Whimsical salvage art with a fun addition

Not every painting project has to be BIG!

Sometimes it is the simplest piece of salvage that calls to you......

This whimsical little beauty is an old European door cabinet door insert....that my client has carried around for YEARS.....just waiting for the perfect opportunity to make something beautiful out of it! I'm honored that she chose me....to trust with the project!

A 50th wedding anniversary gift to a life long friend....and the memory of their wedding song hand painted as the message......

Below is the salvage piece before I painted it. I covered the entire piece in BOSS clear by Dixie Belle Paint to prime the old dry wood....and to prevent any bleed through from old stains or wood tannins.

I then painted one solid coat of Dixie Belle's Drop Cloth. It is a soft off-white that always serves as a great backdrop for any words or fancy designs that will are planned.

I then measured off a space around the edge to serve as a frame....and taped off my stripe design. I used Dixie Belles Caviar (black) to create my bold stripe pattern.

The gorgeous dusty rose color you see below as the diamond shape pattern....is Dixie Belle's Tea Rose. These three colors together remain sort of muted and neutral....but still make a statement! You can also see the molds that I created to the right of the sign below. I made these molds myself....using molds from Prima....and hot glue!!! Let me tell y'all...using hot glue to make furniture molds has been a complete game changer!! You can see exactly how I do it in the video below...

https://youtu.be/Gv44hxeiKl4

Then I painted them with a single coat of Drop Cloth. Once dry....I glued them in place as if they had always been there!

Once glued into place.....I gilded them with Dixie Belles gold gilding wax! I also applied a decor transfer from Prima....to the bottom half of the sign. I love these transfers....as they add the perfect enhancement to projects without having to be truly artistic!!! They come in a variety of offerings and I will add them to my shop section below for you!! Check out how I've used these design transfers on some of my other pieces like my Old World Whimsical Painted Vanity or Whimsical Painted Grandfather Clock.

I glazed the entire piece in Dixie Belle's Van Dyke brown glaze .....and finally hand painted the song title.

Once dry.....I sealed the project in Easy Peasy Spray Wax.....which if you haven't tried yet....you need to! I sprayed it on....and wiped it away....and done!

I am so so so in love with this little sign!!! I used many different techniques to create this one tiny piece. I promise you it is something you can do for yourself!!! Once you add these techniques to your own bag of tricks....you can create pieces just like this for those close to you as gifts....or offer them as a product in your shop or boutique! They are original and one of a kind....and so very personal!

I offer almost every step of this process in online recorded classes on my website.

The stripe and harlequin are in ONE single class......and you can use this on so many projects! You will learn each technique and so much more!! You can read more about that here.

And the hand painting/lettering technique is part of my "signs" class.....I give you three hacks in learning how to hand letter! You are sure to be addicted to personalizing everything once you finish my class! You can find that here.

I have not offered a class on making your own molds....or painting, embellishing and applying them....but maybe I should???

As always.....I'd love to hear your thoughts on this whimsical salvage art!!! And I hope I have inspired you to create something special today!

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The products listed here are what I used to create this whimsical salvage art project! Dixie Belle Paint company offers amazing products that will make all of your projects successful no matter what your skill level! You can also find my favorite products and tools in my Amazon influencer list here.