mirror redo…

miss mustard seeds mirror

Do you remember this mirror that I hung on our front porch last summer?  No?  Click here to see the post I did last year.  I simply loved that Miss Mustard Seeds chippy, milk paint finish.  Love, Love, Love.  However, I forgot to seal that gorgeousness against the elements, and after the unforgiving winter we just had… well…..

oh no

This is how it looked.  Almost all that beautiful finish was reduced to just so much chippy-ness on my porch floor.  So, not having anymore of the beloved milk paint on hand, I had to think of something else.

Lilly’s pretty good at the creative side of things, so I asked her what to do.

“are you serious? i don’t have time to take care of your projects.  i am busy, busy, busy and i have a lot to do.” ~lilly

It’s up to me, I guess.  I know I want to keep with the white, and I know I want a forgiving medium (because, let’s face it, I’m not exactly meticulous when it comes to painting or anything outside of punch needle and hooking).  Of course!  The obvious answer is decoupage!  I can’t think of anything easier or more mindless ~ just slap on some decoupage adhesive, slap on some clip art, slap on some more adhesive, let dry.  I can do that!

ellis lends his paws

Ellis is in the corner, helping me with my technique.  Thank you Ellis.  For the clip art I went to my favorite source ~ the graphics fairy.  I could spend days (in fact I have) wallowing in all the graphics fairy’s fabulous, vintage clip art!  If you’re ever looking for something I highly recommend her site ~ all her images are free and in the public domain, so no copyright worries!  I went with all french images and words for this particular project.

the oatbran approves

Because I wanted a soft, faded look, Otis suggested I rub the surface with white paint.  I did and I really like how the graphics moved into the background.  (did you notice I broke the mirror?  yep.  i was utterly astonished at how thin that glass is, like two sheets of paper, thin ~ wow ~ lots of bad luck for people, back in the day).

After applying another coat of decoupage over the white paint (and “repairing” the mirror by adding some tape to the back), the mirror was ready to re-hang…

ready for spring

Now, the front porch is ready to reflect all that blossoms this Spring.

may all our projects be so simple!

 

rebecca