Licorice Love!!

I remember going to the mall when I was a little girl.  I LOVED it! There was so much to see - the displays in the store fronts and decorations for the different seasons.  But when I think back to going to the mall as a kid, I also remember the smells.  The smell of the new clothes is one that always comes to me but more than anything I remember the smell of the CANDY STORE!!

We didn't go to the mall a lot when I was younger.  It seems like it was only for special occasions - new school shoes or a dress, hat and gloves for Easter Mass.  So any time we went we always got to get something from the candy store.  My order NEVER changed.  It was always red licorice...or snakes as I called them.  They weren't like licorice today.  They were long ropes of licorice that they would cut for you when you ordered.  While they were delicious, half the allure was pretending they were snakes.  We'd get in the station wagon - not buckled of course b/c we wouldn't have EVER thought of that back then - and climb back and forth over the seats (good old days) - and play with our "snakes".

Anyway, that all came to my mind the other day when I was thinking about the two furniture pieces I've painted recently - both in Shabby Paints Licorice Chalked Paint.  While the name, Licorice, made me think of my beloved red licorice snakes, this is named after the black licorice.  It is a beautiful true black chalked paint.  I don't believe there are many true blacks in the chalked paint world. 

The first project was a vanity for a friend of mine who has the same dilemma in her house that I have in mine.  No bathroom counter space!  She found a vanity for a great price and wanted it painted black.  In her case, I actually mixed the Licorice Chalked Paint with Smoked Pearl Shimmer Paint to give it a little bit of a shimmery look. I love this Smoked Pearl Shimmer Paint.  I also used it here mixed with Garfield Grey and it was just as gorgeous! I tried to get a picture to reflect the shimmer - I never could get the right lighting to show it off but here's my attempt.  It looked really pretty.

Here's the before and after!

The next piece I did was for my amazing hair stylist!  She was rearranging her salon to bring in a new stylist and needed to start using a bookshelf that had held books, magazines and kids toys to hold some of her product that she sells so she wanted a new look for it! 

It looks so much better!  This one is pure Licorice with some distressing to let the original wood color through.  But, I just couldn't leave my Smoked Pearl alone!  I had been wanting to try my hand at stenciling!  Sheila didn't really mind me using her piece for an experiment so I tried it out.  I'll have a post out soon about how I saved a bunch of money by making my own stencil!  Anyway, I used the Smoked Pearl for the stenciling that you see at the top!  I finished it off with some Sheer Vax.

I loved doing both of these projects because they were for friends.  And as an added bonus, I'll get to the see the bookshelf every 4 weeks when I go to get my hair did!

I love this color - I'm sure you can find something to put it on too!!

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