Personalised Wall Plaquette

Hello again everyone,

I have another one of my decoupaged name plaquettes completed and I wanted to show it to you.

Like the previous one, this is also floral themed and depicts a fairy on the right hand side.  It is découpaged with some beautiful rice paper from the Stamperia collection and on this one I have also included some texture by adding some heavy body paste here and there.

The butterflies were made using cardstock to back some ricepaper butterflies that I fussy cut from a sheet and then glued to the plaquette giving it a 3D dimension.

For the letters, I used acrylic paint to fill in a pencil outline, a bit tricky but a super fine brush did the trick.  Finally a pink velvet ribbon was added for hanging.

I hope you enjoyed my post.  You can comment below with any questions or comments or use the form on the right to email me.

Bye for now

French Chic Bedroom

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all having a wonderful day as I am, here in the South of France. I've just finished decorating the bedroom in my little holiday home and thought I'd share the pics with you.

Although I've had my mobile home for some time, I hadn't gotten around to fixing up my room until now and as you can see from the photos, it's a big change for the better.  Now it's cosy and light and comfortable.

I painted the awful yellow walls in a fabulous taupe colour, bought a new white bedside locker, made some cream colour curtains and got some nice linen and lace boxes for the shelving, a lovely new lamp that matches the room colour and some small trinkets to decorate.

On the bed you will see a lovely French style bedspread and cushion to match which I picked up at the local market at a stall that has the most wonderful household linens and where I am a regular customer!

The bits you can't see are a new mattress and some additional shelving inside the wardrobes.  I'm so happy with my work and how my bedroom looks.  What do you think?  Let me know by leaving a comment below or you can send me a message on the right hand side of this page.

Newly Styled Bedroom

Bedroom Before 

Découpaged Tray

Découpage never fails to please and this time the subject matter was an inexpensive wooden tray which I had been looking out for for some time.  I hit pay dirt in a city centre Euro store for the bargain sum of €6,99 which just made  this project all the sweeter.

I used napkins for this découpage job - 4 to be exact.  First, painted the tray with a couple of coats of cream coloured chalk paint.  I then stuck on the napkins using some découpage glue and matching up the design where necessary.  Care is needed when matching the design up, it's a bit like wall papering on a smaller scale.  I also stuck some cut out flowers from the napkin to the outside edges of the tray to complete the look. Once dry, I added a coat of découpage glue and when the glue was dry, I sanded it lightly with a fine sandpaper to smooth out any wrinkles before applying a second coat of glue. When the this coat was dry, I finished up with two coats of gloss varnish to protect the surface, as this tray will be used regularly. You may prefer to use a matt finish but for this particular project I thought the gloss would look better.

As this tray is so pretty, I've decided to hang it in my kitchen rather than hiding it in a cabinet - it will also be more accessible for regular use and doubles up as wall decor! See photos below.  Click on photos to make bigger.

Découpaged Tray 1

Découpaged Tray 2

Tray Hanging on Wall

Tray (Before)

I hope you enjoyed reading about my little découpage project, if you would like to ask any questions you can do so by emailing me at funkyjunkinfo@gmail.com or through the contact form on this page and I will be happy to answer you.  You can also let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

By for now

Wedding Decor - Purple & Cream Picture Plaquette

It's the little details and the pretty finishing touches that make your big day personal to you so I was delighted when Funky-Junk was chosen to design and make a one off photo-hanging plaquette for a special couple for their wedding recently.  A bespoke wedding adornment which was hand made and therefore absolutely unique was my quest for this very special day on 1st January.  I am happy to say that my custom made design which was chosen to suit the happy couple and their wedding theme was a total success and loved by everyone especially the newly weds.  It can now be kept as a memento of that wonderful day.  Below are some pictures of the finished item - double-click to see larger sized pictures:

Great Gift Ideas

It's getting close to that time of year again where we spend our time planning for Christmas and trying to source unusual gifts for friends and family.

It's a difficult job trying to find something that is a little different and doesn't cost the earth.  This year, Funky-Junk has the answer with their beautiful handmade vintage style photo hanging plaquettes.  These plaquettes are all one of a kind, affordable and make wonderful gifts.

With a choice of background design and colour, a little ribbon and peg hangs from the frame which gives the option of placing a photo if desired... but these decorative plaquettes with their fabulous design and colours look great in any setting with or without a photo attached.

Peach Roses Vintage Style Photo Hanging Plaquette

To see more of these lovely plaquettes, click here or go to the 'For Sale' tab at the top of this page.  If you don't see anything suitable, contact me by email using the form on the right hand side of this page with your contact details or stating required colours/pattern/design and I can make to order.

Salle de Bain Plaquette

I'm addicted to making these bathroom plquettes - they are so cute.  This one's a simple design but effective.  For the bath I used a very old print that was one of many that I came across in my collection from almost 20 years ago when I first moved into my house and was crazy into home decor, découpage, furniture renovating and stencilling .....actually.....just like I am now!!

The bath cut-out was perfect for this little job, I just added some paint and a little sparkle to it. I dry-brushed a distressed effect border to the plaquette edges, added some typography that I transferred using a HB pencil.  A few coats of sealant, dark finishing wax and some pink ribbon finished this off nicely while it waits to be hung in someone's bathroom.

Kitchen Accessories - A Complete New Look

Sometimes it's not just about saving money - getting the perfect match is just as good a reason to renew some of our old household items.  When I got my house repainted recently I found that I was having trouble finding kitchen necessities to match the new decor  Everything I had was tuned into the old colour scheme and didn't match the new.  It takes me time to shop around and eventually I do find what I'm looking for but what to do in the meantime?  Put up with looking at the miss-matches?................I don't think so!  Paint them? .............well why not?

This is what I did with a tattered wooden kitchen towel holder and a purple liquid soap dispenser:

I made up some chalk paint with my plaster of paris and some emulsion (recipe on this blog) painted on a couple of coats and then sprayed with sealant.  Now I have an exact match to my new look decor!

Bedside Lockers - Distressing & Drawer Lining

You learn a lesson from every piece of furniture you remodel, no matter how much experience you have.  I have been restoring and revamping furniture for many years and I'm still learning today.

I didn't use a base colour before I painted these lockers beige and because they were a natural pine, which was very close in colour to the paint I used on them, when I distressed them, the effect was quite subtle. In this case, this is what I wanted however, if you did want a more pronounced distressing it would be best to darken up the furniture by painting a quick coat of a darker colour before you paint on the intended colour so that when you sand it there is a contrast.  I'll use a dark wax to finish these and that will intensify the distressing some more but I want these finished with a lighter distressing than ususal.

You'll need to click on the photo to see an enlarged version.

I painted the insides of the drawers using the same paint but without adding the Plaster of Paris as I didn't want to seal the interiors with wax as these lockers will be used for clothing and a more 'satin' finish suited best for this.  I also lined the drawers as you can see below with this great vintage fabric that I picked up.  I bought a metre and have some left over (for another project) as the drawers are quite small.

Bedside Lockers

I'm on a roll now having completed the Chest of Drawers which I posted about earlier this month and I am ready to get stuck into these two pine bedside lockers.  The are visually dated but are good quality and in great condition so why let them go to waste when they can be totally transformed?

I recently had my house painted and decided to re-do my bedroom so everything is getting a makeover and I'll be posting on the blog and on my Facebook page as I go along - it's a slow process in between trying to get everyone else's pieces finished, a full-time day job, a house to keep and child to look after - so bear with me!!  I do eventually get there and love the challenge so do drop back to have a look!

 

Chest of Drawers Revamp - The Result

I'm delighted to say that my chest of drawers is complete and I am very happy with the result.  It looks great in my room and has received the thumbs up from friends and family that have seen it.

The final finishing of this little piece really made the difference and gave it an appropriately aged vintage look.  Here are some pics of how it looks now and how it used to look - a big change for the better:

I hope you enjoyed following my progress with this piece of furniture, drop back soon to see what I have in store for two bedside lockers that have seen better days.  Let me know what you think of my work on Funky Junk Facebook or at the bottom of this post.