Peacock Suitcases - New and Vintage

Family, friends and co-workers all know of my love of peacocks. So quite often, I hear the following phrases:

"Every time I see a peacock, I think of you."

"I was out shopping at (insert store here) and saw this peacock thing and thought of you."

It's pretty darn cool because now, not only am I on the hunt for peacock things but so are others around me! This was the case a few weeks ago when the lady who works in our company cafe told me she had been to TJ Maxx and they had "peacock luggage" there. I had no idea what to expect when I got there. It was very sleek, modern luggage with photo prints of a feather on it! They had 3 sizes, and I opted for the smallest size as it will be okay to be a carry on (which I prefer to travel with all the time now). It has the wheels that turn every which way (which my current suitcase does not have) and the inside is pretty roomy and has great organizational compartments.
Switching gears here, I wanted to share a recent project I did that is also a peacock suitcase. When my friend Kristen helped me at my last show, which happen to be the first show I used my Mom's vintage suitcase as a display, I told her about this peacock suitcase I had seen a few years ago. If you are familiar with the brand Fossil, they often have one of a kind vintage items for sale on their website. A few years ago, they had an old suitcase that someone had painted a huge peacock on. I loved it, but wasn't sure about the $150 price tag. So I told Kristen I'd wanted to do something similar, but didn't want to alter my Mom's pieces. She was kind enough to give me one of the vintage suitcases she had purchased at the Salvation Army.

It was a smooth gray exterior, and I decided to paint both sides a cream color. I left the rest of it gray though, and it goes really well with the color scheme (truth be told, I didn't want to deal with painting around all those pesky hinges and handle). It took 3 coats of the extra wall paint I'd already had in the basement, and then I applied a large feather decal that I got at Hobby Lobby. These are those popular wall decals you see all over the place now. The cream color was the perfect background for it.

Then, I applied all of the business cards I have had over the years - almost as if they were my "travel stamps". It makes sense, because they tell where I've been and where I am going. Some of them read "chairs and wears" and that is back when I used to do painted furniture too. I found some cool letter stickers in my scrapbook stash so that I could spell out Peacock Fairy, and used a rub on for the word "the".

Once all of that was complete, I applied a clear coat to it all so that it will be protected. I tied ribbon scraps in the same color palette (muted browns, greens and blues) to the handle. I also stamped a tag with my favorite stamp - it reads "in my past life I was either a gypsy or a peacock". I would hope this case is something a gypsy would be proud to use!

The backside features a smaller feather that came in the set of 2. This was a really fun project to do, and I can't wait for it to debut at my next show as part of my display! Oh, and that other suitcase? Hopefully a little getaway is in the works soon!