This "table" just keeps getting better and better. This is the THIRD TIME it has been featured on Kammy's Korner with a new look. Let's go through the stages of this here home made coffee table I found for a few dollars at a garage sale in my hometown of Parma.
It started like this:
Then went to this:
But I didn't have a place for it and nobody wanted to buy it sooooo I chopped off the legs and hung it on my wall.... (take careful note of this next picture... cuz not just the clock changes as you scroll on down through this post!)
It was still a little blah. And I know. It needs hands. Maybe they will come in a fourth post someday!
My grandma came to visit last summer and her mind is bad but she had suggestions about how to make my 'faux clock' look better and she mentioned them every time she stepped into the family room. She used to have a great sense of style to so I decided I'd better heed her advice. My mom actually grabbed a black paint brush one day to satisfy her and added some "minute marks" and also went around the outside edge - smudgy-like - so to make it look a little distressed and old. She earns her keep sometimes. Haha. OH, we also stuck a sawblade in the middle - just hung it on the nail that's holding up the clock. It added the needed pizzazz UNTIL.... I got THIS in the mail!!!!!
A gorgeous medallion stencil made by Cutting Edge Stencils called Prosperity Mandala Stencil.
It is beautiful. I immediately took the big ole' coffee table top off my wall and laid it on the floor. It was bedtime, so in the photo it's a little dark and yes, I'm in my PJ's.
I made two mistakes the first time around:
1. Used way to light of a color (since I thought I wanted it to be really subtle)
2. I used a stencil brush. What was I thinking. Way too time consuming for this big of a design!
This calls for a foam roller!!!!!
So I redid it with a foam roller, and used black (which I rolled on very lightly so it looks more like dark gray) and was literally done in less than a minute!
The KEY to stenciling is to use HARDLY ANY PAINT. I cannot stress this enough.
The other day I read a review on why a user did not like this stencil. I was doing a big face palm when I read that no matter what the person tried, the paint bled though. Are you kidding me? Sorry Charlie, but that IS NOT the stencil's fault. It's the users fault. Plain and simple. (Sorry, I feel like I'm being a big Negative Nancy here but sometimes you gotta set things straight!). Too much paint will ALWAYS bleed under. When you think you hardly have any paint and are ready to go, take more off! Less is better! You can always go over it twice. When using a foam roller with a stencil, you should have to press down fairly hard to get any paint to come off, which means it should be nearly dry! TRUST ME!
So above is what NOT to do, unless you have time on your hands,
and below is what you SHOULD do:
YES!!!! Doesn't it look a billion times more fabulous?
And did you notice what else changed in this room? I'll show you the old photo again and then you see if you can name five different things - GO:
And someday..... If he's real good and listens to Jiminy Cricket, he might get to be a real clock.
Stay tuned for a Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway coming soon!
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Very nice!!! But why did you paint the hours with 'V' (IV,V,VI,VII,VIII)upside down?
ReplyDeleteSo funny, I never even REALIZED I made that mistake!!!! Obviously, I don't read roman numerals, huh? :) Of course I would never make a clock with English numbers on it upside down. Haha. Silly me!
ReplyDeleteA lot of click fades with Roman numerals have them upside down on - or actually all facing the center. YOU'RE OK!
ReplyDeleteA lot of click fades with Roman numerals have them upside down on - or actually all facing the center. YOU'RE OK!
ReplyDeleteHow many times did I look at your "clock" and didn't notice #'s up side down? duh! sharp eye reader. It looks so much better with stenciled mandala on it, great job. Have learned hard way myself with stenciling about using too much paint. That foam roller holds much more than somebody might realize, always good idea to test on paper towel before putting roller to stencil. Saves so much trouble and mistakes.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy great Fall weekend
I'm visiting from Hometalk, LOVE your new clock!
ReplyDeleteThe mandala design looks amazing!
Kammy maybe you could use the V, etc.. as your signature product made by you. A gentleman made me a pantry sign and made the n backwards for his signature, now he is passed on Keeps a memory for me.
ReplyDelete