~ Cracks Can Be Beautiful ~

  Happy Thursday my friends!

Things are slowly getting back to normal here at the Nest.

I am once again playing with my paint and doing my best to 

create a touch of beauty

everyday.

I attended a community rummage sale a few weeks back.

It benefited the local SPCA, which I am a huge fan of.

All my family pets have come from shelters...

well except for Igor, the Iguana lizard.

But thats a whole other story!

I brought home quite a few great pieces of furniture to refurbish.

More about them in a later post.

I picked up a large frame at the sale.

Today I would love to show you some more magic that I have created with the help of

 Annie Sloan's Craqueleur™ crackle varnish.

I love this stuff!!!
***UPDATE***



Maryann was kind enough to feature my Craqueleur ™frame on her wonderful blog!Many thanks my friend!

I forgot to take a BEFORE photo of my frame, but it looked almost exactly like this one.

Mine was a wood frame to a very awful oil painting. I knew I could simply remove the painting and restyle the frame.

It was a large frame also..not bad for $5.00

So what do you think...

I may be biased, but I think she is beautiful and will look great in my shop.

Let's look at a few before and afters of the crackle technique.

One coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ in Provence

After that dried, I used a damp rag to gently distress to expose the gilding.

Then I applied Annie Sloan's two step

Craqueleur™varnish crackle.

The first coat was dry in a couple of minutes and it dries shiny..so check it. It will look wet, but it is not.

After applying a thin coat of step two, I hit the frame with a blow dryer and let the magic happen!

Once the crackle was complete, I applied Annie Sloan Dark Wax™

The wood was still warm from the dryer and this made the dark wax melt beautifully onto the wood frame. 

I wiped away any unwanted excess with a soft rag.

If you find you have any spots too heavy with dark wax, simply apply a little Clear Wax to remove them.

Before the Craqueleur™ and Dark wax...

double click for an even closer look!

**After**

Instant age in a bottle I tell ya!!

La Bella Scoop Design

So you could spend $154.00 on this crackled frame....

Or you could turn a $5.00 thrift shop frame into this and save yourself over $100.00!!

Once Again...

**Before** 

**After**

I will go with the thrifty version any day.

Thanks for visiting today and thank Annie for a great product.

Until next time...be kind and stay creative.