Sometimes I just get it wrong.

Such was the case with today’s toolbox.

But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

This one was in pretty good shape, no flaking paint, no rust, no greasy residue.  Nonetheless, I washed it up, scuff sanded it and gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss.

Then I painted it inside and out in their Apricot chalk mineral paint.

Next up I added a bunch of pinky/peachy roses from various I.O.D. transfers.  So far, so good.  But the next step is where I went wrong.  I decided to layer one of the I.O.D. Étiquettes gilded transfers over the roses.

Nope, definitely not working for me.

I’ve struggled a bit with these gilded transfers.  The first time I tried them was pretty much a fail.

But then I tried them again, only this time I kept them as more of a background sort of thing on this pair of painted ice skates …

and on some books.

Then I got a bit braver and added one to the inside of this box.

I think the secret is letting them shine (literally and figuratively) over a solid background color rather than trying to layer them over something else.

That just ends up looking way too busy.

I was pretty bummed after I got the gilded transfer in place because I had used quite a few roses to create the background.  I really didn’t want to have to sand them all down and start over.

So I decided to see if I could just sand off the gold transfer without damaging the roses.

Um, no.  Of course not.  So then I thought maybe I could just lightly sand the roses too, and then everything would look sort of distressed.  Um, no.  That didn’t work either, and sorry, I didn’t take any photos at that point.

But then I thought perhaps I could just paint over the gold transfer and disguise that by adding more roses over that area.  So I pulled out my Apricot paint and dabbed it on.

I quickly realized I’d have to sacrifice the one large pink rose to the right too.

Once the paint was dry, I added another rose on that right hand side, and then a pretty label from the I.O.D. By Any Other Name transfer.

Ta da!  I think I saved it!

The lightly sanded transfers end up looking like a distressed finish.

I like that look personally, although I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

I’ll admit that this may not be one of my all time favorite toolbox makeovers, but in the end I think it turned out fairly well.

Have you ever added a transfer, and then wished you hadn’t?  Leave me a comment and let me know.