Is anyone else really tired of these cold and windy weekends? Yuck! We won’t be biking for a while yet, especially as snow is heading in this week to give us a good dumping. Biking in February? Sure! Biking in March? Hmmmmm….
Anyway, I did get a chance to work on a little project that I’ve been wanting to do since last summer when I picked this up. Old vintage suitcase:
It’s not big, only about 15 inches across. It didn’t smell at all inside, which was a bonus LOL! The fabric was good on the bottom, but the top was all ripped up and I removed it before this picture:
I thought this would be a nice prop for displaying my soaps and stuff. So, after cleaning it up a bit, I made a chalk paint to use all over it, including the fabric (makes it feel leathery). The color is Moonlight White, which is the paint color of our kitchen cabinets – guess where I got the paint?? 😀 It’s an off white. No quite cream, but not really bright white.
Looks much better now. I also painted the hardware flat black. For the inside, I did a transfer of my logo on the inside lid. I’ve done this before on a dresser, but the method was a little different since this is a smaller piece. You need a shiny paper, like wax paper or something coated. My sheet happened to be an empty peel and stick label sheet, which has the perfect sheen and bonus that it fits in the printer.
I used Open Office to reverse my logo and print it out (inkjet) onto the shiny side:
Since the chalk paint is a matte finish, this works really well as a technique. I used a damp sponge to moisten the suitcase lid and then pressed the paper on:
I just rubbed it a bit. It’s sort of like a temporary tattoo. Voila!
Now the surface of the inner lid was rough, which is why the print came out like that. I wasn’t sure I liked it at first, but it has that bit of vintage vibe to it.
After I got done, John said “It’s so you!” 😀 Now to style the inside with product.
Sunday was sister time! I met up with my sis for some coffee. Multiple attempts at a selfie with not a ton of success.
My head is giant LOL!
Latte:
I don’t know if any of you remember the Super Bowl ad from last year where a small business won a free 30 second commercial? It was for Death Wish Coffee, a local company, and this is their retail store in Saratoga.
Good stuff. It was good catching up, too.
Who else loves the evening being lighter as of today? Meeee!! Although I do hate thinking it’s one time and it’s another. Now to get ready for snow…
What a great display idea! And after yesterday, I admire your painting skills even more. I painted 20 cradled panels for displaying small quilts. I did not enjoy it. And today I found out I needed to add hanging hardware to each one. NOT my cup of tea. But your coffee looks good 🙂
Ugh, the hard part about hanging hardware is getting it centered the same on all the pieces, especially if it uses wire.
Wow you did a great job on the suitcase.
It was even on the weather news here in Holland yesterday that parts of the USA are in a cold front right now. We have had the most wonderful Spring day yesterday (and the rest of the week).
It’s already lighter at night (around 7 pm it gets darker) but we have to wait 2 more weeks for daylight savings. We are always 2 weeks behind on you.
Daylight Savings is just so silly. We should just stop doing it.
Agree it just to be for saving energy but results show that really doesn’t make a difference. Now it’s just for the economy that it’s an hour longer light. The side effects on people can be huge: sleeping problems, less productivity. I say stop it too.
Agree it used to be for saving energy but results show that really doesn’t make a difference. Now it’s just for the economy that it’s an hour longer light. The side effects on people can be huge: sleeping problems, less productivity. I say stop it too.
I hate the time changes. I wish we’d pick one and stick to it.
I agree with John – my thought was “That’s so Lori.” You’ll have to show us another shot once you have it styled with product.
Yes, styling is the problem LOL. I’m not a prop stylist. I need Shelley here for that.
Haha, I was just coming here to comment on how cute the suitcase will look when it’s filled with your soap! My thought would be to either layer some crinkle-cut paper (you know, the stuff you can buy as bag filler for gifts) or a nice throw, and be prepared to also use extra boxes to build up height (underneath the filler/throw). It might take a few tries, but I bet you’ll end up with a super cute display. 🙂
No – you need to come here and do this for me!! 😀
You are so talented! I love how that turned out. And hooray for sister and coffee time! 😀