What's the buzz all about?

This table has been passed from my parent's house to my college apartment, to my college duplex, to my newlywed home, to my current home, and now it is time for it to "bug off" (corny but couldn't resist).  This dated table needed a major makeover.  My partner in crime, Rachel, suggested to add a design to the top for interest.  I loved the idea and immediately thought "vintage bee"!

Follow along to see the process:

Just beginning the sanding process with my NEW SANDER!!!!!

Painted it taupe, hated it.  Then I decided to paint black and cream on top. My plan was to rough up the cream coat on top so that the black would show through. I also decided that I didn't want the bee to look perfect, so I did a pretty sloppy job on my black paint job.

Next, I cut out my design using my Silhouette machine.  I placed the vinyl onto the table, so I could paint over it with the cream.  I did this rather than a stencil, so that I could keep that streeky look from the black and taupe layers.

I painted a few layers of the cream over the top, then carefully peeled the vinyl up with a razor (not an easy or quick task!)

Roughed it up a little bit.

Roughed it up a little more.

I wasn't super happy with it at this point, but I didn't know what to do.  I went ahead and put  a sealer coat on top even though I wasn't satisfied.  While I was adding the sealer, I almost had an anxiety attack.  The black paint was SMEARING...AAAAAA!!!! Once I had calmed down, I realized that it was kind of giving it a glazed look.  I turned those lemons into lemonade and actually LOVED the outcome.  That is exactly the change that it needed. By the way, I think the cause of the smearing was the fact that I had to use craft paint for the black layer.  I normally would not do that, but I was iced in and couldn't get out to get the right paint.