My daughter Brittany's friend Mitch was the inspiration for this project. Mitch collects Marie Antoinette memorabilia. On their trip to Versailles Mitch was disappointed that the only collectibles were pictures of Marie Antoinette. He told Brittany that he wished he could find something that he could display on a table. Brittany knew that I wanted to do another Marie Antoinette project and was looking for an idea. I had just recently finished reading a book about Versailles and decided to do a small chest that resembled some of the chests in the book. I decided to replace the painted images on the top of the Versailles chests with a decoupaged picture.
I used Jolee's dimensional stickers for the trim.
The frame was cut using Cricut Home Decor and card stock. It was then painted with metallic gold acrylic paint and sealed with Modge Podge.
Directions:
1. Lightly sand a pre-sanded wooden chest to remove any rough spots. Wipe the piece down with a damp cloth to remove dust. Paint the chest with Folk Art Italian Sage acrylic paint. Let the chest dry over night then apply a second coat of paint.
2. Paint the trim with Dazzling Metallics Elegant Finish Venetian Gold acrylic paint. Let the chest dry over night then apply a second coat of paint.
3. Scan a picture of Marie Antoinette and print on glossy photo paper (I used an inkjet printer). The printed picture is approximately a 2 1/2 inch oval. Carefully trim around the edges of the picture. Apply the picture to the top of the chest using a foam sponge and a very thin coat of Modge Podge. Using light pressure roll a brayer over the top of the image to remove any air bubbles. Let the image cure for about a week and then lightly sand it with very fine sand paper. Wipe with a damp cloth to remove any dust and let it dry. Apply a second coat of very thin Modge Podge and brayer the image. Let it cure for about a week. Since I was working under humid conditions I let the piece sit for a week between coats of Modge Podge to be sure that the piece was completely dry.
4. Using a foam sponge and Modge Podge lightly coat the entire chest to seal it. Let it dry completely and then seal it again.
5. Using the Cricut Home Decor cartridge and cream card stock cut an oval frame at 2 1/2 inches. Paint the frame gold and when it dries paint it again. After the frame is dry lightly coat it with Modge Podge to seal it. When the Modge Podge dries glue small pearls around the edges of the frame.
6. Glue the dimensional stickers to the top, sides and front of the chest. Glue the frame around the picture of Marie Antoinette.
Tip: Instead of a traditional palette and disposable palette paper try using a large glazed ceramic tile. They are available from Home Depot for about $1.50 per tile. They clean up with soap and water.
