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The second chest I got off of craigslist for free. I heart freeeeeeeee~ It is an old chest as well, but not as old as the previous one. .jpg)
I am going to be making these over (of course) and I'll post them on the 25th of this month with a linky to Jen's monthly makeover party. Eh gawds, thats right around the corner, I had better get busy!
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I added the faux leather treatment on this trunk and painted it with more blacks & grays so as not to be an exact copy of the other trunks. I still may add some kinda painted piratey doo-dad to the top of the trunk..jpg)
Lastly, I scored and I scored big on these small fabric bags. There were over 80 of these bags stuffed tightly into a ziploc bag that I bought at a second hand store for 2 bucks! I made the skull stencil out of cardstock paper that I covered with packing tape and then cut out. The stencil is still good even after pounding my black paint through it with a stencil brush..jpg)
I am in pirate mode.... stay tuned to see my crocheted parrot sitting on top of a crocheted cupcake!!
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They were previously stamped and written on but never used. I figured I could use them for--- what else? the upcoming pirate party of course! One of the thrift stores I go to gives away magazines and maps for free. Crazy huh? I always grab both on my way out of the store! Anywho, I recycled these bags into something I could use...using leftovers from previous things I've worked on :-) I ripped one of the maps into small sizes that would cover up the previous crafters "embellishments" I glued the map piece on the bag... Using left over stuff from my stash, I glued on an oval of ultra suede with a cut out of a pirate image glued on top of that. Then I tied on a piece of ripped black fabric on the handle....jpg)
Lastly, I dragged my ink pad along the sides of the bag and stamped "Booty" on the bag and taaaaaaa daaaaaaaa reused/recycled & reduced waste!.jpg)
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Here is the after.....jpg)
I've written two tutorials (with photos) on how to do the faux leather treatment on the outside of the trunk.....jpg)
and one on how I made over the inside of the pirate chest as well.
If you've linked to my blog through "There is no place like Home" and wish to have more of a lookie-lou you can click "here" to enter~ You can view more Show and Tells here~
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The supplies: a map, some glue, scraps of paper, scissors & paint. Also, if you wanting to make an embossing on the inside lid your going to be needing a stencil and some joint compound-- oh and some spray adhesive..jpg)
With the inside bare, I made a paper template for the sides, bottom and top of the trunk-- cutting a smidge bigger on each piece. It is so much easier to cut away extra than to have to recut a whole new piece if its to little. Once all the pieces were cut I dry fitted the pieces just to make sure everything was cut just right.... then I got out my map paper. The map paper I am using is actually from a roll of wall paper that I picked up from a thrift store for .95cents. You can use a regular map that you find in your glove box as well. 
Lay your paper templates of each piece onto the map, keeping in mind that your wanting your cut map pieces to be "right reading" not upside down or cock-eyed. (unless thats the look your wanting) Once all your map pieces are cut...just glue them into place inside your chest. You can use regular cheapie glue or use Modge podge. I always have to trim away my paper as I cut everything larger...so to get a super clean edge on your map -- let it dry-- then trim away any excess paper with a razor. (I think this is why I always have so many projects that I work on at one time, I don't like to WAIT) Anywho...Now, the fun part. Distressing and aging the inside of your pirate chest. I use several different colors of brown and black paint to age the seams and edges of the trunk & lid. I apply the black to the very seam of each inside piece and then the brown fades out into the trunk getting lighter and lighter~.jpg)
Once it is looking aged, the next step is to add some depth to the trunk. (this is in keeping with my philosophe of "more is better") I of course pulled out my trusty joint compound! I adhered a small stencil to the lid with spray adhesive (the lid is bowed and wouldn't let the stencil lay flat) I applied the joint compound to make the embossing. I turned the trunk over to make it easier to work on. .jpg)
Next, I globbed a bunch of joint compound onto the stencil. Seeing how it is a curved lid, I couldn't use a putty knife...so I used my finger to spread out the joint compound evenly over the stencil. .jpg)
Next, I pulled up the stencil. At this stage I used a pencil to add more detail to the embossed area. I just pushed & pulled the joint compound to fill in some areas... and pressed deeper to take some of the joint compound away from other areas. Here is a photo of the skull with the stencil removed and after I had worked my pencil magic on it lol..jpg)
Once dry, I went over the raised area with a base coat of brown paint. .jpg)
Then I just kept adding browns & some black until I liked it. Once it was all dry, I dipped my finger tip in a light brown paint and went over the raised skull design to give it more depth. Now it looks like its a piece of carved wood on the lid. 
I then measured and cut a piece of burlap fabric to fit inside the lid of my pirate chest. I used a pin to pull up some of the threads to make it look old and worn. I then used my sewing machine and zig-zagged around every edge to keep it from fraying in the future once I attached it to the trunk. .jpg)
Next, I used some watered down paint straight onto the fabric to give it a dirty look....jpg)
Once that was dried, I used hot glue and glued it to the bottom of the lid to hold extra special stuff. Fill with some of your pirate look and enjoy!.jpg)
Taaaaaaaa daaaaaa easy peasy!
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Faux leather tutorial~.jpg)
Firstly, I spray painted the box as I couldn't stand looking at it the way it was any longer. You do not have to paint or seal the object your going to give the faux leather treatment too... this was just a personal choice. Now lets get started! 
Dab the area with your fingers and then take a brayer and run it across a few times to smooth out any air bubbles. If you have applied to much glue the tissue paper will start to stick to your fingers & brayer and tear-- if this happens, tear a piece of tissue paper making sure all edges are torn (so that there is no straight edges) and patch the area that was torn. Once your object is covered, let it dry. 
Here is the top of the box finished, I folded and glued the paper over each edge and made mitered edges at the corners and cut away the excess tissue paper. .jpg)
3.) Continue covering all areas in the same manor until everything is covered that your wanting covered. Let dry~
4.) Re-apply another layer of glue same as before only this time lay a piece of un-crumpled tissue over the area. Once your object is covered allow it to dry thoroughly, trim edges with a razor to get a nice clean edge. Go over the entire object with a layer of Modge Podge or glue/water mixture. Here is my box covered twice with tissue paper. The first layer was crumpled, the second was a smooth sheet of tissue paper. .jpg)
Now, comes the fun part. Painting! I just grabbed several different half empty bottles of brown paint and started painting the box. You have to keep in mind that you are rewetting this tissue paper - even though it has modge podge on it...so it might tear, so be gentle with your brush strokes and let it dry between coats. I am a firm believer in "more is better" so I just kept adding more & more paint to get it to look like a dirty old leather pirate chest that has been around for ages! The first "layer" of paint consisted of 2 different colors of brown paint and some watered down black paint that I patted on around the edges with my finger tip. The second layer I used 3 different brown paints to add depth to the chest. I darkened around all the edges where you would expect to see dirt-- I hear those pirates were a dirty bunch of scoundrals~ Once your happy with your paint and it has dried, apply another coat of Modge Podge or spray varnish to really make the faux leather pop..jpg)
I puchased two door handles (Home Depot $1.27 each) that have a look of forged metal....and just screwed those into the sides of the chest to help carry all the heavy loot. .jpg)
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Well, I am pretty darn happy with how this turned out. But... I can't leave well enough alone! Even though the inside is finished in a beautiful black velvet I'm eager to start making over the inside to match the outside! Here is a link to the tutorial on how I have made over the inside of the pirate chest.
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I covered the book itself with faux leather fabric as the base to build upon. I then used some velvet with a stamped pattern to give it an old world feel (I think it is vintage velvet fabric, but I'm not sure) I then attached a wire & bead belt from India that I cut down and wrapped around the front & back of the album which closes with velcro--- (I know, its suppossed to be "old world" but hey, those stupid little snaps where not so easy to sew on so I opted to use velcro :-P) Then.... I created a small banner with my grandson's name on it sewn in gold metallic thread and glued some rhinestones on each letter. Then I stitched it all together and taaaaaaaaaaaa-daaaaaaaaaaaaa instant cute photo album!!! .jpg)
I also painted a small treasure chest that once was painted black with the word "Raiders" on it.... gasp-- now its how it should be.... all piratey! It holds some coins from other countries :-)
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and a pirate photo album.....jpg)
This album is made from one of those photo pocket books that you just insert photos into the cut outs for an instant album. Well.... I used some sand paper and sanded the pages printed design to get it roughed up to paint. I have never in my life used gesso...so why start now? lol I first painted each page with a thick, even coat of black paint and let that dry. Then I used a stiff old brush and painted on some brown (and let that dry)--- then using the same old brush I painted on some red that I added a touch of black to.(and let that dry) I then stenciled some pirate themed images onto each page, and dry brushed around each photo area with the same color (and let all that dry) Once that was all done I put a coat of sealer on each page and that really made all the colors pop. After letting the sealer coat dry, I sanded the edges of each page to make it look old. I purchased a brown faux suede-like blazer at a thrift store to use the fabric on the cover of the photo album. This is as far as I've gotten. I am wanting to create either a beaded or embroidered cover for the front of the photo album....in a pirate them of course! .jpg)
I added a piece of torn muslin to the front & back cover to help keep the book bound. After sanding all those pages it loosened up the glued binding somewhat. The muslin just adds to the old world look :-)
Here is the "after". Very piratey/boyish!.jpg)
Here is a darling old lantern that I got for $2 buckeroos....jpg)
Here is a sneak lookie-lou at the pirate ship I'm building on my R.V. pad in my backyard....
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Here is a high chair that I picked up at a yard sale for $1 buckeroo. (I didn't take a photo of it with its tray so you could see it better!) Of course it didn't look anything like it does now... It was a (filthy) plain ol' baby high chair until I took it apart-- spray painted the frame black and reupolstered the seat and back which I then covered with some heavy duty plastic and then hot glued some rope around the edge just to finish it off~ I used my embossing heating tool to melt the heavy plastic so it curved around the edges better. Then I just used my glue gun to secure the plastic to the underside. Screwed the whole thing back together and that was it. Easy peasy and the results are super cute! This is going to be used at my grandson's yearly pirate party if there are any babies needing a high chair :-)
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The cups you can pick up at any craft store for around a dollar each. I used a super thin bamboo beach mat ($1) which I cut to fit each cup. I used some card stock to make circles which I then glued to the bamboo mat-- cut out and glued to the bottom of each cup. I then hot glued the bamboo around the whole cup insert. I used some ultra suede for the oval which I then cut out a skull & cross bones image from yardage I bought from Walmart, added red felt for the top & bottom and then I just popped the insert with the "art" on it into the plastic holder and taaaaaaaaaaa-daaaaaaaaaa instant cute!
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I purchased the gold plastic frame for one dollar at a yard sale a few weeks ago. I spray painted some black lightly over the gold frame to give it an old world look. I then cut out some thin wood (paneling) for the "canvas" on which to create some art. I used old maps from a book and aged them with paint and ink. I tore the edges and then glued it down to cover the wood. I then painted the words "happy birthday Jonathan" on top of the maps. After the center piece was completed, I added some paint to the frame creating what looks like pearls and ruby stones. I used a fabulous pearlized/metallic paint for the pearls... makes it really look like there are real pearls on the frame. I'm going to hit it with some shiny gloss sealer tomorrow to make the colors pop even more~
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Here is the bottom half of a two story play structure that I'm going to be making into a pirate ship in my backyard. Can you see it? I can see it already!!!
I couple of weeks ago we cut the ends open and added two large round landscaping posts to act as the ships "mast".... thats as far as we got lol. Time...I need more hours in the day! okokok... I just need to pull myself away from watching t.v./shopping/napping etc! LoL
This weeks show & tell...I am showing a little foot stool I've painted for my grandson. I picked it up from a resale store (soooo using Kelli's term there lol) It only cost 4 bucks. It was originally white with a little sailboat and the name "Adam" painted on it.... but I saw its true calling. First, I painted the white stool black, then I made a copy of the skull & cross bones and transferred it onto the stool. Then I painted, shaded--repainted and then sanded it to give it an aged look. Lastly, I sprayed a semi-gloss finish coat over the top of the stool. Taaaaaaa daaaaaaaaa--- and so I give you--- A pirate stool~.jpg)
