Florentine Boxes

Ohhhh ~
it's sooo good to see you all again!

Talk about dealing with withdrawal symptoms.
Whoooo weee!

(Am I obsessed with blogging? 
Ummm.....yes.)

After an entire week without my computer,
without my blog friends,
without any communication with you,
without any inspiration for my soul....
my computer has been cleaned up, fixed up, restored,
 full of memory, and is running smoothly again!

Life is good
and my world is once again right side up.  :)

 ♥

So, how did I keep myself from going wildly insane this past week?

I read a lot of old magazines,
cleaned the house from top to bottom,
dug a lot of weeds in the garden,
canned 100 more pints of homemade salsa,
periodically did a little whining and wimpering
while The Husband rolled his eyes,

and

dawdled in a little creativeness.


I've had a thing for Florentine boxes and trays lately
(as you can tell by this earlier post).

I love the soft combination of faded pink, aqua, and dusty gold.
They lend an ethnic bohemian feel to the decor which I am happily embracing.

(Wait til you see what followed me home from the latest antique market last weekend.
I'll give you a wee hint:  prints & color.
What?!
Prints and color at Heaven's Walk?
Yep.)

After seeing many beautiful Florentine boxes on Etsy and eBay for some crazy dollars,

I wondered if I could recreate the look with something I already had

buried in the depths of my basement.

I unearthed this little gray, distressed box 

and decided to try my hand at making it look Florentine.

The floral carved top was perfect for some color.

First thing was to add some gilding

using Rub-and-Buff in "Old Gold" with a tiny artist's paintbrush.

I carefully painted gold in the background on the lid as well as a few bands of it along the top and bottom. 

 

 The wonderful thing about Florentine treasures is that the color on them 

always look like they've been painted on by hand.

No perfection needed here.

Right up my alley.

 I used touches of ASCP in 'Antoinette' pink, 'Duck Egg' blue, and 'Provence' aqua,

and then distressed it a bit with a light touch of my sanding block.

I'm still trying to decide on what French or Italian words to transfer on the top in a beautiful, old flourished font.

 Maybe "Beautiful Life" or "Live Gracefully"...

I had so much fun playing artist with that little box, that I found myself anxiously looking for another one to transform.

This next one was purchased a while ago at the local Goodwill store.

It was just a plain little box.

Nothing to write home about - but for $1.99,
it had potential.

I brought it home and painted it with layers of 'Duck Egg' and 'Old White',

but stopped there because I couldn't decide what else to do with it to make it something really special.

So there it sat.

For months.

Until some Florentine inspiration hit me.

But since this box didn't have any floral carving on it,

I used transfer paper to create this flourish design on the lid.

Then filled it in using a Permapaque marker.

It took me about 20 minutes
while memories of childhood coloring books danced through my mind.

 Gilding came next,

hand painted along the top, sides, bottom, and legs.

Once again, no need for perfection.

Imperfection ruled instead.

I then added the same soft ASCP colors.

The next step was a light distressing,
followed by a coat of clear wax
and a tiny bit of dark wax
to give it an even more vintage look.

I had so much fun painting these sweet little boxes.
I think it brought out the child in me ~





or maybe the artist-wanna-be... 

and certainly helped quiet the whining and wimpering ~


much to The Husband's delight.

~  Blessings  ~

PS Thank you all so much for the suggestions, tips, and advice you offered
with my computer issues. You were right!

Linking to the parties on the lower right of my sidebar.

Just click on the buttons!