A few times I've had a piece of furniture that I wanted to add some character to without spending a lot of money and I found the perfect solution with a little putty and a stencil. Here are some of the projects I've dressed up using this technique...
1. You can use any kind of spackling. This is what I had on hand.
2. Just line your stencil up where you would like it, and then spread a thin layer of putty over it using a putty knife.
3. Remove the stencil
4. After it's dry (about 1 hour) you can sand it very lightly with 220 sandpaper just to take off any clumps.
5. Paint the base color on your furniture.
6. Glaze over the embellishment. I like to mix my own using 1/2 paint and 1/2 glaze. For this project I used Americana Burnt Umber.
7. Brush on glaze
8. Wipe off glaze. Easy, huh? Sometimes I use a damp rag if it's not coming off like I want.
And that is it! Fun, unique, and inexpensive!
My really amazing grandma made this for me in 1999 after my brother died. It's made from some of his old shirts. Of course it means a lot to me and I've never really had a great place to display it. So, I decided to plan my guest bedroom to compliment this! After I got going, this room kind of became my heritage room. Each piece and picture in here has special meaning and significance. The small side table was made by my husbands grandfather, the dresser was a thrift store find, but my uncle made a new drawer for it, the pictures on the wall are of my husband and his sister who died, and his mother, who has also passed away. My next addition will be some pictures of my grandparents farm which my daughter has promised to take for me. Sometimes I just sit in this room and breath. It's feels peaceful to me, and it makes me grateful to have had such amazing people in my life. 
