Friday, November 25, 2016

A Little Holiday Table

Hello Holidays! The last days of fall are flying by, Thanksgiving is upon us and Christmas is on it's way. And more specifically for me, all that gorgeous holiday baking.
I love to bake for friends and family all year, but there is something about chilly weather, Christmas trees, sparkly lights and the promise of snow that sends me into a baking tizzy. I want to fill my house with the smells of gingerbread and sugar cookies and walnut fudge. Cinnamon coffee cakes and decorated cookies go out to neighbors and there is always something delicious in the kitchen to nibble on when folks drop by.
The state of my kitchen could be described as a' cheerful mess'. No one seems to mind, especially when they get handed some gingerbread!
Here's a snapshot of a cheerfully messy kitchen work table on a doll's house scale.......slightly easier to clean up!



I like to decorate my kitchen with garland and lights at Christmas....it's always such a pleasure to work in a space that's decked out for the holidays.

And it's nice to have everything at your fingertips, or at least in the drawers at your fingertips.....


Here is where I started out...........

I began with the Tile Top Table and 1/2 inch Chipboard Tiles and gave everything a coat of gesso and a coat of white paint.


Use gesso and paint sparingly (thin coats) on the outside of the drawers or they will be a very tight fit.

Next, using a mixture of cobalt blue acrylic paint and glaze, I painted the tiles. I used glaze in combination with the paint because I wanted the tiles to look, well, like glazed tiles, but painting them and leaving the glaze out is grand as well!



After the tiles dried, I laid them out on the tabletop, spacing them equally across the surface.

After spacing them out, I began to glue them down, one row at a time, being mindful of the spacing and doing my best to keep everything straight.


All the tiles are glued down and looking pretty tidy! After they dried, I applied a coat of varnish.


After they dried (give them at least a couple of hours) I used Liquid Pearls Opal White as grout, piping it in sections and carefully wiping away the excess before it dried. The varnish gives you a wipe-able surface, allowing you to remove the extra 'grout' a lot more easily than just a coat of paint and glaze would.


You can also use dimensional fabric paint as well....anything that has a thick gluey texture that will stay where you put it.
The applicator you see in the photograph above is a Ranger Fine Tip Applicator for .05 oz. Bottles a screw on tip that allows you to pipe out super fine lines,a great tool for tight spaces!

I added Dresden trim around the edge of the tabletop and down the legs for extra detail and wee pearls for drawer pulls.


Here is the table decked with Tim Holtz Pine Twine Garland and dotted with Stickles- Christmas Red
holly berries.


Now it's ready for all those goodies!

For a link to all the wonderful supplies from Alpha Stamps click HERE!

Supplies list;
Tile Top Table
1/2 inch Chipboard Tiles
1;12 Gingerbread House
Christmas Tree Cookie Cutter
Cookie Sheet with Gingerbread Men
Copper Bundt Cake Pan Set
Mixing Bowl with Batter
Rolling Pin
Star Cookie Cutter
Tiny Measuring Cup
Gingerbread Man Cookie Cutter
Flour with Measuring Cup
6 Miniature Eggs


Tim Holtz White Resin Deer
Mini Cake Stand Kit
Flat back Gold Star Studs
Fancy Red Holly Berries Mix
Crinkle Wire-Red
Retro Bottle Brush Tree Set-Green
Liquid Pearls-Garnet
Liquid Pearls-White Opal
Stickles-Diamond
Mini Cookie Sheet
Tim Holtz Pine Twine Garland
Miniature Chocolate Cake
Pewter Measuring Spoons
Vintage Mixing Bowl

Additional Supplies
Gesso White Acrylic Paint
Glazing Medium
Matte Varnish
(all of the above additional supplies were Liquitex....no I don't work for 'em, just like 'em)

Thank you for stopping by!






4 comments:

Holly M said...

What a cheerful and delicious looking mini kitchen scene! Adorable.

Kristin said...

Lovely workspace, especially because it's so teeny-tiny. I love all the little details.

Val said...

This is absolutely amazing! I wish my kitchen had a pretty table like this, and I wish I enjoyed baking. If you have any leftover fudge, send it my way!

barbara macaskill said...

Totally awesome! I absolutely adore this and plan to do this with my own twist! TFS!