More With Texture Paste

So, last week when I helped Christina make her cupcake bouquet for Prom, we barely had enough time to get everything made.  At one point when Christina had to run her son to an appointment, I ran in the garage and made this box used as the base.  I really wanted to emboss it with texture paste, but just didn't have enough time.  

I got my chance to do-over when Ashley asked me to bring a cupcake bouquet to her Singer Mother's Day Brunch.  Here is how you emboss with texture paste...

To start, I grabbed this stencil out of my stash and covered up any openings I didn't like in the design with masking tape.  I taped the stencil to the box so it would not move when working with the paste.

I bought this tube of green texture paste, called dimensional paint here, at Michael's Craft Store for $2.30 on clearance.  They also had red and yellow.  I normally use a white, but I really wanted to have the green color show through and I had already painted the box.  You can use the white, paint it a base color, top color, and sand, but this worked best for this situation.  

Anyway, squeeze out a blop onto they stencil just outside of your desired design.

Normally I use a putty knife to spread the paste, but since I put it in a location to make it easy to find....I can't find it.  I grabbed this weird metal plate out of our garage stash.  It worked just fine.  I have been known to use a popsicle stick in a pinch :0)  If it has a flat surface, it is usable!  You could even use your cookie spatula if you really wanted to! 

Drag whatever you are using across the stencil, pulling the paste across the openings.  If you end up with spots that didn't fill in all the way, just go back over the whole thing.  You need to be careful though!!!  If the stencil moves or bubbles up you could end up with paste underneath the stencil and that means MESS!

Worst case, just pull the stencil up, use a wet rag to wipe the paste off, and start again.  No biggie!

It should look something like this.  Carefully pull the stencil up and off!!!  Oh, how exciting!!!  Just looking at this makes me want to find something else to emboss!  I really have a hard time stopping once I start.  "No Vanessa, don't look around the room for something else to texture paste!!!"

OK, once you pull the stencil off, just the design should remain.  Leave it alone and let it dry.  It usually dries to the touch in 15 minutes or less.  You can go back at that point and add more leaves/vines/whatever, or you can move on and get out your paint!

Here it is after I ran a coat of white paint over top.

Once the paint is dry you can sand lightly!!!  Really, isn't there something else around here to texture paste!

I just don't think I can look at these pictures and not paste it up.

There you have it!  My embossed floral box.  I would have liked a swirly flourish design but I couldn't find the stencil I was looking for.  I guess it is time to bite the bullet and clean out the garage again.  It may have to wait just a little bit longer though.  I have more orders to fill and eventually I need to make Emmers a new sundress :0)  So many projects, so little time!

The Magic of Texture Paste

I love Texture Paste!!! It is one of my signature elements on just about any decorative wood project. I saw it several years ago displayed as a class project at the best craft store in the world, Provo Craft. I quickly signed up for that class and fell head-over-heals! So, Texture Paste is what made that embossed design on the clock above, the grapevine and berries on the sign below, as well as on the baby cradle I made down there even farther. You too can add an incredible accent to your wood projects and you won't believe how simple it is to use.


As a matter of fact, I even used the texture paste and embossed each of my 30-something kitchen cabinets back in my Minnesota farm house.



Start with a clean dry area. You will need, texture paste, a stencil, masking or painter's tape, a putty knife, and something to scoop the paste out of the jar.

Tape the stencil down where you want your design. You can tape off any areas of the stencil that you don't want. Scoop out some paste and smear it on the stencil.

Run a putty knife across the design, using medium pressure. You can actually press too hard and not have much of a design showing. You also don't want to have it too thick, then it will look all gloppy. Just pull the putty knife along nice and easy. Try to only pass through once. The more times you go over the design, the more paste gets squished underneath the stencil, leaving a mess to clean up later.

Scrap the excess paste back into the jar. Slowly pull up the stencil, in one direction. The design will be left on the project. This paste goes a long way. One jar will last for many, many projects. It also dries rather fast. Once it no longer looks wet, touch lightly to ensure it is dry. When fully dry, sand lightly (I usually forget to and it looks just fine). If you would like to add more of a design in another area, do that now. When you are all finished with your design, paint, sand lightly, and stain if desired. My favorite is to paint it one color, like black, then white, then when you sand it the bottom color comes through. With a little texture paste, even the most plain project will really *POP*