Sunday, February 27, 2011

Fleur de lis

This is what I started with ~ found at a yard sale last fall.
 




I really had no idea what I was going to do with them until this
weekend when I decided to tackle a French makeover.
I started by taking the pictures out and painting the frames black.



While the frames were drying, I scanned the internet for a couple
French designs I could use on them.  I settled on two
different versions of the popular fleur de lis, one of which I
found on The Graphics Fairy.  
I downloaded them to Photoshop and used the magic wand to
highlight all the black areas.  Then I sized them down to fit my frames
and  printed a practice sheet on white paper.
While it would have been easier to buy parchment paper, it was
late at night and I was on a roll, so I tea-dyed some card stock paper 
I already had to obtain the vintage look I was after.  
I let the paper dry overnight, ironed it to get the ripples out, and
then printed off the fleur de lis designs.



After cleaning the glass, I laid it on the paper so I could see exactly


how I wanted to center the design, traced around the glass,
and then cut it out.



I lightly distressed the black frames, and then applied a layer of 


polycrylic.  When dry, they were ready to put back together and 
here is the finished product.













They would look nice mounted on the wall or sitting separately 
on a black rod iron easel.
 





 This was my first attempt at anything French cottage.  It's not
the style of anything in my home, but I wanted to have a variety
of decor options at my Open House in May.  I may try 
some pillows next.






Linking with
Gorgeous and Fun for Being Creative
~
Boogieboard Cottage for Masterpiece Monday
~
Dittle Dattle for Amaze Me Monday
~
Making the World Cuter for Making the World Cuter Monday
~
The House in the Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday
~
Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
~
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia for Tuesday's Treasures

35 comments:

Crystal Rose Cottage said...

Hi Cindy....That is a really neat transformation! I think it looks classy and I love the black and white combo. Very nice!~Hugs, Patti

Dandelion and Daisy said...

Very nice! Frenchy achieved and those frames look much better black!

Fixing My Thoughts said...

Very creative and a great result! Bess

Fuzzy Slippers said...

I'll never disregard yard sale art again! What a great tutorial, thanks for all this info. :) Please feel free to stop by Fuzzy Slippers Designs

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

Wow! Amazing, Cindy! You did a fabulous job! I love the french text superimposed on one of them! Happy Sunday!...hugs...Debbie
PS...Thanks for visiting my neighbor's new blog! You are a sweetie!

Babs said...

Great project, Cindy and I love the tea dyed paper. That really gives the artwork a vintage/shabby chic look. Thanks so much for visiting my new blog. Debbie is a treasure. I'd never started blogging if it hadn't been for her. Thanks again and have a good week.

Amisha said...

Hi Cindy,
This is fantastic! Thank you sharing and participating in Being Creative.

FOUR ALL SEASONS said...

These are just adorable! You really have an eye for detail!

Tonya said...

Oh, how beautiful! Ya know, I saw those over at Graphic Fairy's when they came out and thought, "Wow, those are really great!" and now you've made them even better! Very nice!

Karen Provost said...

What a nice home accent. What a great idea to do a series of fleur de lis.

liberal sprinkles said...

Hi I came from Amisha's Being Creative post. That's a lovely repurposed frame. Thanks for sharing the process!

Blue Creek Home said...

Wow! I can't believe this was your first attempt at Country French.
This project turned out beautiful.
Rhonda

La Vie Quotidienne said...

fantastic...they look great!

Fiona, Lilyfield Life said...

hi - I love these!! I regularly use fleur de lis in my makeovers and was wondering if you could possibly send me the links to where you got the one with the wheat in it.
check out how I've used mine - one on my card (http://lilyfieldlife.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-business-card-and-price-tag.html) and some on chairs (http://lilyfieldlife.blogspot.com/2011/01/french-chair-for-child.html)
cheers Fiona from lilyfieldlife.blogspot.com

Miss Char said...

Great transformation, I love the new look of your old frames.

La said...

These turned out fantastic, Cindy. I'm sure they will go quickly.

Have a great week! La

Unknown said...

This is so lovely. They turned out beautifully. Now I feel inspired to make something using this idea.

Karen

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

Great frames! I love how they look black. I think the fleur de lis was a good way to go with these frames. They turned out really nice and make a great pair to display. Fleur de lis is one of my favorite designs.

Anonymous said...

I love these are you are the most creative one.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Anonymous said...

So pretty. So simple. Now...the BIG question...what will you do with those two charming landscapes that you removed from the frames? :-) They need another home. Mine! ;-)
Hugs, Diane

Pam Kessler said...

That's a huge transformation. And you can't go wrong with fleur de lis.

Linda Q said...

I was just doing something like this last week, restocking my antique mall space with Frenchy black and cream things. I too used Graphics Fairy for the fun items. I had a stash of old frames etc. to use up. Nice job!
( See my blog about 3 posts ago and see what I did.)
Linda

Aledia said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog I truly appreciate it! Wow- I just love these and I think you did a fantastic job!

abeachcottage said...

They turned out great. Love what you did with them!

Jodie said...

Fantastic transformation! Love Fleur de lis! These frames turned out beautiful!

I'm a new follower, I would love for you to stop by sometime, www.lovelaughteranddecor.blogspot.com

Have a Wonderful Week,
Jodie

Kristin @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia said...

THis is super cute! Thanks for linking your beautiful project~

Anonymous said...

Cindy what a great transformation!! I am always picking up frames but have to tell you I hardly ever get around to doing anything with them!! Crazy I know! I have a large frame that I spray painted white in the fall of last year and want to make a chalkboard out of it- with the warmer weather coming on (yea we almost got to 60 today!)
maybe I will get that project finished!!

This is a great project! Thanks for the inspiration-

bee blessed
mary

Cindy said...

Hi Cindy,
Those little frame are so lovely now and your little French Cottage images are lovely!
Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of bloggers named "Cindy"?
Hugs, From (another) Cindy

Kathy said...

I just recently looked at those - love, love, love what you've done! They look fantastic!
Yeah Graphics Fairy!
Kathy

Sherrie said...

Love them! What a creative idea!
Have a beautiful day!

Fishtail Cottage said...

What a creative and fantastic idea....love that you took such fabulous frames and did something so cute with them. Off to peak around you blog! xoox

Mary said...

Hi, I just wanted to tell you that I featured your Fluer De Lis on my "Top Ten Fav Picks" at Boogieboard Cottage. Thank you so much for sharing this. Have a great weekend! Mary :O)

Barbara Jean said...

wonderful! don't you just love tea stained paper?

blessings
barbara jean

Christine said...

I love this, great job!
Christine
greatoakcircle.com

Emily said...

You did an amzing job! Love the frames and artwork! So cute!!!
-emily
www.nestnestingnested.blogspot.com

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