Monday 27 January 2014

Vintage Sewing Themed Drawer Cabinet

Hello and Thank-You so much for visiting. I'm sorry to have been absent from blogging recently... I'll try to catch up with you all soon.

I smiled when I saw the challenge theme "Shopping Sins" at Our Creative Corner this month; there are three things for sure in my life; death, taxes and overspending!

So having been away from crafting for most of this month I've spent the last few days working on today's piece in my favourite vintage style. I'm mortified to have so many long unused items in my stash - the main contenders here were some Kaisercraft mini drawers, several uninked sewing themed stamp sets and a few untested crackle mediums.





Re wooden part of mini drawers: Painted all the wooden parts first with gesso, then PaperArtsy 'Snowflake', followed by PaperArtsy 'Old Gold'. I had bought some crackle products to try and improve on efforts to date - glad to finally put them to test. I like result from Decoart One Step Crackle (you can see on gold pediment). My first choice however goes to Kroma crackle - you can see its lizardlike results on the front part of cabinet. Some of the more thickly crackled areas are where I have done a double coat of crackle to experiment.

Re little drawers: All the hidden drawers are painted with PaperArtsy 'Ice Blue' followed by a coat of 'Metallic Glaze'. I tied string around each drawer when gluing its sides to keep them together whilst the glue set (rather fiddly). Opened packaging on my Krylon gold pen to gild the edge of each of the drawers - I like result so will use this pen a lot!

Decorative fronts and sides: The lovely papers are from Maja Design 'Vintage Summer Basics' collection. The drawer fronts were all punched out, stamped and gold embossed with several images being double foam mounted. I've added lots of sewing themed paraphernalia. The stamps used throughout piece are from Crafty Individuals CI-328 (first use) and CI-306 (both following Laura's inspiration), Chapel Road Artstamps "Sew Much to Do" and Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi "Art By Hand" (again it's first use).


The left side of cabinet shows a seamstress hard at work.

Feet and Pediments
You'll also have noticed the cabinet feet and pediment. I die cut two layers of chipboard (by 4) for the feet using Sizzix Bigz Ironworks die. Made sure all the fleurs-de-lis were same height and glued each twosome together and then painted with Fresco 'Old Gold' followed by 'One Step Crackle'. I used loctite glue to hold these in place for a fast glue result. They are holding very solidly. The pediments at the top are also diecut from chipboard using Sizzix Bigz On-The-Edge 'Ornate'. The lower white one is Fresco 'Snowflake' coated with Kroma crackle to see how the crackle would look without a gold paint layer below.



The cabinet rear is also stamped and embossed with some machine stitching too. Santa brought me a sewing machine - I'm pleased to be finally trying it out!





The right side of cabinet shows the mannequin in use by this particular sewing establishment - again cut from chipboard using Bigz 'Sewing Room' die, painted as before and dressed in some finery
















Finally, a close up of the cabinet top:



A word of thanks too to May, Cathi and Alison who all provided some of the ingredients used in this piece.

Thank-you so much for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week,
Nicola x


I wish to enter cabinet to the following challenges:

Our Creative Corner - No more shopping sins (Guilty as accused!)
Vintage Udfordring - Use Dies and/or Punch
The Ribbon Girl Challenge - Anything Goes
Allsorts Challenge - Vintage
It's all about the vintage - Embossing
Fussy and Fancy Friday - Vintage
Sugar Creek Hollow - Fibres & Texture
Stamping Sensations - Ribbon, Buttons and Bows
Sweet Stampin - In Stitches
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Stitching
Inspiration Emporium - Diecuts and Punches

55 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, Nicola,

    you really rock this challenge with your awesome cabinet with all the lovely crackles and embellishments! Absolutely gorgeous and what a lot of love, thought and labour must have gone into this wonderful piece! LOVE IT!

    Thank you so much for sharing this stunning make with us at OurCreativeCorner! Wow!

    Hugs,
    Claudia x

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  2. WOW!! This is a stunning cabinet. Love the colour and paint finishes with the gold edging. All the embellishments and little details - what can I say - a labour of love and a true treasure chest.
    Avril xx

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  3. Wow Nicola, this has rendered me nearly speechless! The crackling on your cabinet is fantastic, the papers are divine and your embellishments are so cleverly placed. I have to keep going back to have another look. This is a truly stunning creation.

    Thank you so much for joining us at Our Creative Corner this month. You have made me feel even more guilty now, about all my shopping sins......

    Hugs, Anne xx

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  4. This is one yummylicious project Nicola you have really excelled yourself. Not sure what I love the most, be it the sewing, the colours or just all those lovely drawers to open and see what is lurking inside. Utterly fabulous.

    Warm crafty hugs from Shirl x x

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  5. Wow, wow, wow Nicola, what an amazing project and what fantastic use of those hoarded goodies! So many details to admire! That dress form for instance, but there are so many other fun and fabulous ideas too, - I could look at it for ages, - just stunning!

    Thanks so much for adding it to the challenge over at Our Creative Corner!

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  6. OH MY GOODNESS Nicola!!! This is truly FANTASTIC!!! So many wonderful elements to look at here...it must have taken you forever...but then most labours of love do!!! PERFECT for our "Vintage" Challenge at Fussy and Fancy...thanks for joining us!! Good Luck

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  7. Dear Nicola
    It is a pity you have been unable to craft for most of this month but oh my, you are back with the loudest bang possible with this sublime alteration.
    One of my all time favourite themes and with attention to detail such as that before me, I cannot help but do a ladylike swoon!
    So good to have you back (and with such style!)
    Wishes
    Lynne

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  8. Love it, love it, love it. So many little intricate things to look at. Good luck with your challenges.

    Julie x

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  9. Beautiful project Nicola! Love your attention to detail! Love all the sewing themed embellishments especially the teensy weensy spool! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  10. O my word Nicola This is so Beautiful...so much beauty to look at.. Love, Love, Love it all.. The colours, embellishments, design...WOW...Gorgeous creation I could just look at this for hours...Hugs May x x x

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  11. I was absolutely blown away by your project, wow!!! Thank you so much for sharing with us at Allsorts and joining our challenge this week.

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  12. This is absolutely fabulous Nicola - a real work of art and I'd be so proud to have made this. What a great job you've made of all the decoration turning a simple set of drawers into such a show stopper! Love it! Margie x

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  13. Wow, wow wow, what an amazing creation, thanks for joining us at Allsorts this week. xxx

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  14. Absolutely stunning project Nicola! Love all the amazing textures and details. Thanks for joining us at Sugar Creek Hollow!!

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  15. Wowsers Nicola, yo have certainly made up from your lack of crafting and I can't begin to imagine ow long this took but worth every second, so much to feast the eyes on.

    I am so pleased you shared it with us at Stamping Sensations and Allsorts challenges, thank you.

    B x

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  16. Beautiful creation, love all the stamping and a beautiful details too Thanks for joining Stamping sensations. Good Luck.
    Happy crafting
    Tracy x

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  17. PINNED!!! This is EXCEPTIONAL!!! I love each drawer and those feet are way COOL!!!

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  18. This is such a wonderful project, it leaves me breathless with joy and admiration! Where do you begin to praise so much beauty and attention to detail. Out of all the loveliness, though, I have to say those little fleur de lys feet win my heart! What a triumph the whole project is! Love, love, love it! Julie Ann xxx

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  19. Amazing project!! What fun to look at every yummy detail. Wow! Thanks for sharing it at Sugar Creek Hollow!

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  20. Fabulous project, I bet you really enjoyed putting all the elements together. Going back for another look - I may be gone some time!!! MMx

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  21. Oh, Nicola - a project from you is always worth the wait, and you have outdone yourself with this one. I adore every last detail - wonderful stamping, the colours, the crackle, each embellishment so carefully chosen and placed with precision, and that glamourously draped dress form to top it off... It's a work of art.

    Thank you so much for playing along with us at Our Creative Corner!
    Alison xx

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  22. My goodness, you have put alot of detail and work into this amazing piece of art! TFS!

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  23. This is a totally awesome project Nicila x I adore all the details and beautiful embellishments. TFS and best wishes

    Annie x

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  24. amazing project, love all the gorgeous details
    thanks for playing with us at fussy and fancy
    hugs
    céline

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  25. My goodness, when you do something you do it exceptionally well! LOVE the crackle texturing, the well thought out and refined colour scheme, and the attention to detail on all the little elements for each drawer/side make this so incredibly special Nicola. I'm so pleased you were inspired to use some of that stash and join us at Our Creative Corner. Jenny x

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  26. Oh My Greatness is more what this project is! I will just bet you are quite thrilled and pleased with yourself and the results! I love every little detail and that crackling is gorgeous! What a fun storage unit! Love this! Hugs!

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  27. Wow, wow, wow Nicola you have had great fun with the paints and crackle, this is just fabulous. I love the colours and the gold touches to add that opulent appeal and all sides and drawers have been finished beautifully with so much detail, I just love it. xx

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  28. Wow! What an amazing project, Nicola, just brilliant and perfect for our challenge! So much to look at and admire. Thank you for sharing it with us at Stamping Sensations this month.

    Lynne

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  29. Hello Nicola, this is simply devine! All the wonderful details are like a fine museum piece, you can spend a great deal of time looking at each detail. Love all the painting you did, especially the crackle paint, very effective indeed. I shall give this a try some day to use some of my forgotten trinket collection.
    Have a wonderful day!
    Hugs, Katie

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  30. Hi Nicola, this is GORGEOUS, you have won me over with so many things in this project I cant stop looking at it! My favourite colour Blue, I love the habidashery theme, brilliant original idea for the feet and love the deep crackle effect of the Kroma crackle, just beautiful. Hugs Mo x

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  31. Holy smokes! This is just amazing, Nicola. Wow. So much to see!

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  32. What a gorgeous cabinet! So many cool and lovely details.
    Thanks for joining us at Vintage Utfordring.

    Hugs
    Mette - DT

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  33. Hi Nicola, Oh WOW this is just amazing! I know just what you mean about our unused stash. I just love this! Judy x

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  34. Thank you for visiting my blog, Nicola--that made me find your amazing creations shown here !! They are gorgeous!! The cabinet so fantastic!
    Greetings,Dorthe

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  35. Hi Nicola, I've admired your cabinet a couple of times before being able to comment quietly!!... :) So now I forget almost all what I wanted to tell you... Just a big WOW!!!!!! Really fantastic!!! Hugs, Coco xx

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  36. This looks amazing, so many details, I could look at this for hours. Gorgeous! Love the mannequin you've placed on the side of the cabinet too!

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  37. Oh - wow - thats so great!!! Very nice creation - great details and design. I like it so much!
    Thanks for joining Vintage Udfordring.
    Hugs
    Andrea-Emmi4

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  38. Very unique and absolutely gorgeous! I adore all those wonderful embellishments - what a stunning piece of work. Thanks for sharing with us at Sugar Creek Hollow
    Amelia (DT Sugar Creek Hollow)

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  39. Oh! Awesome! This is just amazing... love it! Thanks for joining us at It's all about the vintage and beauty! :)

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  40. This is beautiful Nicola! It will be such a gorgeous addition to your new sewing machine! Thanks for joining us at Sugar Creek Hollow. ((hugs)) Rebecca

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  41. oh wow this is fantastic nicola.really gorgeous colours and i love all your beautiful details :D

    xx coops xx

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  42. No wonder so many comments have the word 'wow' in them (often more than once!!). This is a beautiful makeover and your artistic passion shines through. I LOVE the crackle on the cabinet edges and the 'dressed up' dress form is a perfect touch. Your work is truly amazing Nicola and the attention to detail is a real winner with me. Never tried Kroma crackle but if that's what it can do I may just have to slip one into my shopping basket sometime soon (don't tell DecoArt though!!). You so deserve all the praise you have received here.
    Thanks for joining us at Our Creative Corner. Juliaxx

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  43. Thank-you so much everyone for all your kind praise - music to my ears!

    Re the Kroma crackle - it works brilliantly but it does need approx 48 hours to dry and give its best result. I was in a rush to get this finished and hadn't realised it took so long so after the first 24 hours I used the heat gun to dry it but messed it and won't heat dry the next time. Also, the item needs to be horizontal for those 48 hours e.g. as well as doing the front sections I also placed Kroma (thick gel) alond the 2 sides. Overnight however gravity won the day (!) leaving a very lobsided narrow crackle to sides.

    Again, thank-you for all your encouragement, Nicola x

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  44. Gorgeous work, there is so much in it, would love to see it for real.

    Moira xx

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  45. This is such a gorgeous creation, Nicola. There are so many fabulous details. You are amazing! :)

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  46. OMG! it's fabulous and rocks our stitching theme.
    Thanks for sharing with us at Sweet Stampin' xxx

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  47. Fabulous cabinet Nicola, real eye candy. I'll add my "WOW "to the growing numbers
    Hugs Lynn

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  48. Ok ... "amazing" is just too tame a word for this Nicola. I can't even imagine how much time it took to lovingly piece this together. It's definitely a piece to treasure. You certainly put your stash to work for you on this. I am in awe!!!! I absolutely adore the fleur-de-lis feet. crackle finish, and your divine stamping. But it's all the embellishments that makes me just smile (including the crinoline skirt on the side). Incredible work! -- Mary Elizabeth

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  49. Wow, gorgeous altered drawers, so much detail, I am sure I still haven't seen everything (and I have looked a couple of times). Fantastic way to use up hoarded items.

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  50. Congratulations on your challenge win with this project. A well deserved win.

    Julie x

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  51. Congratulations Nicola on your Top 5 pick at Fussy and Fancy "Vintage"...well deserved!!!

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  52. Nicola, congrats on makming the top five at Fussy & Fancy. Judy x

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  53. SO super CUTE!!! My word chica...you knocked this out of the park! Fantastically fun creation from every single angle. :D

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  54. Your work never fails to amaze me, it is always so damn gorgeous, this is just outstanding.

    I am in awe :)

    Moira.

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Thank-you! Your visit and comment is very much appreciated. Nicola x