Paint

DIY Chalk Paint Halloween Apothecary Jars with BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder

5 · Oct 29, 2014 · Leave a Comment

+ Guest Post by BB Frösch Master Jonelle Morris from Chalk-a-Lot +

EEK! It’s almost Halloween! I’m not one for the guts and gore of the holiday, but I do love me some fun Halloween decor. I have wanted to make an apothecary display for a few years now, but never got around to it thinking, “oh that will take too long,” or “that will be too expensive,” or “I wouldn’t make it look good.”

Well, since I have joined the BB Frösch team, I have been trying all sofrts of things I never thought I would do. I set out to good ol’ Michaels to see if they had any glass bottles I could turn into something amazing, and as luck would have it, they did!

And the best part, each one was a $1.29 or under—score! But my luck didn’t run out there. Most of their Halloween stuff was 50-60% off, so therefore I made my whole display with what I purchased at Michaels, plus a couple small things I already have for….drumroll….$25! Double score!

I wanted some of the bottles I made to be black, and thought I would put the “BB Frösch bonds to virtually anything” claim test. I started out with my plain glass bottles and put a quick few coats of BB Frösch chalk paint with some leftover black paint I had from another project. BB Frösch isn’t just for furniture!

And when I say quick, I mean quick. Three coats on those four bottles took me about 25 minutes, drying time included. I then took a wet rag to wet distressed the tops and corners of the bottles to create a more authentic vintage look. I chose to leave the other bottles clear, so I could put some water with food coloring inside.

Then, because I am cheap 🙂 I searched for free vintage apothecary labels online and found some awesome options! I printed them off on regular paper and Modge Podged them under and on top of the label.
I used the labels found here:

Two Crafty Paws

Love Manor

The Graphics Fairy

For some other wonderful options you can go here:
Lil’Luna

Then to complete my display, I printed a beautiful, but slightly creepy picture of an old Victorian house (that was most likely haunted) on burlap.

Yes, you read that right, I printed on burlap, as in on my home inkjet computer.

Amazing! You can find this easy to follow tutorial on Domestically Speaking. It seriously took me about 10 minutes. The graphic I used as well as several other vintage halloween images can be found on The Graphic’s Fairy.

There, I did something I never thought I could do, and quickly and inexpensively! Happy Halloween!

BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder

10 · Aug 6, 2014 · 11 Comments

If you have been following me on Instagram for the last little bit, you’ve seen some of the fun furniture projects that I’ve been working on using BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder.

What is BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder? It is the most amazing paint product that I have found… EVER!! This is seriously a game changer in the paint world.

We know we all love to use Chalk Paint for all kinds of projects, whether they are furniture projects for the house or simple craft projects. The issue is that boutique chalk paints have a PREMIUM price tag which is typically too expensive for most consumers. Another issue… You have a limited selection of colors. You only have at most, 35 colors to choose from. What if you want the chalk paint look but they don’t have the color that you would like… You are out of luck.

You can try to create your own chalk paint with common items like Plaster of Paris, but you have several issues there as well. First off… Plaster of Paris is meant to harden. So… whatever paint you mix, within a few hours turns to rock. Second, did you know that some components in Plaster of Paris are on the list of the hazardous chemicals? You can actually burn yourself using the stuff!!

I’ve teamed up with a good friend of mine who has developed the perfect product… Chalk Paint Powder.

You add this powder to any flat latex paint and turn it into chalk paint for a fraction of the cost. Plus you can mix up smaller batches if you want, cutting your cost even further. For example…

I painted this dresser in three hours, start to finish, with an 8 oz. sample pot of paint from Home Depot. The dresser was purchased on Craig’s list for $16, the sample pot was $2.95 at Home Depot, the BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder cost $2.50 and the soft wax used to finish the project was less than $1.00. Total… I was able to refinish this dresser for $6.45!!

Total cost for the dresser… $22.45!!

That’s INCREDIBLE!!!

This desk…

Again, it took a sample pot of Behr flat paint $2.95 at Home Depot, $2.50 for BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder less than $1.00 for wax and gold spray paint. New hardware was $12.00 and the cost of the desk from a garage sale… $10.00.

Total for the entire piece (including the desk)… $28.45!!

Like I said before… GAME CHANGER!!

How fun is this!?!?

Krisitin and I will be traveling the country teaching workshops on how to use this aaaaamazing new product! Our first stop… DENVER!

We will have regular workshops in the Las Vegas, Nevada & Lincoln, Nebraska areas so visit the BB Frösch site for all of that information.

If you just want to get busy and start painting… Visit the BB Frösch shop to get your Chalk Paint Powder TODAY!!

We carry a full line of Chalk Paint Powder supplies, the powder, brushes & wax. Everything you need to get started.

DIY Painted Tray Set

1 · May 19, 2014 · 4 Comments

+ This DIY Painted Tray Set post brought to you by the lovely folks at Elmer’s +

With the spring in full swing and summer fast approaching, my creative spirit has started longing for all things beach. The nautical trend is one that I whole heartedly adopt. I love the colors, the simplicity, the way that it takes me back to slow days on the beach with my family and especially my sweetheart. Yea, I’m loving it!

Last month I had the chance to meet a couple of the lovely ladies that work at Elmer’s while I was attending SNAP. Now, I’ve worked with Elmer’s products for years and I’m on the Elmer’s Craft It Crew this year and while hanging out in their booth at SNAP, I started to realize the potential of a product that has kind of hung out in the background of the Elmer’s family of products… Their line of Painters Markers!

Painters Markers are acrylic paint markers that come in fine, medium or chisel tips. They are easy to use and virtually mess-free. The are permanent on most surfaces and can be used on pretty much any type of surface. Wood, glass, ceramic, tera cotta, plastic, metal, foam board & even fabric. They are streak-free, non-toxic & acid-free. Yea, they ROCK!!

Recently, I found a fun wood and metal serving tray at Target and thought it would look great with the addition of some coral to give it a bit of a nautical theme. I decided to take these Elmer’s Painters Markers for a spin to see how well they worked!

First, I found a coral image that I like and cut the image out on Stencil Vinyl from Silhouette on my CAMEO.

Then I colored in the image with the Elmer’s Painters Marker in Sea Mist Brume.

Tip… I did learn that you need to shake it up really well and draw on another piece a paper for a little bit in order to get the color to regulate.

Once I was finished coloring it in, I removed the stencil and then outlined it with the with Gold Ore Painter’s Marker which is a FABULOUS metallic marker. I LOVE IT!!

The acrylic paint from the markers dries so fast and the ease of being able to “paint” with acrylic paint in marker form just makes my day. No more brushes, and all the mess that comes along with painting. I decided my tray needed some matching glasses to complete the look so I took some jar glasses that I also found at Target, and using the same stencil process, stenciled a gold anchor onto the glass.

The gold paint goes onto the glass so smooth and looks fabulous.

Tip… I did learn that you need to remove the stencil while the paint is still wet, or you may pull some of the dried paint off when removing the stencil.

I even painted the silver metal lids that I have for my jar glasses gold with the Painter’s Markers. It was super slick!!

Now, I have a stylish nautical display piece for my house or I can make a few more glasses and I have a fun serving set for a party! I LOVE it!!

The cool thing is that it really only took a few minutes to make all of these creations, less than an hour for sure and the paint was dry within minutes.

As for the anchor glasses… I’m not sure how this paint will react to a trip though the dishwasher and I do think that it could scratch off easily so I would hand wash for sure. I plan on using them mostly for display and not really for everyday use. If you would like to use them everyday I would try to find some type of sealant to make the gold image a little more permanent.

Now, that I’ve hopefully inspired you… What would you like to paint with Elmer’s Painters Markers?

Disclaimer // I am a member of the 2014 Elmer’s Craft It Crew and was compensation for my time while preparing this post. However, all thoughts, idea and opinions are my very own!

Simple DIY Art

4 · Apr 2, 2014 · 8 Comments

Simple DIY Art // Hey all! It’s Jenn from My Fabuless Life! Last month I shared my embroidery hoop bulletin board I did for my daughter’s big girl bedroom, and since then, I’ve caught the makeover fever, because I’ve moved onto my master bedroom and am here to show you a quick, simple art project you can do for less than $10. Finding large scale art for those bigger walls can get expensive, which is why I love creating my own. You can customize everything about it, for next to nothing!

I started with a 4′ x 4′ piece of thin, pine plywood from my home improvement store (in the lumber section with the peg board), and stained the whole thing. If you’re more into the painted look, you can do that too, it’s up to you.

My original plan was just to put the text right on the wood (which you’ll notice below), but after I wrote directly on the wood, it was hard to see, so I got out the paint. I wanted a really unique, sort of “messy” look, so I just grabbed one of my favorite sponge rollers and roughly rolled out the paint in the pattern I wanted. I let that coat dry, added another, and filled in some spots with a paint brush, and then it was time for the writing.

Remember, I tried writing first, so this picture is a little backwards. You’ll notice though, that if you’re writing with white, it would be just fine. Anyway, I measured for where I wanted the writing to go, and then drew a line with chalk so that the text wouldn’t be all over the place. Then, I wrote out my phrase with chalk and wrote right over it with a gold paint pen. After the gold was dry, I just wiped off the remaining chalk with a damp cloth.