine grade sanding paper...

...in the places of natural wear I used a higher grade of sand paper and you can also see the gorgeous depth of colour in the smaller crackles...

...some black shimmer Metallic Lustre was rubbed around the edges and buffed for definition, a few stars and a heart to complete this piece for my little Granddaughter Emmie's nursery...

...a few simple steps with quality ingredients have transformed this once ugly letter into something beautiful...

...look around and see what you have waiting for some DecoArt magic...

...thank you for dropping by today, I hope you feel inspired...

XXX