Good morning everyone – it’s nearly the weekend! Here in England it is looking like it will be nice and sunny – how lovely.
My blog tells me that I’ve had quite a few visits from Canadian friends across the pond this week – hello to all of you! *wave* A place I would love to spend more time in.
I’ve had a busy week of painting, photographing and writing. As well as my part-time job in a university, I also do some freelance writing. It’s really interesting and I enjoy writing a lot, but it can be quite unpredictable. The project that I had pencilled in to start today has been cancelled at the last minute (the client has decided that they want it written in German instead!). It can be a bit frustrating, but my first thought was actually ‘Yay! More time to paint!’ I’m sure that’s not the actions of a hard-nosed career woman but what can I say, I do love upcycling 🙂
So, this week’s Inspiration for the Weekend is here already. Doesn’t time fly when you’re perusing upcycling projects and the many wonderful things that can be achieved with a lick of chalk paint and some creative thinking!
First up is this oh-so-simple but absolutely gorgeous row of painted jars by Martha Heritage.
The way that Martha has arranged these painted jars perfectly shows off the beautiful range of colours in the Annie Sloan range – I think it’s amazing how almost all the colours to look fabulous next to each other – even if they’re not typical colour combinations.
I can just imagine these lovely jars filled with sweetly-scented sweet peas or delicate stocks – or even lots of pastel-coloured pencils (I love stationery!) You can find Martha’s lovely website here.
I couldn’t wait to share this absolutely exquisite desk painted by Hakan from this beautiful blog. Hakan posted this picture in the Facebook group ‘Annie Sloan Projects Before/After’ (if you haven’t joined yet and would like to share your pics, please do join!) and I was just blown away by the composition of the photograph and the gorgeous colour combination.
Have a look at Hakan’s lovely website – he has some really wonderful ideas for different uses of chalk paint – including a painted violin! My brother was blessed with all the musical talent in our family, so alas I don’t have any musical instruments lying around which I could paint – but if I did, this is what I’d be doing with them! Beautiful and so unusual!
Lastly, I want to share another project which was shared by Gwen in the Annie Sloan Before/After group on Facebook. Gwen has transformed an empty paint can using some decoupage with a napkin, some Coco paint and clear wax. I think this is so effective, and I don’t think it would take too long to complete, either!
If anyone is struggling to start decoupaging, you are very welcome to have a look at my step-by-step guide. It’s really not as scary or difficult as I once feared!
I’ve got a few outdoor projects lined up for the next few days. Everything is looking so lovely at this time of year. I’ll be back to chat about them next week!
Have a fabulous weekend!
Helen
xx