The shop where I sell on consignment, Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater, MN, recently asked if I had any floral toolboxes to bring in.  I always find it difficult to figure out what to bring in to sell this time of year,  the holidays are over, it’s too early for garden themed items, and I’m not really into Valentine decor.  So I really appreciated this little nudge in the floral direction.

I also did happen to have a floral toolbox on hand.  This one …

I’m not sure why this one didn’t sell last year, but it has been listed on my ‘available for local sale’ page for months.

I also decided to go ahead and paint up a 2nd floral toolbox to bring in while I was at it.  So I pulled out one of the toolboxes that I brought home from my recent trip to the ReStore.

To prep the toolbox for paint I first sanded it thoroughly.  This one had a bit of rust and flaking paint, so I wanted to remove as much of that as possible.  After then giving it a good cleaning with Dawn dish soap, I gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear Bonding Boss.  That will slow down any further rusting, help prevent the existing rust from bleeding through my paint, and help the paint adhere to the slick metal surface.

After waiting 24 hours, I then painted the inside of the toolbox in my favorite pink, Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door, and the outside in my favorite warm white, Drop Cloth.

Once the paint was dry I pulled out the Rose Botanical transfer from I.O.D. and started laying out my design.  This particular transfer includes 30  individual images of roses in four different sizes.

I ended up using eight of the roses on my toolbox, trimming off leaves here and there and layering them over each other to fit where I wanted them.

The wording on the front of the toolbox is from the I.O.D. Cosette transfer.  You’ll see some more of that wording when I get to the dollhouse bathroom, which I hope to share soon.

For the top of the toolbox I added a large bee from the re.design with prima French Labels Middy transfer.  The wording beneath that is from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

So, in other words, I cobbled together bits and pieces from a few different transfers to get this look.  And I also added a re.design with prima classic vintage label inside the lid.

To finish off the toolbox, I sanded the edges to distress them a bit, then I used Dixie Belle’s clear wax on the outside and their flat clear coat on the inside for added durability.

As I was finishing up the toolbox I was thinking that it would be a nice size to hold all of my supplies for working on miniatures.

So that’s how I staged up my photos.  But I won’t be keeping this one for that purpose, I brought it into the shop instead.

As I was pulling together my things for the shop I remembered that I also had a few other pretty floral pieces.

So I also brought in this suitcase.

As well as my Rose Botanical books.

And this rose themed cupboard door.

So if any of you locals are suffering from cabin fever after our recent cold snap (18° below zero was a bit much for both me and my car) and you want to get out and enjoy the warm up this weekend (yes, the mid-20’s feels positively balmy after -18° and can be called a warm up in January), head over to Stillwater.  Not only can you stop in at Reclaiming Beautiful for a hit of some florals, you can also just head down the hill and check out the ice and snow sculptures at the World Snow Celebration which runs through Sunday.

As for the rest of you, what do you think of my rose covered toolbox?

As always, thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing their products used in this makeover.