Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Making "Vintage" look Ornaments.


Hi, again!
Thank you for all the fun comments about my white painted Christmas tree!
You always know how to make me smile!

Now, I'll briefly show you how I inexpensively adorned it.


I had purchased these ornaments in packets of six to ten
at the dollar store.


I'd used what I needed on wreaths
(that I hope will sell during the last weekend of craft sales.)


And then...
(...Oh, please, don't think I am completely intoxicated by this chalk paint stuff.
Really,
I do think of other things during my day)...

I whipped out my 'Provence' Annie Sloan chalk paint,
and brushed a coat on the bells that were left.
 After they were dry,
I waxed them with rugger brown wax,
and they took on a very nice "old" look.



Wanting some variation in shape,
I remembered I had a bag of old thread spools,
and,
after painting them a coat of mossy green,
I painted some glue on them...
and sprinkled some 70 grit German glass glitter,
another really fun product to use.
(Of course, any glitter works for these ornaments;
I chose the German glass glitter because it has the "antique" look I was trying for.)

I found some old crystal lamp pieces
in my endless supply of "someday-useful-things,"
(a much nicer term than my Farmer"s some people's description: "junk",
don't you think?)
and added them for fun.

At the Open House Craft Sale,
I found these quaint, old-looking stars.
I bought the two that they had,

and wanting more,
but not having any,
I thought I'd just ad some star shapes to fill in.

I had some simple wooden star shapes
in my supplies,
and after the silver paint I used had dried on them,

they got a pretty coat of German glass glitter,
but in 90 grit.

The silver is my favorite.
 

It instantly ads an "old" look to anything it is added to.




The wooden snowflake I had
was dressed in the silver glitter as well.



Finding a bag of little snowman light caps for $1
at the charity store was a fun surprise.
My daughter had them on the tree
before I even figured out where the bag of them went.


All of these ornaments came together in a nice way,
and most of them were things I already had
or
they didn't cost much at all.
 Stars seem to be a theme in my Christmas decorating this year.

Do you decorate around any themes for Christmas?


Even the string of lights we found on sale after the 4th of July
fit well,
and it wasn't a planned idea.


Yes, they were a different color for the 4th of July,
 but chalk paint even works on starlight and electric cords;

but I'm not going to tell you about that...

so you won't think I dream in chalk paint.

9 comments:

  1. Your wreath is completely wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What great ideas! I have a stash of vintage spools left to me by an elderly lady and I was wondering what to do with them!
    Thanks for all the great suggestions on using my "junk" too.
    Tina xo

    ReplyDelete
  3. i think chalk paint runs thru your veins...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love a star theme. And YOU are the queen of chalk paint.

    And creativity, for that matter.

    =)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have some old wooden spools and I was wondering how to use them and share with family (they came from my grandmothers old sewing supplies) and now I know! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. so cute. i love the little spools of thread!

    ReplyDelete
  7. You, my friend, are my chalk paint guru.... Love, love, love what it did to those little bells....And everything pulls together so nicely. Theme? Hmmmm....does "controlled chaos" count? ;o) Hope your week is off to a great start....Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin

    ReplyDelete
  8. HI :) :) I'm visiting from Raising Homemakers blog :) I just love your vintage ornaments. This is right up my alley since I'm obsessed with all things vintage ;) :) I especially like the ornament made from the wooden sewing spool. I inherited my grandmother's old sewing box (who got it from her mother). There are lots of wooden sewing spools inside...and what a fun way to use them up :) Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. These are really pretty. I found you from raising homemakers.
    www.feedingnineonadime.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments!