Thursday, May 31, 2012

Getting Ready for Augusta Ky - Art in the Garden

Whew... this year my goal is to "brand" myself.  Not the painful kind with an iron, but the good kind..the kind that makes people recognize my show booth by the colors and how it is set up.  I started to do that last year with my cards and banners matching the colors I use on my website and blogs.

So far this year I have boxes (aqua) and brown bags with labels, new table covers in ivory and I am working on my displays and set up to reflect my style.  In an effort to not only save some money, but to make everything "match" the colors of my banner I decided to try to paint my old inexpensive neck forms.  You know the ones...those fake leather ones.  I had black and white in various sizes.  The black ones were still pretty good, but the white ones have seen better days.  They seem to get marks and smudges pretty easily.  I was at Lowe's and had a thought...why not spray paint them???!!!  So I bought an antique copper and a pearl ivory and came home and started to spray.

Well the black ones look fabulous now...
Exactly what I wanted a nice rich brown that sparkles just a bit in the sun.  They covered easily and dried quickly.

The white ones were another story.  The spray paint is supposed to prime and paint all at once, but some of those marks were not getting covered.  So then I applied a spray on white primer...my mistake of course wasn't allowing for drying time (who isn't in a big hurry to see how stuff comes out?).  The second they felt dry I added the ivory.  Big mistake!  Now they are all sticky and if you try to fold them down and stack them when you check them the next day they are all stuck together.  And when you pull them apart they look worse than when I started. Notice that I didn't post a picture of that mess.

So the wheels in the poor overworked brain started to turn again.  I need those displays for Saturday!  What am I going to do?  Even if I placed an order right now they won't be here in time.  So I trolled the internet and pinterest yesterday to get ideas.  The problem with that is I am easily distracted by all the other cool ideas in the show booths I saw.  Finally yesterday I thought, why not use paper and decoupage them.  I stopped at WalMart on my way home but they didn't have any ivory crepe paper.  I knew I had a variety at home but didn't think I had ivory.  So I gave up and decided to look for some today and tomorrow.  I looked in my stash today and woo hoo...there was an unopened package of ivory.  I ripped open the pack and crumpled it up because I wanted the stands to look a little funky.  A little spray adhesive, some patting and then I also added a few torn pieces to the surface and I LOVE them!!!


I like them so much I am not going to try to seal them.  If they get messed up I can rip off the bad part and add another scrunched up sheet.  It is hard to see in these pictures but they are the perfect shade of ivory.  I love that I was able to rescue my 4 year old el cheapo neck forms and that they will be unique in my booth.  I've never seen anything  like these...maybe I shouldn't share this with you all.  Nah, use the ideas..just make them your own style.

Happy crafting!


5 comments:

  1. You know what, I had been thinking about revamping some old display equipment I had from years ago, for my new shop....these are GREAT ideas! Thanks so very much for sharing, Lynnea!

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  2. Good for you Lynnea! The displays look awesome! & you can take pride in making them more beautiful than before.

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  3. I love this, and I thank you for sharing. I've never been so fond of black and white ones. They look great in some people's displays, but I have tended to go for more natural fibers and I'm afraid they would just stand out. I've seen linen stands, but never when I needed them and wanted to purchase. (just the way). I'm thinking this might be a great idea with kraft paper. You could also switch up the colors for different seasons. Brilliant! Thanks again!

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  4. Really great ideas..Since I just started buying my displays they are still new, it is great to know there is hope when one of them gets messed up.

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