Annie Sloan Christmas Shelfie: Painted Birds

I found these beautiful wooden birds in November when I was in Cape Town for my stockist conference. They were from this incredible warehouse/market call The Old Biscuit Mill, which was full of little artisan studios and independent shops - just up my street! I took them back to my studio in Oxford and have been waiting to paint them. They were just perfect perched on my shelf, all they needed was a little paint of course!

You will need: 

• Wooden Birds - try to find ones with a beautiful shape and form
• Chalk Paint® - I chose Giverny, Old White and Graphite 
• Artists' Brushes

With these sweet little birds, I loved the shape but as they were quite small against the other projects I needed them to stand out and hold their own, and not get lost amongst everything else. I chose my bright and bold Giverny as the main colour to paint them, with my black Graphite and Old White used to highlight the wings or the beak and also, as you can see, to just be a little free with the paint, too! I flicked and dripped the paint to create a really fun and rich patina. The whole idea is to be free and have fun, so this is a great little project to do if you have little ones!

Aren't they sweet? I love the way they look on the mantlepiece with the other projects, make sure you have a look on my Facebook page tonight to see them nestled here and there! 

Yours, 

Annie 

The 12 Crafts of Christmas - No.5: The Stocking

Today, for the fifth of my 12 Crafts of Christmas, I'm sharing this super easy sewing project with you! Rudi who works in the fabric department at Annie Sloan HQ made these adorable Christmas stockings to hang along the fireplace.

Using fabrics from the Annie Sloan Fabric Collection and a simple template (see below, and please note the 1cm seam allowance), Rudi cut out 2 pieces of fabric that would make the front and back of the Stocking and sewed along the top straight edge to create a neat hemmed edge. She then laid both pieces on top of one another –so that the right sides were facing – and pinned them together.

Earlier in the day, we had dyed some cotton web tape, using my paint Chalk Paint® as a dye (take a look at my earlier blog post to find out how to dye fabric with Chalk Paint®). Rudi cut the tape to 12cm lengths and pinned these in to the top inside seam, to create a loop. She then wizzed the sewing machine along the side and bottom edges, leaving the top open and turned the fabric inside out, so the right-sides faced out – and there you have it!

You can also add a sweet detail by adding a heel in an alternative fabric. Rudi dyed Pure Linen with the same Chalk Paint® dye that she had used on the cotton tape and added this to some of the Stockings that were made from some of the simpler patterned fabrics (such as Pinstripe Mattress Ticking or Gentleman). See the templates above for this.

I hope you're playing along with my #12CraftsOfChristmas and having fun! Don't forgot to share pictures of your projects with me!

Yours, Annie

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The 12 Crafts of Christmas - No.4: The tree decorations

Earlier this week I wrote about the beautiful linen table runner and napkins I created using my paint and my Stencils at Kirstie Allsop's Handmade Christmas Fair and this week I’m going to share another project I worked on at the Fair – Christmas decorations!

The kind team at Art Cuts (a wonderful family-run UK business who make a great range of craft shapes from wood) supplied their beautiful Turtle Dove cut-outs for me to use, and I transformed them using my paint, Chalk Paint®. This is something that it is lovely to do with children if you have crafty kids in your life – although the attention to detail on your design may need to be modified slightly! In fact, this is a really nice thing for the whole family to do together – including all those naysayers who insist that ‘they can’t draw’. All you need is the shapes, Chalk Paint®, a few matchsticks and cotton wool buds!

The technique I use to create the pattern is called 'sgraffito'. The word means ‘to scratch’ in Italian, and that’s exactly how it works – the pattern is ‘scratched’ into wet paint. It’s a technique which is often thought of in relation to ceramics (I’ve written before about how much I love the way in which Grayson Perry uses it), but I’ve been playing around with it for a long time – since I used it to create my logo! – and I love using it with Chalk Paint®.

For the decorations, I started by applying an all-over base colour of Old White, using a wet rag which creates a stain. I chose this technique as I only had 1 hour to complete the whole project, so I needed to make sure the paint would dry quickly! Once dry, I painted the doves in Emperor's Silk – do one of these at a time, rather than thinking of doing each stage by turn, as the paint needs to be wet for the effect to work. Using a matchstick, firmly ‘scratch’ in designs to reveal the white stain underneath (or, of course, whatever colour you have chosen for this). I then used a cotton bud to dot Old White over the surface for a bit of contrast and that folk/boho effect which I was after, but you can make any pattern that works well with your home. Simple often works really well, but please don’t let me stop you creating something as intricate as you like!

For another really cool decoration idea, here's something else I tried out at the Fair!

I invited visitors to my stand to paint a piece of dolls' house furniture which was then hanged on our gorgeous birch Christmas tree. A tremendous way to inject a whole range of colours into Christmas, and isn’t it effective?

Please keep uploading your pictures on Facebook and Instagram – I just love seeing them and follow #12CraftsofChristmas for more Craft ideas in my 12 Crafts of Christmas series.

Yours, Annie