Refurbished Mail Sorter

Hello Everybody!

Katy here and today I am going to show you a mail sorter that I refurbished. :)

Here is what it looked like before:

It's fine the way it is.  I picked this up at a garage sale.  But with a little coat of paint and some Unique Laser Designs wood embellishments, I knew it could be AWESOME!  

Here is the finished mail sorter:

Here is a peek at one side.

And here is a peek of the other side.

Here are the pieces that I used:

Daisies (5 pc set)

Daisy Chubby

Watering Can (4 pc set)

Butterflies (lg and small)

Happy Birthday

The other 2 sayings are special order.  I asked that they be in the same font and size as Happy Birthday.  Shilo is great with custom orders.  You can even make pieces bigger! Sky's the limit! :)

More Daisies (5 pc set)*side note I had 3 sets to get 3 big daisie*

Hearts (lg)

**Before I show you my process, I have to say that there are the butterflies did not land on this project.  I had every intention of adding them...but sometimes creativity has different plans.  I didn't realize my butterfly situlation until I added that photo-but they are super cute! So why not show them off too! ;)

So to start off-I had to gesso this mail sorter.  I didn't have a color plan in place so by applying gesso to it-I could make it as light as yellow.  And for the record I did try yellow, then blue.  But this piece wanted to be painted black! :)

So here is the left side.  I painted the watering can red.  Once dried I put stardust Stickles on it.  I applied it with my finger so it was even on the wood piece.  For the flowers I used yellow paint and Tim Holtz's distress seedless preserves (purple) and spun sugar (pink).  The yellow flower is just a yellow paint.  Then I glued rhinestones in the middle.  

The water drops are tear drops from Recollections (similar to Robin's Nest).  I adhered all of these pieces with Gloss Gel Medium from Liquitex.  It dries clear and doesn't smell bad.

I added green ric rac for the flower stems.

Here is a closeup of the watering can and water droplets.

Here is a close up of the flowers.

Here is the middle where mail and keys would go.  Since I make a lot of these types of cards, this organization made since to me.  I used Tim's distress paints: Salty Ocean, Broken China, and Chipped Sapphire to create an ombre effect.

Here are the daisies on the other side.  I lined them up with wear each new section started on the front.  I had a shimmery yellow painted so I used that on the big flowers.  For the middle sized I used Distress Spiced Marmalade and Scattered Straw went on the small one.  The heart is painted like the watering can on the other side--red paint and Stickles.

I love how this came out so here is a super close up :)

Here is another picture with the flowers and part of the front.  They flower clusters remind me of mums.  (Yay fall!) ;)

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