A Two-For You: Aging a Mirror & a Pottery Barn Knock-Off

Today I have a two-fer, fun projects for you!  But I figured I'd put these two posts together as I have many more project posts coming for you all.  I have wanted to make a mirror like this ever since I saw the Pottery Barn's original mirror (which was way above my budget).

This was our family room Christmas tree from last year.

You can see the dark mirror in the picture...it was too brown..ugh!

But first I had to do something about my mirror I have over the fireplace. I've had it a long time and I love it but it just blended into the stone fireplace too much...didn't pop.  So I decided to fix that in time for the holidays.

So I pulled out my can of Annie Sloan chalk paint in "Old White" and her Dark Wax to fix this mirror up right.  Time for the ole' girl to get herself a makeover :)

I put some of the paint in a paper cup and added a bit of water to water it down some...I wanted it to be thinner since I was dry brushing the paint on.  I didn't want the paint to cover up 100% of my mirror..I like those dark crevices against the white.

Then it was time to tone it down a bit.  I took a rag and the Annie Sloan Dark Wax and started to rub it on.  You can see the difference between the waxed part (on the lower section) and the unwaxed section.  It toned it down nicely but still gave it a brighter, fresher and lighter tone which is what I wanted.  It took me all about 20 mins to age this mirror...the chalk paint dries quickly which is a bonus.  I'm so happy with the way it looks now. 

The paint and wax really made the beautiful details of the mirror just pop!  I so love that!

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I had seen some knock-offs done online and of course the original PB Mirror here!

But I had to make my own version...a lil' different verse of course!  And my mirror glass isn't aged like their's is but that's ok...you can do this on any glass surface.

And since I had already done a "Believe" ornament and will show you the "Believe" banner I made...I went with "Belive in the Magic of Christmas" which appropriate in my house.  I say that to my kids all the time every season.

I cut the verse out on my Silhouette Cameo and added some swirls on each side of the "in the".

I chose to do some words in cream and then red to really stand out on the mirror.  Instead of using vinyl which would have been just as easy...I went with cardstock only because I wanted to age the letters with ink (Distress Ink by Tim Holtz).

I cut a piece of wax paper the same length as my mirror so I could arrange my letters on it to see how I wanted to space it.

Then I sprayed the backside of each cutout with my Crafters Companion Stick-n-Spray...I love it so much.  Make sure you shake it every time so that when it sprays the white fiber-like flecks come out.

It easily comes off your mirror with some Windex so this is not a permanent fixture...you can remove it any time easily.

So this is what you get!  I could have made the letters larger but I like the size..it doesn't dominate the whole mirror.  That's my Holiday Garden Elf on the top of the mirror watching down on things...I got him in Savannah and he has a watering can as his hat :)

A few of the other things I've been working on that I will blog about over the next few days:

the banner, glass hurricanes and candle wraps.

I gathered some greens from the trees around my house...it already smells a bit like

Christmas in here...mmmmm!

Here is what it looks like right now...we get a TON of light in the family room so I apologize for the brightness.  The chair on the left will be removed for our real Christmas tree which we will get after Thanksgiving.  Last year our tree was over 13 ft tall...I would prefer 10-11 feet instead LOL as its a tad easier for me to decorate and string lights on.

So that's all there was to it!  One part of the house is finished for the holidays...now onto the 300 others LOL!  Next are the dining room and living room trees. Phew!

Stop back by to see how to create a banner and etched glass hurricanes on the cheap this weekend!

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I'm entering this into the following Linky Parties:

Domestic Superhero
Savvy Southern Style
The Fun in Functional
Making Home Base
Common Ground
The Party Bunch
Best of the Weekend
All Things Christmas
Awesome Things Blog Hop
A Bowl Full of Lemons
The Scoop