stinkin’ adorable.

Published on by Quandie

Last week I told you guys that I picked up a set of vintage handmade wooden pull toys at the Byrn Mawr sales.  I only shared the horses and cart because the other pieces had already gone over to Ken’s workshop for some repairs.

The horses and cart are super adorable, but I think my favorite piece is the elephant.

That’s not a true ‘before’ because Ken had already made some repairs.  When I bought this, the elephant was broken off his platform.  Ken replaced the little wooden blocks holding him in place and re-attached him.

I really wasn’t fond of the muddy, dark colors that the elephant was painted in.  I wanted to lighten him up a bit.

I started by sanding him down lightly, cleaning off any dust and then painting him with a base coat of Dixie Belle’s Pink Champagne.  Although I planned to go with a chippy milk paint look ultimately, I knew I’d probably have some difficulty getting milk paint to stick over that shiny existing paint. I could have just added bonding agent to my milk paint, but I had the Dixie Belle paint handy so I started with that.

Next I mixed up some of Miss Mustard Seed’s Farmhouse White for the elephant’s body.

I used two coats of the Farmhouse White.  I would likely have needed a third coat had I not already given him that light base coat color with the Pink Champagne.

Next I mixed up some of Miss Mustard Seed’s Shutter Grey for the elephant’s cart.  However, after I painted it on I felt like it was too dark.  I wanted to keep the whole look really pale. So I mixed the remainder of my Farmhouse White in with the Shutter Grey to make it a bit lighter.  I’d say this is about a half and half mix.

As you can see, I got some great chipping.  Just enough to look authentic.

Finally, I added part of a grain sack stencil to the elephant’s body.

Once that was dry, I sanded the elephant to add some distressing and then gave him a topcoat of clear wax.

I’ve left out the most amazing part of this elephant.  When you pull him along by his string, there is a mechanism attached to the front set of wheels that makes his head go up and down.  Seriously, it is the most stinkin’ adorable thing I’ve ever seen.

I’m tempted to keep this piece just to stage future pieces of furniture, but in the end I will most likely take him to Reclaiming Beautiful (the shop where I sell on consignment in Stillwater).

 I think he might just be too darn cute to keep in a cupboard somewhere.  What do you think?

21 thoughts on “stinkin’ adorable.”

    1. I would so love to be able to say yes to that, but I just don’t find it practical to ship my stuff. I’m sure there are easier ways to set that up but for me it involves trips to the post office and hunting around for boxes, and so on and so on.

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  5. Sweet! How in the world can you part with him? I have a real issue parting with things and would like to know how you do it! I have so much stuff, borderline hoarder, but not of junk and crap but of things like this and furniture and collectables! I must have something wrong, I love all your creations and would have things stacked because I couldn’t part with it! It amazes me what you part with! I know you only have so much room, but I would have to squeeze things in!! Lol You continue to amaze us!

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    1. I start to get a little bit twitchy when I have too much stuff. For me it’s much better to let it go to someone who will love it as much as I do!

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    1. I’m thinking it would be adorable on a shelf in a nursery. That’s where I’m going to picture it going, even though I’ll probably never know where it ends up.

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  10. To stinkin’ adorable I’ll add flippin’ precious!……….from Miss Quandie’s Land of Enchantment!

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