Decorating with Stencils

A trash to treasure story with Raised Plaster and Dianne's craftiness.

When you have that nagging thought: "Golly, I should just throw this old piece of furniture away", that's the first clue that you should dig out your plaster stencils, your paint brush and your imagination and get busy! SAVE THE FURNITURE!!!

It's easy! But Diane goes beyond just a bit of plaster and moves to STONES! This woman is fabulous!!!!

Dianne Johnson tells the story (and tells it well!... so much so, that she could easily become a writer as well!):

"This was once an ugly...(and

I do mean ugly), dark brown/black mahogany,

plain as plain could be, armoire.  It came to me

free of charge...thanks to that tornado that

came through Trenton, ripping the roofs

off stores....stores like ColorTyme.  It was

declared by the insurance company as

damaged goods and thus was slated

to be tossed as garbage.  It came in my

house, worthy of nothing less than hiding

in a closet somewhere...however...I had

no closet big enough to hide it in. 

Okay, so the journey began:  A nice bright color

of paint ought to do it...(or so I thought. It

did improve its appearance, but it was

still so plain looking.  Well...how about a

new change of knobs???  Better it became,

but still not quite enough.  How do you go

from plain to flash?  A bold and risky step,

glue and aquarium stones!  I have to admit,

I was skeptical enough to think and remind

myself that it was FREE...and thus not

hard to take if it turned into nothing

more then a piece of trash.  I began

gluing the stones on ....making up

the design as I went along...again

proof in the fact that I was a "ye of

little faith" in the endeavor.  The

plan was to just do the two doors.

Those done, standing back and

looking at it I STILL came up

with the same conclusion...better,

but it was STILL lacking!  Back to

the glue pot and stones I went,

did the two bottom drawers,

thinking this just ought to do it.

Almost...but not quite...it was

still calling to me for more

help!  There I was...plum out

of ideas...

 The perfect idea was the Plaster cattails!!

 I put on the cattails and it cried to me no more.

  From trash to treasure my

adventure took me...from ugly to

a conversation piece it has

become...now ask me if I want

to make that journey again!  Glue

those itty bitty aquarium stones

for awhile and you'll know the

answer!

     People have asked me where

I found that piece...I reply...in

the wreckage of a tornado.  Some

have asked if I wanted to sell it...how

can you put a price on a journey?

True...it hardly meets the title of

a masterpiece...In retrospect, I

could have planned the mosiac

design better before I started...but

the journey began here and it ends

here...if there's travel in its cards,

it will have to wait till I am gone.

   If you look at the armoire...you

will see the sunrise behind the cattails.

The reflecting from the light...its always

there to tell me....its a new day Di...we

are STILL on a journey.

Dianne, it's my suggestion that you submit this piece in it's entirety to "Dreams Alive" Magazine. Email me and I'll send you the link! Everyone would just love it!

Stencils used in this project

Purchase this stencil

Exciting News!
Victoria's husband Dana has finally released his fabulous "Smooth Jazz" CD that includes Victoria's single "Gravity".

Give a listen for free at
cdbaby.com
today!
Click here!