Have you ever been thrifting and you see a piece that you are so unsure of that you return to it over and over and over again? Then you throw it in your cart, even if it doesn't fit, and drive around the thrift store for another 20 minutes until you finally give in? Yeah, me neither.
This crazy plaid tin bookshelf was the ugliest piece in the store, by far. But it had a bit of rust, which you know I love, it was crazy cheap ($6.50) and well.... it called my name. "Bree! Bree! Save me from the landfill"
I'm such a sucker, so it came home with me.
After a good hard scrub, and removing those hideous sliding doors...and idea hit me. In the face. It needed to be a First Aid shelf to add to my collection of vintage kits in my en-suite.
With the help of my die cutting machine (Silhouette Cameo) I created the stencils for the design.
I used regular inexpensive craft paint, because its what I had i had on hand, and with the social-distancing thing... it would have to do. So I sponged the paint over the stencil.
Slow and steady wins the race. Tip: when using craft paint remove the stencil before it dries or the paint will chip.
So how did I distress it to the prefect vintage chippiness you ask? Well i created this technique using packing tape. Hit pause. It was an "accidental" technique, because, well it happened by accident on another project, But I loved the result so I've been doing it ever since.
You simply place packing tape over the graphic, once dry, and rub it hard. Then rip the tape away and it will pull off some of the paint and leave it looking like authentic distressed.
That's all it took. The result was more than I could hope for. Total swoon worthy.
