Ok so so much of my altered projects end up as presents or they are some form of memory keeping. Well not this time! I have had this cute set of draws on my scrapping desk for nearly as long as I have gotten into this craft. I had originally painted it all dark brown and then stencil painted some daisies on it in light and royal blue. In short it looked awful (well that is how I have felt about it for as long as it has been sitting there) I just didn't have ideas or knowledge when I started to do a better job really. I have for SO LONG wanted to get around to re-doing it, but I guess it is one of those things that just never gets done.
I have recently been organising my scrap room more and well it inspired me to alter the draws to match in with my current style. I have really enjoyed using my Helmar Crackle and how easy it is to get a finish that looks like you have put SO much work into it when really you haven't! I teamed it up this time with some Helmar Acid Free and Helmar 450 Quick Dry along with some divine paper by Pink Paisley that has given it such a subtle vintage feel.
So I guess you would like to know how I created it, and TRUST ME it is so easy to get this look it is not funny!
I started off by painting the parts of the draws that couldn't be covered by paper with Jo Sonya's 'Smoked Pearl' acrylic paint. I then covered the draws on every flat part with the Pink Paisley paper from the Butterfly Garden collection by gluing each piece down using my Helmar Acid Free glue. My glue spreader came in SO handy for this project and cut the gluing time down. After they were covered I gave them a light sand and then inked all the edges with my Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy Distress ink.
The next step was to apply the Helmar Step 1 and 2 crackle. I did it side by side allowing the step 2 to dry flat each time allowing me to put a thicker coat of crackle without it running down the sides. This was probably the most time consuming part, but definitely nothing hard about it. This is what it looks like with just the crackle added.
Once the crackle was completely dry and hard I rubbed over it with my Tim Holtz Walnut stain distress ink. You can see this pretty clearly in this picture that I took when I had only partly rubbed over it. If yours looks like this when you are doing it, don't stress, the next step will bring that beautiful look back.
Once you have rubbed over it with the ink and it looks all brown and dirty, clean the surface with a baby wipe or damp paper towel straight away to remove all the excess. The colour will have seeped through to create these beautiful aged cracks.
Lastly to add that little bit more of pretty and to reflect my current scrapping style I added some beautiful Prima vines and roses to finish it off. I used my Helmar 450 Quick Dry to adhere all the flowers as they needed to stick quickly (being vertical) and I didn't want them coming off anytime soon!
Well, I hope I have been able to show you how quick and easy it is to get this vintage look. This project took me NO TIME at all, just a bit of waiting in between the crackle stages - but that suits me fine when I have to very young boys to run after all day long :D
Happy Creating
Helmar USA Inc. Design Team Member
do you remember where you got the wood drawer box? I would love to alter one like this.
Posted by: Debbie Fisher | December 19, 2011 at 04:39 AM
OMG! I love it soooooooooooooooo! :)
Posted by: gybogi | July 18, 2011 at 02:38 AM
Gorgeous! I have something like that sitting in my scrappy room just waiting to be altered! Love what you did!
Posted by: Bonnie Friesen | July 17, 2011 at 03:14 PM
so gorgeous, thanks so much for sharing with us.
Posted by: Sue Darch | July 17, 2011 at 03:00 PM
Love the idea of enhancing the crackle finish with ink... been doing a lot of crackle finish lately, never thought of that! Thanks for the inspiration! Absolutely gorgeous project!
Posted by: Beth | July 17, 2011 at 02:45 PM
awesome!!!
Posted by: Connie M | July 17, 2011 at 11:56 AM
This is so fantastically gorgeous!! Definitely something I will have to do now! :D
Posted by: CariCreates | July 17, 2011 at 09:24 AM
oh wow this is absoutley beautiful
Posted by: Celeste | July 17, 2011 at 08:50 AM
Beautiful job...you will not hate your drawers any more. It looks great!
quilt 4 fun 2 at hot mail dot com
Posted by: Janet Licari | July 16, 2011 at 07:56 PM
omgosh, beck, this is absolutely stunning! LOVE it! :D
Posted by: Carisa | July 16, 2011 at 04:35 PM
I am so loving this altered project! Wonderful job!!
Posted by: Shawna Rae | July 16, 2011 at 03:29 PM
How shabby chic....love this...thanks
mcwooten1999@carolina.rr.com
Posted by: Chris Wooten | July 16, 2011 at 03:05 PM
This is so stunning. Love everything about it, but my fav may just have to be those wonderful cracks.
Posted by: Cassie K | July 16, 2011 at 02:18 PM
This is absolutely beautiful! I love the crackling on it!
Posted by: Aymee Gandy | July 16, 2011 at 08:04 AM
Gorgeous piece! You must read minds! I have a wood box (hinge top kind not the kind with drawers) that I've bee planning to use PP Butterfly Garden and crackle with! :-D Yours turned out beautifully! I especially like the climbing flowers and touches of white. TFS!
Posted by: Doris Widder | July 16, 2011 at 08:00 AM