Chat Noir Chalkboard Sign

It's no secret that I love Chat Noir!  There's just something about him, maybe it's his mysterious air and those deep yellow eyes.  Who knows? In any case he works well in a lot of different art projects.

Recently, while I was out buying canvas for up coming projects I came across this interesting chalkboard sign.  My first inclination was to pass on it because I don't find chalkboard signs that inspiring.  The carving on this sign was beautiful and the subtle grey color just seemed to give the piece depth and character so I decided to buy it although I had no idea how I would use it.

Since the carving on the sign reminded me of architectural carvings from 18th century France, the piece should have a French theme. All of the embellishments used to create the sign are things that remind me of France- Chat Noir, lavender colored flowers, and of course the Eiffel Tower.

Finished Chalkboard Sign

Close up of Eiffel Tower

Directions for Chat Noir Chalkboard Sign:

SVG Cuts Maple Manor cutting file-Chat Noir image
Recollections Paper Flowers and Purple Rose
Martha Stewart Leaf Paper Punch
EK Success Fleur de Lys Paper Punch
Olive green and black card stock
Recollections Sophia 8x8 inch card stock pad- light purple and grey
Paris SVG cutting file- Silhouette Store
Recollections small self adhesive pearls
Recollections Butterfly-purple
Recollections spray ink- light purple
Miss Kate's Cuttables Flower print and cut file
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo
Recollections Chalkboard Sign
Cricut French Manor Cartridge-Eiffel Tower
Swiss Dots embossing folder
Foam Dots

1.  Resize Chat Noir to 4 inches in height for the cat and slightly larger for the outline and whiskers. Cut both the cat and the outline out of black card stock using the Maple Manor SVG file.  Glue a scrap of yellow card stock behind the cat's eyes and use a black marker to make the pupils. Glue the outline to the cat.

2.  Cut the Paris title to measure 4 1/2 inches in length out of light purple card stock. Distress the card stock with the distress ink.

3.  Cut the Eiffel Tower 5 inches high, using the French Manor cartridge.  Emboss the tower with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. Distress the tower with distress ink. Cut the flourish across the tower out of light purple card stock and use the distress ink around the edges.

4.  Print and cut a small flower using the dimensions given for the flower cutting file. Distress the cut flower with distress ink.

5.  Spray the paper flowers with purple ink to give them more depth of color.

6.  Punch a fleur de lys out of the grey card stock and distress with distress ink.  Punch 7 leaves with the leaf paper punch, using the olive card stock.

7.  Attach the Paris title to the chalkboard using foam dots. Apply a small pearl to the top of the tower in the "A" and to the fleur de lys dotting the "I".

8.  Glue the flowers around the left upper corner of the chalkboard sign,  Place 2 paper flowers in the center and 3 roses on the ends (2 on the left end and one on the right). Glue (the 4) leaves under the edges of the flowers. 

9.  Glue the butterfly to the upper right corner of the sign.

10.  Use foam dots to attach the Eiffel Tower to the lower right side of the sign. Glue the flourish over the center of the tower.  Place Chat Noir in the middle of the tower so that his tail hangs just below the base of the right leg of the tower.  Glue the print and cut flower behind the cat. Glue the fleur de lys at the base of the lower on the lower left side.  Glue a purple rose just above the fleur de lys and glue the leaves under the edges of the rose.

11.  Attach small pearls to the fleur de lys and the ends of the flourish.

C'est La Vie! Mixed Media Canvas

There's just something about Chat Noir, everyone seems to love him.  He is the original "cool cat".  Mefiant! He has a mysterious air about him.  When I saw that Chat Noir was available as part of SVG Cuts' Maple Manor cutting files, I could not resist adding him to my collection.  Although he is part of a Halloween themed set, I could foresee dozens of uses in craft projects for him. For a long time I had wanted to do a small mixed media canvas to replace a mass market department store plaque that now hangs in our foyer. Chat Noir would be perfect. The canvas would be centered around the cat and build from there.  The background should have texture, so I mixed molding paste with light blue acrylic paint. I added a lot of distress ink to give the elements in the piece an aged appearance.    I found some free domain music by Mozart and printed it on parchment paper, tore off pieces and distressed them before gluing them to the canvas.

 I'm still working on the piece but I wanted to share what I have so far. I used an unfinished Chat Noir to mask off the portion of the canvas where the cat will eventually reside.  The actual cat will be slightly smaller and have his whiskers added.

C'est La Vie mixed media canvas. Work in progress.

Here's the finished canvas.  I coated the piece in Mod Podge, except the butterfly and the metal accents.  When the Mod Podge had dried, I painted the cat and the Eiffel Tower with black acrylic paint to give the pieces added dimension.

Finished Canvas

Directions for C'est La Vie Canvas:

Canvas-5x7 inch, primed with gesso
SVG Cuts Maple Manor cutting file-Chat Noir image
Cricut French Manor cartridge-Eiffel Tower and oval tag
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Inks- Tea Dye and Vintage Photo
Recollections Butterfly-light blue
Self adhesive pearls
Martha Stewart Fleur de Lys and Leaf paper punches
Turquoise hand made paper-available by single sheet at Michaels
Piece of metal ribbon- large enough for the cat to sit on. Available at Hobby Lobby
Liquitex light blue and black acrylic paint
Golden Molding Paste
Palette knife- for mixing the paint and molding paste and spreading it on the canvas.
Princeton Catalyst Wedge W-02- for adding texture to the paint mixture
Assorted paper flowers
Sheet Music
French Script Stamp
Tim Holtz Ideology Clock Faces and Gears
Spare Parts Round Antique Brads
Mod Podge
Krylon UV Sealant spray
Small paint brush
Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist-Silver
Black, yellow, dark grey, peach, olive green and light grey card stock
Small Ceramic tile

1.  Mix the paint and the molding paste together with a palette, on a small ceramic tile.  Spread the mixture evenly over a 5x7 pre-primed canvas.

2.  Use the Catalyst Wedge to make waves over the surface of the canvas. Turn the canvas to the right and make waves in the opposite direction.  Let the paint dry thoroughly. Then apply the Tea Dye distress ink lightly over the surface of the canvas. Just enough ink to slightly age the canvas.

3.  Ink the French Script stamp with the Vintage Photo distress ink and place on the canvas starting at the top and working toward the bottom of the canvas. Re-ink the stamp before stamping the next area.  Press the canvas down on top of the stamp to make sure that the ink adheres to the surface. Let the ink dry before proceeding to the next step.

4.  Cut the Eiffel tower at 6 inches, using the dark grey card stock, with the French Manor cartridge. Cut the flourish out of peach card stock and cut Tag 1 out of the light grey card stock.  Apply Vintage Photo distress ink to the edges of the tag and the flourish.

5.  Tear pieces off the the sheet music and distress them with Vintage Photo distress ink.  Brush Mod Podge over the back of the torn sheet music pieces and apply to the right side of the canvas.  Apply Mod Podge to the back of the Eiffel Tower and adhere over the sheet music. Attach the flourish to the tower using Mod Podge.  Attach a small pearl to each end of the flourish. Paint the Eiffel Tower with black acrylic paint and let it dry.  Spray silver Perfect Pearls mist on a silicone craft mat. Dip a paint brush in the Perfect Pearls and dab randomly over the Eiffel Tower to create a mottled effect. Let it dry.

6.  Write C'est la vie! by hand on the tag, distress the edges of the tag with distress ink and attach a small brad in the top of the tag.  Place a foam dot on the back of the tag a attach to the center of the Eiffel Tower.

7.  Glue a pale yellow paper flower over the flourish (on the Eiffel Tower).  Punch two leaves with the paper punch out of olive green card stock and glue under the edges of the flower.  Punch two Fleur de Lys out of the turquoise hand made paper using the paper punch.  Distress the edges of the Fleur de Lys and attach three small pearls to the ends and one in the center.

8.  Glue a small brad to the center of the Tim Holtz Ideaology Clock Face. Glue a small pearl to the center of the brad.  Glue the clock face to the upper right edge of the canvas, over the sheet music.  Attach a foam dot to the back of the butterfly and glue to the bottom edge of the clock face.

9.  Glue one large rose and two small ones to the upper left edge of the canvas. Punch leaves out of olive green card stock and glue under the edges of the flowers.

10.  Glue the piece of metal ribbon to the lower left edge of the canvas. Glue a medium size gear on the right side of the ribbon and glue a metal brad in the center of the gear and glue a small pearl in the center of the brad.

11.  Cut Chat Noir at approximately 7 inches in height, using SVG Cuts Maple Manor cut files.  Cut the cat and the cat's base with the whiskers out of black card stock. Glue Chat Noir on the left edge of the canvas, sitting on top of the metal ribbon.  The cat's tail should extend below the lower edge of the canvas and rest on the lower edge of the metal ribbon.  Carefully paint the cat with black acrylic paint, let the paint dry and apply another coat of paint.

12.  Let the entire canvas dry overnight and then spray with Krylon UV Sealant.