Decoupage Diva

 

For the record, this funny description was given to me by a friend and client who enjoys many of my decoupage projects.

recycling old paper and newsprints - they make wonderful vintage looking mats and borders

my hundred + year old sign - made from architectural salvage from our home

 

Fifty Shades of Grey inspired Make-up Bag ... lol you don't see it from an old Samsonite

 ooh the inside is very interesting - a very naughty little case :))) - I had so much fun with this.

 

plain unfinished pine scroll projects

I have gone wild collecting pretty ceramic knobs for all my different projects!

 

 A lot of people looking for interesting small tables and plant stands.  Here is a typical Bombay 1980s well constructed plant stand in it's ready for a transformation stage.

Three good coats of this colour I mixed up for a harvest table.  It's a blue-green-gray.  Really nice and I have a bit left over for some smaller pieces of furniture. 

I wanted a bit of rockabilly-old style tattoo flash!

 never can have enough owls - decoupaged chairs

 

 

I found some pretty art deco trim from old scrapbook clipart - had fun on many projects - doing a bit of decoupaging on mattes and borders


 

Isn't it Romantic ... isn't it French

 

 

From Paris to Provence, elegant to rustic - food, fashion, furniture - they do it up with so much style.  My love affair for everything French is still alive and well.

antique needlepoint screen - soft mauves and golds with the back stencilled in a damask pattern - great little accent piece in a room to give it a romantic French inspired look.






Screens and room dividers add a bit of drama and romance depending on the images and or textures.  I have a large Eiffel Tower screen in my office and it is one of my favourite pieces of art!

Favourite French ottoman - it took a client a long while to convince me to part with this - I had found it broken in a store and had the legs re-attached.  This simple but beautiful French toile keepsake pillow is one of my favourites.  I made it for a special couple that have becomes friends (so it's special to me).

Laissez les bon temps rouler - "let the good times roll" - a solid pine kitchen table, now a shabby chic French table

love the French bumblebee - these were traced out and han-painted - steady ... steady ... one sneeze or shake and drats!

The wreath was made by a friend of mine - love the champagne bottle corks

 

These lamps were completely inspired by Parisienne Cafes, Bistros and the Dancers skirts of the Left Bank, Moulin Rouge.  I combined decoupaging with sewing and painting.  I kept picturing a restaurant with a brick wall somewhere in Paris and accordian music (LOL).  Envisioning a scene makes my visual editing button go off.  I start picturing what the tablecloth would be like, floors, walls.  I'm hardwired that way and with those images come the ideas for a feminine lamp.

Here are the lamps when I found them and brought them home - the little baskets were put on them to carry them into the house - you can see the feminine hourglass shape of these vintage lamps.

These chairs have gone from goth to France - restaurant prints with a fresh white frame add to the romance of a French inspired farmhouse.

Here is the before picture of the Spanish-Mission Style Chairs with the red velvet and brass upholstery tacks.  I cleaned them up but didn't remove the original fabric and hardware.  What they needed was a darker stain and some French style aprons that can slip off for washing.  So you have the versatility of a gothic-inspired chair or French Country.  The couple that bought them (the husband fell in love with the gothic - velvet look of them; the wife the toiled aprons).

The colours of Provence inspired me when I worked on this pine scroll meant to be used for hanging clothing, towels, aprons in a kitchen.

 

 When I took an old farm tray and started working on some French rustic country look I was told by one of my children I was French-frying it - lol - Frenchified

 Toile and French Country are one in the same to me.   This evokes a French farmhouse look to me, checkered tablecloths, ladder-back chairs and eating on a stone patio. 

My favourite lamp.  This one is it.  I still remember my husband saying it was the ugliest floor lamp he's seen and what am I going to do with it.  Sometimes the uglier a piece may look to somone the more I want to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.  It's the way we don't see the hidden beauty and potential in people or in ourselves.  Take a look at something for what it could be - not what it is.

Everything is better at the Beach!

Those warm whites, beiges and greys work well in the colder months too.  Being neutrals they accent seasonal colours and are easy to live with. 

Candles are great year-round accents.  I love this little wooden coach style lantern box.  Soft distressed whites and grey were the inspiration for the side tables below. 

Agree that I would be quite content to live within a short distance of a sandy cove or beach where I can just walk around barefoot or flipflops most of the year. 

Problem with that is that I live in Canada.  Okay I can still live near the beach but add shoes, boots and a coat for that walk along the shore :)



 Old cottages painted white with large wooden plank floors, boards, driftwood, shells, turquoise, greens, corals, beige, grey.  Curtains blowing in the breeze and ceiling fans working on hot days.  Well it's good to dream and put your mind in a happy place.  Some of my favourite pieces were inspired by this need to be near sand and surf!

all these colours evoke a beachy, cottage theme to me - muted vintage pastel, creams, whites, greys, turquoise

one of my all time favourite open shelf/side table

 I think vintage milk glass would definitely be part of my dishware if I had a little beach house

 

The patina of old shutters - that says beach house, cottage, summertime to me

These old farmhouse prints would be nice in a cottage by the beach.   They are two of my favourites.

Everything about these driftwood shades with splashes of pinks and lavender are summer cottage to me.

vintage candy striped beach pillows

trays for seashells? - shabby chic bookcase for those rainy days

Nothing like your dog's sandprints - to make you smile.

Whenever opportunity presents itself to go to the beach - I take it.  Thankfully it's not a very long drive away. 

 - Vintage cottages - Florida, Tybee Island - Miami!