talk to the hand.

Published on by Quandie

Today’s post is going to seem totally out of context for January.  I started this small makeover last summer and I never shared it with you guys because quite honestly, I just wasn’t all that happy with the results back then.

But let’s start at the beginning.

I purchased one of these hand shaped signs quite a few years ago online.

I’m willing to bet that many of you have seen one of these yourself.  I think they might have been offered by Decor Steals at one time, and I also see them now and again at local boutiques.  They were a mass produced, reproduction sort of a thing.  One of those things that look really cool in photos, but under closer inspection they look a bit fake-y.

Anyway, I attached mine to the photo cottage and it looked pretty good there … at first.

However, the problem with buying something like this online is that pictures can be deceiving.  This looks like something that can be used outside, right?  And it looks like it’s paint on metal.

Well, that was not the case.  It is metal, but the design is printed on paper that was glued to the metal.  The photo above was taken in 2017 and the hand was starting to look a bit shabby then, despite my spraying it with a clear sealer every spring.

Flash forward to spring 2020, and the hand now looked like this …

Yep, not good at all.

So I decided it was more than time for a refresh.

I took it down, sanded all of the paper off and gave it a paint job using Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

Then I decided to decorate one side with some transfers, and the other with a stencil to see which I liked best.  I started with the stencil …

Nope, don’t like that look at all.

So I tried some transfers on the other side …

Nope.  That look isn’t really working for me either.

So recently I took it down again and started over.  I sanded off the transfer, and decided to go back to black.  So I painted it again, this time with Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.

Then I searched through all of my stencils (and I do have quite a few) and I simply couldn’t find anything that I thought would be perfect for the hand.  So I went online and looked around to see what I could purchase.  I ended up ordering the Fresh Honey stencil from Wallcutz that I shared a couple of weeks ago on the small chair.

It was a perfect fit for the hand.  Well, at least the way I placed it.

I placed the bottom portion of wording vertically, and the rest of it fit perfectly on the palm of the hand.

I’ll admit, I still don’t love this as much as the original look.  But I do like it much more than the first two refurbishments I tried.

I took the photo above the Sunday before Christmas and as you can see we had no snow.

According to MPR, we have around a 70% chance of having a white Christmas each year in the Twin Cities.  I really thought we were going to be in that other 30% this year, but at the last minute (December 23) we got around 5″ of snow during the Holiday Lights Howler (LOL, they just love coming up with clever names for storms, don’t they?) so we had a white Christmas after all.

I have to admit I have mixed feelings about the snow.  I do think it’s really beautiful, and I love nothing more than cozying up on the sofa with a warm blanket while watching it fall.  A layer of white snow on the ground also really brightens up the dark nights, especially if there is a clear sky and a full moon.  I also like how much more quiet my neighborhood gets when there is a little snow on the ground, I don’t know if that’s because the snow dampens sound or if people just don’t go out in it, or maybe it’s a little bit of both.

However, spending most of November and December without snow sure made me realize how much easier it was to get around without it.  I could still get to things I had stored in the photo cottage without having to drag out my boots.

So how about you?  Are you a fan of snow, or do you consider it a four letter word?

24 thoughts on “talk to the hand.”

  1. I saw this on Facebook: “If you choose not to find joy in snow, you will have less joy in your life, but the same amount of snow.” Everything you work on and post whether it pleases you or not, brings joy to my life. And, you can take that to the bank!

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  2. Love the hand! It looks perfect among the hydrangeas also! As for me, let it snow….elsewhere. I enjoy the beauty of it until the hot chocolate is gone and then I’m over it. I’m ready for spring come December 26th!🤣

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  3. For me….I love the snow….but in someone else’s back yard, if you get my drift (no pun intended!)

    By the way, I love your ‘handy’ work!
    I also prefer it painted black. What a lot of patience you have sanding, painting, re-sanding and re-painting these things!!

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  4. I love the snow on the trees and yard but not on the roads and driveways. I agree with the color choice and new stencil on the hand. I didn’t like the first 2 weeks either. The 3rd looks really good.

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    1. Great redo of the hand sign. The black in this case has more graphic punch.
      Love the look of freshly fallen snow.
      And the sound of the crunch as you walk across after it’s frozen.

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      1. I think I’d be in love with Ken!!!! 🙂 In February after we moved into a new home, I was sitting in the family room in the back of the house. I heard an unusual noise so went hunting for what it was. Imagine my amazement when I found the lovely man from across the street snow-blowing our driveway & walk! That had never happened to me before. I hated to give up that house but I’d have to work forever to keep it & I REALLY wanted to retire. Retirement is WONDERFUL! It’s so much fun to play after a lifetime of working. Happy New Year!

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      2. First, I’m so jealous. I still have 8 years to go before retirement. I’m trying hard not to wish my life away, but at the same time I’m really looking forward to it! Second, it is amazing when neighbors help each other out, isn’t it? Especially these days when it seems to be getting harder and harder to remember that the majority of humans are kind, good hearted, and generous.

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  6. I like snow for a weekend and then on Monday it can be GONE!!Loved the newest rendition of the hand . proves that nothing is carved in stone for a clever lady. Much prefer spring over winter. My birthday is in January and I sometimes get sunshine during that week,yes I celebrate for a week!What a better way to celebrate in the winter?

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  7. Well, Miss Quandie, snow………….I LOVE to VISIT snow and be surrounded by its prettiness and coziness. Preferably at a ski resort where I ONLY have those two things going on! I lived in DC for a while for grad school and snow season got old fast. I had my sweet dog who I had to walk at all hours of the freezing night and when March arrived I’d think Yay! Spring’s coming! and then, boom, it would snow again! So depressing and no fun digging a car out……Growing up in South Carolina, it would be SO EXCITING when it would snow and stick! Beyond exciting to have enough snow to actually build a snow man! I think that happened two times. I think one of them was “the Great Snow of 1974”! Still legendary! If I could order snow for one week before and one week after Christmas here in Southern California I’d definitely love that every season……A Dickens Christmas feels more emotionally like Christmas (-; Christmas in Australia seems like no Christmas at all!!! Anyway, you’re a real trooper, always remaining cheerful in your freezing weather conditions (-: (-: (-: Now, about that hand……I think it’s definitely more suited to the original graphic but, with it being so inferior execution-wise, what can you do? It looks much better redone the final way than it would be looking otherwise. So, good call!

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    1. I’ve always wondered what it would be like celebrating Christmas in the summer (as they do in Australia), I somehow just can’t imagine it. The decorations would all just seem wildly out of place. I suppose when that’s the way it has always been, it doesn’t seem odd at all. I lived in Florida for a while though, and Christmas never quite felt right to me there. As for the hand, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Exactly what I was thinking too.

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    1. Actually, so far we are having a quite mild winter again this year. We’ve barely had any sub-zero temps … in fact, I’m not even sure if we’ve had any yet this winter. As opposed to the winter of 2013-14 when we had 53 days with temps below zero. And apparently in 1874-5 Minnesotans suffered through 68 days with low temps below zero. Yikes!

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  9. I live in Idaho. Snow is life. As in water for crops in the summer and less fire danger in the mountains. But I do love it just the same!

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  10. I love the snow, but I live in a part of the country that has no snow equipment so when it snows life stops…no school, most non essential businesses stay closed, everyone hunkers down and watches from inside the goes out to find a hill or an empty road and plays. Even though I am decades from school age, I get that “Yipee there’s-no-school-today” feeling. When I see a flake. So I looooove it.

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