Paint

Kitchen Marquee Sign with Heidi Swapp

0 · Jul 31, 2015 · 3 Comments

+ Kitchen Marquee Sign post brought to you by Michaels Craft Stores +

I am obsessed with marquee signs… I truly am.

It started with this post back in July of 2013, my Designer Marquee Letters.

Back in the day when marquee letters were rather elusive. Your options were to either pay a fortune for the real deal, or find a way to DIY a set of your own. I went the DIY route which was great, the sign still lives in my kitchen and I love it, however… it was a tad challenging, still expensive and quite frankly it still looked a little wonkey with all kinds of wiring to contend with.

The day that Heidi Swapp released her Marquee Love, was a DREAM! Seriously, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been that excited about a product release in a long time. It’s BRILLIANT! Truly, I’m always kind of excited to see what Heidi has up her sleeve. She is taking the crafting world by storm these days with not only her Marquee Letters but her Minc Foil Applicator is GENIUS as well. One of my favorite crafting tools right now!

Heidi is one of those individuals who is amazingly innovative but someone who is truly genuine. She’s everyone’s cheerleader. We have connected a bit over social media and had a chance to chat at SNAP this last year. She is one lady who I truly admire and look up to. She’s brilliant and a go getter. She’s one of those ladies who dreams up a crazy idea like the Minc and just MAKES IT HAPPEN! I love that!

I had a ball this week creating with my favorite Heidi Swapp Marquee Love letters to celebrate Michaels Big Brand Sale Starting Sunday, August 2nd.

Kitchen Marquee Sign

I decided to take Heidi Swapp’s Marquee Love letters to the next level and add them to a wood sign, rather than just having them sit on a shelf. I have fallen in love with all kinds of fun typography signs for the kitchen floating around like this one from Gina of Shabby Creek Cottage

BUT… I thought, how fun would it be to have a marquee element to it. Why not do a sign saying, “Kitchen is Now OPEN” with the OPEN in marquee letters showing that when the sign is alight, the kitchen is open, when it’s off, the kitchen is CLOSED. Fun, right! Here’s how to make it…

Materials Needed

24×24 plywood board
4 – 25 inch 1 1/2 x 1/2 inch boards for the frame
Heidi Swapp Marquee Love letters O,P,E,N
Krylon Chalk Board Spray Paint
White Chalk Paint – I used BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder
Silhouette or Cricut cutting machine OR Stencil Letters
Vinyl
Scrap paper
painters tape
Hot glue
Brad nails
Glue dots

Directions

Gather your materials and prepare them to paint. I decided to use Krylon Black Chalkboard Paint because I love the deep black and the matte finish.

First, I spray painted my letters and the frame for the sign.

Then I used BB Frösch Chalk Paint to white wash the sign base. I chose that technique rather than just straight paint because I still wanted to see the wood grain.

To white wash your board, all you need to do is use watered-down chalk paint and then lightly wipe-off the paint to reveal the grain of the wood. This is a great way to add a little color, keep the wood look and it also dries really quick!

Next, I cut my vinyl with my Silhouette CAMEO using the Bebas font. Love that font!

I laid down my vinyl and then taped the rest of the board with painters tape and some scrap paper to mask the rest of the board while I spray painted the letters.

Once the paint was dry, I placed my marquee letters and drilled holes to feed the lights through. Now, keep in mind, you need to think through the pavement of the holes and how you are going to arrange the lights in the letters. You want the battery packs sitting on the bottom frame of the sign and you need to place the drilled holes accordingly.

Then, I assembled my marquee letters and hot glued them to the board.

Next, I hot glued the frame to the sign base and then secured it with some brad nails.

On the back of the board, I used a few glue dots to secure the battery packs for the letters to the back of the board.

And that was it… your Kitchen Marquee Sign is finished!

The cool thing it looks great with the lights ON or OFF!

I found the cutest sign on The Diary of Dave’s Wife not to long ago…

Of course had to make one of my own, I thought it look great placed right under my Kitchen is Now Open sign…

How fun is that! I used some 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips that are velcro so I can easily interchange my breakfast, lunch & dinner signs for fun! LOVE IT!!

Don’t forget this next week is the perfect time to stock-up on all your favorite brands at Michaels Big Brand Sale!!

Disclaimer // This post is sponsored by Michaels Craft Stores. I am Michaels Maker this year and will be posting all kinds of goodies from Michaels Craft Stores. I do receive free product to create with.

How to Paint the Perfect Stripe

11 · Jan 26, 2015 · 4 Comments

Raise your hand if you have ever tried to paint a stripe on furniture or any project.

Now, raise your hand if your painters tape miserably failed you!

No matter what they promise, I have yet to get a perfectly clean line from the current painters tape out there. Believe me, I’ve tried them ALL. Yes, some work better than others, but 100% of the time I will have bleeding issues. Nothing can kill your day worse than your tape failing you.

I have discovered the secret… Want to know what it is?

How to Paint the Perfect Stripe

First, I use BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder for all of my painting projects. You can use other types of paint for furniture that may be better than chalk paint for longevity, but I don’t mind painting things every few years.

Why? Well, I LOVE it!

You don’t have any prep work… No sanding, priming or striping. Sometimes it can be good to use stencils but not this time. I get all of the wonderful properties of chalk paint, plus I get to select my own colors! Also, it’s a fraction of the cost of boutique brands of Chalk Paint. Yea, total SCORE!!

You can learn more about BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder HERE

Here’s your checklist…

+ Select your piece

I found mine at a local Eco Store. It’s an old desk that they had pulled out of a sorority house. Kinda funny!

The desk was nice solid wood, just with some cosmetic issues. All it needed was a little paint love.

+ Select paint colors

I’m using Toasted Marshmallow and Saffron Strands, both are stock paint colors from Behr Paint found at Home Depot. When I’m painting with BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder, I use Flat paint without primer if available. I’ve been using Toasted Marshmallow quite a bit. It’s a nice warm white that I’ve fallen in love with. I used it on my kitchen table makeover as well. I’ll be sharing that one soon!

+ Paint base color

Paint the base color of your piece and take it all the way through your finial finish.

My typical routine when painting furniture is..

+ Paint one light layer followed by one to two more coats if I’m wanting a nice smooth modern finish.

+ Next, using a sanding block, I lightly sand my entire piece creating a nice SMOOTH finish. Some people have been turned off from chalk paint because they don’t like a rough finish. What they are missing is that you don’t have to have a rough chalky finish. Just with a light once over with a sanding block will get you that smooth feel we all love.

+ Then I vacuum the dust and give it a once over with a damp (not wet) cloth to remove any dust.

+ Finally, I wax my piece. This is quite frankly my FAVORITE PART! This is when your piece starts to come alive.

If you are planning on distressing your piece, do that now before you add your stripes. Also, I HIGHLY recommend waxing your piece as well BEFORE you start working on your stripes. I use BB Frösch Premium Finishing Wax. It is a revolutionary wax that cures within minutes rather than weeks! That’s a huge deal in the chalk paint industry. No one wants to work hard on a piece and then have to let it sit for a month (with an armored guard) trying to keep hands off while the wax fully cures.

The wax is the final process to help the paint fully adhere to your piece. By waxing first you won’t have to worry about the tape accidentally pulling paint off your piece when you remove the tape. Again, no matter how gentle the tape says it will be with your piece… My experience is that without the wax, it will still pull paint off.

+ Tape the stripes

This is where it gets FUN!!

Decide how you want your stripes to appear and tape your piece. For this one, I wanted a large center stripe with two thinner stripes on either side. I would love to say that I’m one of those people who measure things to the T, but I don’t. I eyeball it. I tend to trust my eye more than I trust my math skills!

Think about your piece, notice the curves and lines and plan accordingly.

My desk has a curvy cutout on the side of the desk, so I used that as my guide for creating my stripe pattern.

Side note… I paint most of my pieces on top of a card table. It’s just so much easier to for me to tackle those hard-to-reach spots at the bottom of the piece just as well as the easy-to-reach spots at the top.

+ Paint another layer of the base color

Now, all you need to do is paint another light layer of your base color just along the tape lines.

This will seal the edge of the tape and any bleeding that will occur will just blend right in! Let this layer dry and prepare your stripe color.

+ Paint your stripes

Now all you have to do is paint your stripes!

For this piece, I painted two coats of the Saffron Strand stripe. I wanted the color to be nice and rich. Sometimes, you will want a more subtle stripe and you will only need one coat.

Once I have finished painting, I let the paint settle for a few minutes, then I carefully pull the tape while it is still slightly wet. This will help avoid accidentally pulling the dry paint off when removing the tape.

Don’t sit around too long though. Paint that is treated with BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder dries pretty quick. So, I would only wait for 5 minutes or so.

For this desk, even though I wanted a nice deep color for the stripe, I still wanted it to be distressed. I again used my trusty sand paper, for this I use a 400 grit, fine sand paper. With flat fingers or a flat hand, I work with my sand paper to get the distressed look that I like.

Don’t ever use the tip of your pointer finger to roughly gouge your piece. At that point, you are just scratching your piece (not naturally distressing) and that’s not the look you are going for… I promise. Unless you want your piece to look like your son took his soccer cleats to it, then by all means… scratch away!

+ Final Wax

Now, all you have to do is your final wax with the BB Frösch Premium Finishing Wax. Wax the surfaces where you added your stripes and you are finished!

Isn’t it FUN?!

Now that I’ve discovered the secret, I want to stripe EVERYTHING!!

I will keep myself in check though… maybe.

Disclaimer // This is not a sponsored post, I was not paid by any company for this piece. However, I am the co-founder of BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder along with Kristin Smith and we would love for you to try our product!

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.

Paint

Kitchen Marquee Sign

Materials Needed

Directions

Raise your hand if you have ever tried to paint a stripe on furniture or any project.

How to Paint the Perfect Stripe

Here’s your checklist…

+ Select your piece

+ Select paint colors

+ Paint base color

+ Tape the stripes

+ Paint another layer of the base color

+ Paint your stripes

+ Final Wax

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