another toolbox week.

If you’ll remember back to 2024, I decided that the collective noun for a grouping of toolboxes would be ‘windfall’.

Well, I’ve found another windfall of toolboxes lately. In fact, I even passed on a few the last time I was out garage saling because I felt like I had so many at home already … but I have to admit, I sort of regret that now.

But … oh well. I’m sure I’ll continue to find more (hopefully those aren’t famous last words!).

In the meantime, I thought I’d better get going on some of these so it’s time for another toolbox week!

On a recent warm and sunny day I set up an assembly line prep station for the toolboxes.

I started by washing them all with the garden hose and some Dawn dish soap. Then I sat them in the sun to dry. Once dry, I sanded them to remove any flaking paint or rust, followed by another rinse with the hose and more time in the sun to dry.

Next I gave them all a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out to prevent any rust from bleeding through my paint job.

Then it was time to get painting. Today I’ll start with the metal lunchbox.

I painted the inside using Dixie Belle’s Blueberry.

I have to admit, since I put frozen blueberries in my smoothies almost every morning, this color doesn’t really feel ‘blueberry’ to me. I think of it as more of a cornflower blue.

And it worked beautifully with the pretty blue cornflowers in the I.O.D. Madeleine transfer.

I painted the outside of the toolbox in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth and once dry, I sanded it all over to add back some ‘age’.

After applying those swags of pretty blue cornflowers, I added some typography from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer (long since retired, more’s the pity).

I sealed the inside of the toolbox with Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat, but I don’t like to use that product over transfers. I find that it can look a little filmy over them. So the outside was finished using Dixie Belle’s clear wax.