I am a little late to the MacKenzie-Childs world…but my goodness. Who knew such a simple design could give such a lovely pop!?!?! My sister has several pieces because she is bougier than me 😉 but her enjoyment of these gorgeous pieces has encouraged me to keep my eyes peeled whilst thrifting or shopping at estate sales. Unfortunately, the stars have not aligned for me to score any actual MacKenzie- Childs items and I’m way to cheap to buy it new. So in the interim, I’ve taken matters into my own hands!
I had two pieces that I had scored at an estate sale and thrift shop that have been sitting in my “DIY to-do” box for quite some time. The butterfly was something I scored at an estate sale for $2 a few months ago while the cake stand was something I picked up at a thrift shop (likely Goodwill) for my daughter’s first birthday party…and she is 12 now! So these projects have basically been years in the making! 🙂
In one of my downward spiral scrolling strolls on the internet, I came across these two MacKenzie-Childs originals and just knew that THIS is what I was going to do with my random blue butterfly and spray-painted crystal cake stand! The look is gorgeous…the price tag not so much.
However, the inspiration struck and it was just kismet…there was no time for a craft store run so I grabbed supplies I already had on hand, such as black, white, and Aztec gold acrylic paint, glossy varnish, a couple brushes, and a pencil. After a good washing and drying of both items, I started with giving each a nice, solid white base layer. This was tricker than I thought it was going to be so it was roughly 3-4 coats. (Isn’t my trash bag canvas lovely!)
I then just took the pencil and scribbled a checkered design across the front of the butterfly and across the top of the cake stand. I liked how the lines on the inspiration butterfly weren’t precise and how there are visible brush streaks on the inspiration cake stand, really highlighting the hand-painted vibe. So I didn’t stress about being perfect.
The bottom design of the cake stand proved tricky, so I opted to paint it entirely black and then alternating stripes across the bottom.
Then, the fun part! I added in a gold trim across the fluted rim of the cake stand with various accents as well as the body of the butterfly. The gold paint wasn’t super thick so I had to do several coats of this one as well. Once it was all dry, I gave both an all-over coat of the glossy varnish to really finish both off.
Voila! Do they look exactly like the MacKenzie-Childs originals? Well of course not! But, I’m tickled with how they turned out! They are the perfect additions to my gallery wall under the stairs and my (in-progress) laundry room, or for now, kitchen island!
I’m really trying to quit running to purchase everything I want new and instead, taking a step back, and looking at those “new” things as inspirations for pieces I can thrift or, even better, make. Progress…not perfection! 😉