The quickies have been few and far between lately (I’m referring to quick projects here people, get your minds out of the gutter).  I’ve been doing a lot of BIG projects instead.  Making over a whole room, painting large pieces of furniture, etc.  But while I was waiting for a dresser to dry the other day, I decided to tackle (pardon the pun, you’ll get it in a minute) painting some metal boxes (tackle boxes, get it?) that I picked up last summer at a garage sale.

I am a big fan of old shabby metal containers of any kind, and I bet many of you are as well.  There are some great ones out there.  Then again, there are some that really aren’t all that fabulous.  The color is a bit blah, as it was on these two.

But instead of passing these by when I saw them, I decided to nab them and then see if I could fab them up a bit.

I had recently picked up a sample pot of Cece Caldwell’s chalk paint in Sante Fe Turquoise.  It’s a fairly bright turquoise.  I don’t think I would be inclined to use it on a piece of furniture, but it was the perfect color for a small metal box.  So, I painted the smaller one with it.  Here it is once the paint was dry, but before I distressed and waxed it.

Of course, you can’t leave it like this!  I sanded it, then waxed it with clear wax.  Then I added a little dark aging wax to some areas for a little more age.  Finally, I added a couple of Tim Holtz rub-on’s.

I painted the larger box using Annie Sloan’s Florence, and then gave it the same treatment with wax and rub-on’s.

Et voila!

Now I have the most fabulous vintage metal boxes!

Aren’t the colors divine?

Did you see my lucky number, by the way?  While cleaning out my craft room for its makeover, I came across a stash of vintage tickets that all have a ’22’ on them.  I purchased them at Oronoco Gold Rush a couple of years ago.  The vendor selling them had boxes and boxes of ticket stubs, all sorted by number!  I can’t imagine how long it took her to sort them.  I’m glad I found them, I’ll use them on my scrapbook page with all the photos of my lucky number from my Danube trip.

But maybe I’ll save one or two for future photo shoots.

Got any old metal boxes you can dig out and slap some paint on?  It’s a super fast and easy project for a winter afternoon.  Give it a try!