CUPCAKE CAFE

Spent some time up in the attic this past weekend looking for Halloween decorations when I came across the high chair I decorated for Frannie. It was a lot easier to bring the camera up to the attic than it would have been to bring the chair downstairs and then back up again, so pardon the background. After I had my little girl, I felt that a pretty high chair was in order, not one of those plastic things, and it's so much more attractive in the kitchen. I purchased a new, unpainted chair with the appropriate seat belt for safety, and then got right to work. I chose a light pink color with a periwinkle blue accent.

I wanted the high chair to look as though it were always set for a tea party so I got out my scissors, paper and decoupage medium. If you look closely, you'll see that I threw in a few thoughts of love (conversation heart next to cupcake says "true love", biscuit next to tea cup says "je taime", and there are heart-shaped cookies pouring out of the teapot). You'll also notice that I put periwinkle blue polka-dots around the edge of the tray (I wanted to make sure that I started Frannie out of the right foot). :)

I didn't want to overdo the polka-dots, so I controlled myself and put some stripes and letters on instead. The letters were created on the computer (I personally like Illustrator). After choosing a fun font, I sized it to fit on the back of the chair, then inversed the type and printed it out on the back of a polka-dot (whoops) paper, cut them out, and glued. A temporary glue stick works great for positioning, then just remove one letter at a time as you go along with the decoupage medium.

Lastly, the toe rail needed a little something - "Step Right Up" seemed to foot the bill (he-he-he). Another good thing about this chair was that the tray could be lifted over to the back which then made this a great youth seat when Frannie was ready to eat at the table, but still needed a little height. This chair is a keeper. Maybe someday Frannie's little girl will sit in it.

Here's a tip, after you decoupage, be sure to put on several coats of urethane. I use a water-based product. The tray was wiped clean again, and again, and again, and you can see that it still looks great!

S.W.A.K.

Mmmmmm... Chocolate