The Borrowed Brushstroke: Tutorial Tuesdays - How to make Fairy Furniture

Hello Everyone!

My niece is really getting into fairy things (hooray!) and I LOVE making fairy creations for her. I am making furniture for her to go with a fairy house I made a while back. Today I will show you how I make Treasure Cabinets (that are used as Fairy Trading Cabinets during the holidays and there will a post about THAT).

Most of my fairy furniture is made from 'found things' but this cabinet is sold at Michaels for a dollar. Kids LOVE that they can open the little doors and actually put little treasures inside.

What you need:

Little cabinet
Crayola Water Colors
Paint brush
Decoupage Spray - High Gloss- Acid Free
Fine Glitter or Fine Glitter Embossing Powder
Markers

Simply paint the cabinet with your watercolors. Use less water to make the colors more vivid. The wood is so fine that it acts like paper, so it accepts watercolor readily. I like using watercolor more than acrylic since it seems more fairy-ish for some reason. I usually wind up putting on several layers of color to make it pop. Definitely let it dry before adding more color. Put unusual colors together- like the ones you find in nature. Pinks and greens with orange. Purple and fuschia with green. Purple, green and yellow...just remember that watercolors will run a bit together and unless you want a brown color, put colors next to each other that blend well. I like blues and greens fading into each other.

After the cabinet is covered in color and dry, add decorative markings. Swirls, dots, vines, etc. I love to add markings that remind me of butterfly markings. Remember that when you add the decorative touches, they will bleed slightly. That is OK. You will trace back over them with marker to make the effect you see on the back.

Once everything is dry again, take it outside to coat it in decoupage spray.

While it is still wet, sprinkle on the glitter. The more the better, I think. It is easiest to open the little doors and spray the insides first and then move out. Do not close the doors until they are dry on both sides. The spray REALLY deepens the colors!