Raised Stenciling

I had several queries about raised stenciling when I featured my shoe box on my earlier blog. Raise stenciling is one of the easiest ways to transform something from plain & drabby to creative & elegant!  Here's some stuff I stenciled over the years.

A tree on my bedroom wall

A simple stool

If you want to give this a shot, here's what you'll need to get started

• Ready made Compound (or you can use wood filler)
• Stencil
• Flat end trowel

1st place your stencil where you want your design.

2nd take a little compound and smear it lightly and evenly over the stencil, be sure to hold your stencil firmly to prevent it from moving.

3rd lift your stencil at the edge being careful not to disturb the compound beneath

That's it!

If you have a peak in your design and you don't want it there (I generally like the high's and low's)  you can wait until it dry and sand it, or while the design is still wet you can use a toothpick to pat it down (you got to be gentle); you can also use a wet Q-tip to clean up the edges.

The best part about raised stenciling, if you don't like it you can scrape it up and redo it!

If you want to create more depth lay it heavy.

You can add paint to the compound if you want color, but be careful not to add too much or it might become runny and your design won't hold.  Also, if you add paint to your compound when it dries the color will be 1 - 2 shades lighter.

Raise stenciling your wall can be lovely - here's my foyer I painted

I also did a Stack Stone on my bedroom wall - this was laid heavy to give the appearance of stone.

And here's a Willow tree stenciled on my Living Room wall

Each leaf was hand painted

Once you get started, I'm sure you're going to have fun...

 If you decide to give this a shot send me a line and let me know.  So, go ahead and LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!

Mirror, Box & Coconut Branch

Sometimes, for me, my biggest thrill is when I can take a small 'something' and turn it into something workable and that's what I did here.

I had this old mirror that had seen it's best days...but I decided I wanted to move it into a small corner... the space where my dining room ends and my living room begins.

As you can tell, the mirror didn't look to hot sitting directly on the floor so I decided to try placing it on top of a box, a shoe box. 

 Liking what I saw, I remembered I had some narrow strips of molding from a previous project, which is what I used to frame the mirror.

After the framing was done, I took out the remaining homemade chalk paint I had leftover and did my painting.

I wasn't too sure how I wanted the shoe box to turn out but since it was going in that corner space, I figured it should be something kinda nice attractive, so I added raised stenciling.  On my second coat of paint I tinted it with an Early American Blue and then dry brushed with brown walnut (think that's the name it was a small amount I had left in a jar).

I was happy with my box

and equally happy with how my framed mirror turned out

Earlier that week I had went for a walk on the beach and came across a coconut branch.  I brought it home, cleaned it up - my first thought was to paint it, but then I decided nah...

I decided to stand it against my mirror instead

No, it's not an expensive stand...

And, it's not a vintage box...

Just a cheap mirror on top of a shoe box, but after all, isn't that what Decorating with Cents is all about?

A shoe box, old mirror and coconut branch...LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!

Planter turned Serving Bowl

Sometime ago I had posted where I played around with painting one of my planters.

I wasn't crazy about it but my sister, in Georgia, loved it and said how she would love to have it for her table.  So, when I heard her son was traveling over here for a visit, I decided to fix it up and send it to her.

I lined it with a medium grade plastic - just in case she wanted to throw some fried chicken in there...

Then I took strips of palm leaves and wrapped it at the top of the brim to give it some definition

Remember, all that fabric I bought when covering my dining chairs?  Well I cut a piece of it, fringed it, so it could be used as a napkin just in case she wanted to use it for biscuits or cornbread, unlike me, my sister enjoys cooking.

To make it easy for him to carry, plus to give it a unique but rustic feel,  I took some strips from a palm and did some twisting and tying....

BEFORE (my planter)

AFTER (my sister's serving bowl)

Yeah, I think I can definitely see this planter serving bowl sitting in the kitchen on the island or perhaps on the dinner table filled with something delicious...LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!

Jewelry Organizer

I just recently started collecting a lot of junk costume jewelry.  My jewelry box can hold all of my dainty stuff but I could never find anything large enough to hold all that clunky stuff that I throw around my neck every day.

One day after finishing one of those large carton of eggs, instead of throwing the empty carton away an idea hit me.  What if...

I took an empty egg carton

and then trim some tooth picks to fit nicely across the ridges

Glue them down with some Elmer's, and let dry.

Use thumb tacks to reinforce the tooth picks (I used some fabric glue to reinforce the tacks).  If you want something prettier, you can use buttons, ribbons, etc.  Let dry.

And then take some straight pins with the balls and stick them in at an angle.  Note, it's important to make sure you use the straight pins with the ball at the end, this will keep your jewelry from slipping off.

The pin at the top is not angled and can be used to hold your rings.  The angled pins should just barely stick into the bottom of the egg holder below.

Turn the carton over and apply hot glue to the back side of the pins, this reinforces the pins and keep them from moving around or falling out.

I then took a wire hangar, clipped it at the ends and hot glued it to the back of the carton.  If you want something a little more dainty you can use ribbon, lace, etc.

I had two half empty cans of spray paint to use.  One was ivory and the other jade.  I sprayed the ivory first and when that ran out I used jade on the outer edges (difficult to see from photos).  Afterwards I wrapped raffia around the hanger and then hot glued pieces of silk flowers onto it.

Hmmm, so far so good.

This is what it looks like when it's finished, but if you have some decorative trim or something you can always glue it around the edges.

Every morning I sit in front of my Armour to apply my makeup, which is where I keep my makeup & vanity mirror,  so I felt the best place to hang this was inside my Armour on the door.

Then came the exciting part...hanging my accessories on it.  I dug through my jewelry bag and box and discovered my toe rings I had forgotten I had.

I played around with my pearls & watches...

It was a perfect fit for my nail polish also...maybe I shouldn't call it a Jewelry Organizer; perhaps an Accessorizer instead.

It was like discovering new jewelry...all the stuff I forgot about or never took time to look for

I did lots & lots of rearranging, I even hung my shades on here (sorry no picture) but later took them down.  I then took my big clunky clip-on earrings,  I never wore, and clipped them on the top of my Jewelry Organizer for a decorative touch.  I figured, if I never wear them at least I'll see them every day.

I still have lots of jewelry to organize, so I'm now thinking perhaps I'll make two or three of these, one strictly for nail polish and the other for earrings, or perhaps just necklaces.  I'm a shade freak, maybe make one to hang my shades on...Oh, The Possibilities!

Who would have thought a simple egg carton like this...

Could be transformed into something useful and decorative like this?

Let's see, egg carton, toothpicks, thumb tacks, wire hangar and glue.  That's all you're going to need if you want to LET YOUR CREATIVITY FLOW!