DIY - FRENCH STENCIL ON CHEST

Stenciling my beautiful chest.

Finally!!
I just needed some time to finish my pretty dresser, I was waiting for the right time and now its finally done...

In part, I was also waiting to find the right stencil, I wanted something very French and vintage and I looked at some of my favorite furniture refurbishing stores  near by but I couldn't find it then, I remembered Michaels had an Ad on their website for their new French Stencils line... I run, (literally, I run to Michaels because I have one  around the corner) and found this one.

Stenciling is no brain surgery... Its pretty easy to do and most of the times works out just fine but I did gathered all my tools before hand so I could do this in a relax manner and enjoy the process.
All I needed was;
* Stencil design
*Painter's tape (to hold stencil in place)
*A small bowl (to mix my paints)
*Black acrylic, water base, craft paint.
* OPTIONAL black powder tempera paint or milk paint ( to thicken the craft paint and avoid bleeding)
*A small sponge or stencil brush ( I used an old/dry-out shoe polish applicator)

I started by taping the stencil design onto the side of my dresser. As you can see, it was a bit challenging to  make it flash against the surface because the dresser has a curve to it and that created a little bit of distance, not your best situation for stenciling but I tried...

I then mixed my paints to create a thick past-like consistency.

Then I grabbed some paint with my sponge applicator and dubbed it on some wax paper before  taking it to the dresser.
 

And then I started stenciling trying to avoid too much paint on my sponge and dubbing it rather than sliding it over the stencil design.

It wasn't too difficult but that space between the stencil and the surface of the dresser really  made it complicated and the result shows...

It did bleed a little...
I then thought to myself; "maybe I should had used spray adhesive rather than tape to avoid the gaps" but it was too late!!
Something I learn to appreciated about  all-hand-made is that its never going to look perfect as it would with factory reproductions, right?!

 At the end, it turned out pretty good after all.

I proceeded to  paint the other side and the dresser and I was done.
This little project was fun and I learned a lot from it, next time... I'll re-think my adhesive choices for sure... :0)

Thank you for reading my post!!