Annie Sloan Decorative Chalk Paint® vs. "Chalk" product

We have heard from a few of our customers of a new product Joann's is carrying. It is called "Chalk" and we wanted to see how it compared to our Annie! So, we did some comparisons and painted a little piece tonight. We used Annie Sloan's Provence and a similar color from the "Chalk" product line. (Ps. All of the colors were almost identical to Annie's color collection). Even though the price tag was cheaper than Annie Sloan, I can definitely tell that you get what you pay for! So, here are our results from our experiment!

First, the paint was incredibly difficult to open! Once the lid was off there was a plastic/paper seal to open... and this was what happened when trying to open it... 

And then once it was open, the smell was not very pleasant. It was pretty strong to smell when painting inside, so if using it you would probably want to paint outside.

Next, we painted! We split the table down the middle and painted one half (the left side in these pictures) in the "Chalk" product, and the right side in Annie's Chalk Paint®. Each side was given 2 coats of paint. Both products dried in less than 20 minutes (the "Chalk" product recommends waiting 2 hours between coats), but as you can tell, the "Chalk" product would need a 3rd coat to get full coverage.

"Chalk" is on the left and Annie Sloan is on the right in picture both above and below.

So, in conclusion, here are my comparisons...

Size: 

"Chalk" only comes in 8oz jars, and they are $7.99

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® comes in two sizes (we used a 4oz pot here). Pots are $12.95 and Quarts are $39.95

Smell:

"Chalk" had quite the smell. I would not paint with this product indoors (product does not say whether or not it is VOC free.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® has no smell and is completely safe (no VOCs)

Coverage:

"Chalk" says it will cover 20 square feet per 8oz jar. For this project, I would have done a 3rd coat to get full coverage.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® quarts cover 150 square feet (about 3 dresser size pieces of furniture). 4oz Pots cover about 19 square feet (that's almost double the size of the 8oz Pot from "Chalk")

Prep:

I did not prep this piece at all (didn't even clean it!) and both products stuck well. 

I now have a bunch of leftover "Chalk" that I am curious to see the shelf life on! The Annie Sloan paint I used has been sitting on my shelf for 2 years and still worked like a dream!

Happy Thursday night!

xoxo

Sweet Salvage "Summer Lovin'" Event

This month's Sweet Salvage event is BEYOND adorable! This month's theme is Summer Lovin' and they've got some majorly awesome summer stuff. Sweet Salvage's designers do such an amazing job each month putting together their booths... you don't want to miss this! I'm in love with the "Dog Days of Summer" and Retro Ice Cream booth. The event starts tomorrow morning at 10 and goes until Sunday at 6pm. Check out these sneak peeks and share with us your findings! And don't forget... you can pick up select Chalk Paint® colors!

Enjoy!

xoxo

DIY Leaf and Foil Chalk Paint® Eggs

After posting this adorable picture on our Facebook, we had a few requests on a Leaf and Foil Tutorial... so here is a blog post made just to show you how to use leaf and foil to decorate your easter eggs! You could do this for any holiday with different items to foil.... here we go!

Step 1. Gather your supplies

1. Chalk Paint® (in your choice of colors)
2. Artisan Enhancements Leaf and Foil Size
3. Artisan Enhancements Clear Topcoat
4. Foil (I used gold but there are many different colors)
5. Glass bowls (for holding paint or eggs)
6. A variety of brushes
7. Eggs (you can use any kind but we used paper mache eggs from Hobby Lobby)

Step 2. Paint your eggs

You are going to get messy so I recommend you wear an apron.

I got creative and found a few things that will hold the eggs while they dry. Here I used a paint can opener and the finger holes of scissors.

Let the eggs dry about 20 minutes before moving on. What a perfect time for a snack!

Now gather up your painted eggs and get ready to foil!

Step 3. Start the leaf and foil process. We carry Artisan Enhancements products so we used their line of Leaf and Foil Size and foils. First, I cut the foil into sheets of about 3 inches wide. It's best to cut the foil before beginning to paint on the size as it gets very sticky. I cut 7 sheets for the 7 eggs I was foiling. Next, paint your egg with the size (the sticky liquid) 

Warning: The size is very sticky so use rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to clean your hands.

Step 4: Roll your egg into the foil. Make sure you are putting the egg onto the correct side of the foil. The non-shiny side is the side you want sticking to your egg. 

After rolling the egg into the foil I crumple up the foil in my hand and let the egg dry (the size set) for about 3-5 minutes. You can always do a few of these at a time and let them sit. The longer you let them sit the more will be stuck onto the egg. 

Step 5. Peel off your foil and set to dry

The size will still be pretty sticky so set it somewhere that it will peel off easily.

Step 6. Continue foiling the rest of your eggs by following steps 3-5.

Step 7. (Optional) Sometimes the stickiness of the size doesn't go away fast enough to make the eggs available for decoration without sticking to anything else. In this case, use Artisan Enhancement's Clear Topcoat Sealer or Annie Sloan's Clear Soft Wax to take the stickiness away. I used Topcoat on some eggs and Wax on others.

Step 8. Decorate! We mixed our foiled eggs with plain painted eggs to give our Easter Basket a variety. 

The colors used on these eggs are all 

Annie Sloan's Decorative Chalk Paint®:

Antibes Green

Paloma

Antoinette

Paris Grey

Louis Blue

Versailles

Cream

Arles

Barcelona Orange

Emperor's Silk

Henrietta

Scandinavian Pink

English Yellow

Provence

French Linen

Old Violet

Coco

Florence

Primer Red

Emile

Chateau Grey

Greek Blue

Napoleonic Blue

Aubusson Blue

Duck Egg

Happy Painting! Show us your pictures of your completed Easter project on our Facebook! 

xoxo

Sweet Salvage "Second Nature" March 2014 Preview Night!

Audrey's loves being a part of the monthly Sweet Salvage event on 7th Avenue and Camelback! This month's event has the theme "second nature" and is filled with BEAUTIFUL things. We love being able to see all of the amazing work put into each month's event before the shoppers take their lovely finds home. Many of the vendors at Sweet Salvage use our amazing Annie Sloan products on their pieces and they always turn out FLAWLESS! So... Audrey's has been stocking Chalk Paint® at Sweet Salvage for the past few months so customers can see the greatness of the paint as well. Tonight was an amazing preview night filled with yummy Postino's food and delicious desserts. We love getting to hang out with the hard working vendors and see customers preview the beautiful items that are for sale this month! Here is a sneak peek of some of the gorgeous things Sweet Salvage has put together for this month's event... be ready for some major eye candy and don't miss this month's event this Thursday through Sunday! What comes second nature to you?!

Happy Wednesday Night!

xoxo Audrey's