dogs

Sugarwings has a birthday coming up. And the next day, she starts kindergarten. 

Oh my. 

How did she get to be 5 so fast? I can't believe she will be in school.

I wanted to get her something special for her 5th birthday, so when my friend gave me a mirror that didn't sell in her garage sale, it inspired me to create this magic mirror for the birthday girl.

Now, the evil queen's mirror really was more glam and golden than what I came up with, it was actually more like the way this mirror started out.  But I was going for light and cheery, more Snow White than her stepmama.

So, I took the back off, and removed the mirror, and painted the frame.

I used the spray, bonding primer that I love, and always use.  It goes on like a dream (shake it well!)

Over that, I used acrylic craft paint to do a base coat of deep pink on the flowers, then dry brushed some lighter pink over that.

It looks a bit messy, but its all about the layers.  This is a quick process, you don't have to be an artist to smoosh some colors onto 3D flowers like these.

And messy is good.  You don't need to be precise.

Like I said, its all about the layers. I used dark pink, then light pink, then some yellow in the centers, and purple around the centers. On a couple flowers, I did even more purple. 

Over all but the yellow, I brushed another coat of light pink.

Each layer is messy and fast.

Then, I got my brush extra wet, and brushed green onto the scrolls and leaves, wiping off a bit here and there with a paper towel.

I did the same with pink on the inner rim, then made polka dots by dipping the wooden end of the paint brush into the paint and spotting it on.

(if I was doing a mirror like this for myself, not for a child, I would distress the raised areas with sand paper, then glaze over it with a brown color and wipe it off)

After that, I tackled the mirror.  A glop of paint remover/stripper went right in the center and I let it sit for about 15 minutes, then scraped at it with a razor blade (while wearing gloves)

Then, I scrubbed at it with the stripper on my steel wool pad.

When done, I sprayed it with the garden hose to clean off the stripper.

Then, I downloaded a picture of Snow White from Google Images and tinted it sepia.  She is usually wearing red, yellow and blue, which was too bright for this project and Sugarwing's bedroom.

So, I printed it on matt photo paper, and added a touch of blue to the eyes and dark pink to the lips with markers.

After that, I taped it to the back of the mirror so that it peeks through the clear spot on the glass, and replaced the back on the mirror.

Around the top, I wrote, "Mirror, mirror on  the wall- who is the fairest of them all?" and at the bottom, wrote, "You Are"

This was done in a waterbased craft paint meant for glass. Read the labels of the bottles at your craft store if you want to paint on glass or a  mirror.  You want to make sure that it holds up to cleaning.  Regular acrylic paint will wash off.

Once I give this to my fairy baby for her special day, I'll get a photo of her looking into it. 

But for now, shhhh! Its a surprise!!