Quandie

the odds and ends toolbox.

Published on October 24, 2025October 23, 2025 by Quandie3 Comments

A while back my friend opK found a toolbox for me at an estate sale.

Apparently it was ‘The Odds and Ends Toolbox’ for someone.

And to keep track of what was inside, that previous owner liked to add labels.

It had a little bit of rust, plenty of dirt, and A LOT of labels. I started by using some Goof Off to remove the labels, and they actually came off quite easily. Then I gave it a good scrub with dish soap. After it dried, I sanded it to remove any flaking paint or rust and then gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out.

Next I painted the inside in Dixie Belle’s Highlands.

I followed that up with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Ecru on the outside. Once dry, I scuff sanded to distress the edges and after wiping away any dust, I was ready to add some transfers.

For that I pulled out a retired I.O.D. transfer called The Botanist.

I used this transfer in its entirety back in 2023 on this headboard.

But I’d also used just the typography section from the middle on a box top back in January 2024.

FYI, the florals on that box are from a different I.O.D. transfer called Floral Anthology.

A while back I noticed that The Painted Heirloom has a sale price of only $22.05 on The Botanist, so I ordered another one. For that price I felt like I could choose to just use the typography portion on a smaller item again rather than using the entire transfer.

But then I studied those swags of flowers and decided that maybe I could modify them to work on this toolbox.

Keep in mind, the full design comes on four 12″ x 16″ sheets. So it’s quite a bit larger than my toolbox. But after a lot of cutting, trimming and rearranging the swags, I came up with a pretty good layout. I’m so glad I took the time to try this.

The florals are so pretty, so it was nice to find a way to use them other than on a full sized piece of furniture.

And of course the typography is a perfect fit for a toolbox.

I finished everything off with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Now, if you’re wondering what you would do with a toolbox like this, well … obviously … you would just keep your odds and ends in it. Right?

This toolbox is for sale locally (check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details).

the fortress of louisbourg.

Published on October 22, 2025October 20, 2025 by Quandie7 Comments

If you’ve followed me for long, you know that I love a good living history museum.

Probably my all-time favorite is The Beamish in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Another favorite is the Norsk Folkemuseum in Oslo.

But when Mr. Q suggested we visit the Fortress of Louisbourg on our recent trip to Canada, I wasn’t terribly excited. I figured it would be another military history/battlefield sort of place. As I may have mentioned in the past, Mr. Q is a war game fan, and he had played a game that featured a battle that took place here. Thus, his wish to see it.

The Fortress of Louisbourg is a partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. And as it turns out, I was pretty delighted to discover that it is also a fantastic living history museum staffed with costumed interpreters.

The original settlement in the area dates back to 1713, but the fortress itself was built by the French in the mid-1700’s to defend against the British. Unfortunately, it was built in a poor location for defense and it was captured by British forces twice. The British then demolished the fort beginning in 1760 to prevent the French from recapturing it again. The site was then abandoned by 1785. So, considering it was the largest and most expensive European fortification in North America, it didn’t last very long.

The reconstruction was begun in 1961 and is the largest reconstruction project in North America.

We were able to catch a demonstration about hot chocolate in one building.

This costumed enactor was a wealthy merchant who imported chocolate. He explained how expensive the chocolate was, and how they used it to make a hot chocolate drink. It was slightly more complicated than adding 4 tablespoons of Swiss Miss to a mug of hot water. Next we all got to try a cup. Delicious, and educational.

We also saw a demonstration of how to fire a musket …

along with an explanation of what life in the fortress was like for the common soldier, which was not great. Apparently many promises were made when they were recruited in France, but they didn’t really come to fruition once they got to Louisbourg. Then they were stuck there thousands of miles from home.

We also enjoyed a demonstration of the entertainment of the time at the Inn.

The fortress had four gates that led inside including the Frederic Gate that was on the waterfront.

I thought that was an unusual design.

There are over 50 buildings to explore over 6 acres.

You are able to wander around through fully furnished buildings at your own pace, or you can opt for a guided tour.

Many of the buildings were manned by costumed interpreters. We spoke with the housekeeper in this kitchen for quite some time as she explained what her day to day life was like.

My only complaint about visiting the Fortress of Louisbourg is that we didn’t have enough time there. This is definitely one of the downsides of traveling on a cruise ship, you have limited time in each port of call. There was so much more to see here if we’d only been able to spend all day, we really just skimmed the surface of what was available. I’d love to return some day to see more, but I’m not optimistic about the chances that I’ll ever make it back to Cape Breton Island.

How about you? Have you been to this part of Nova Scotia? Or would you like to add it to your bucket list? Leave a comment and let me know.

surf’s up.

Published on October 20, 2025October 16, 2025 by Quandie17 Comments

I fully admit, I’m a sucker for attractive packaging. So the other day when I was at Home Depot waiting for some paint to be color matched (to touch up the Carriage House), I was browsing the spray paint aisle and came across this …

This is Behr spray chalk paint in a color called Surf. Isn’t that a nice looking can of spray paint? Somehow it’s much more appealing than your typical can of spray paint.

Am I right? Or is it just me?

And I didn’t even know that Behr was making a spray chalk paint, did you?

It was priced at $9.99, which is just a tad steep for a can of spray paint. But I went ahead and threw it in the cart to give it a try anyway.

I pulled out this metal plant stand that I’d purchased at a garage sale earlier this summer to be my guinea pig.

After giving it a good cleaning with soapy water, I gave it a few quick coats of the spray paint.

One thing I noticed right off is that this spray paint does not dry nearly as quickly as traditional spray paint. Just something to keep in mind if you plan to try it.

But it went on beautifully, and it did have a nice matte finish similar to chalk paint.

I got some paint on my hand when I accidentally touched the plant stand before it was dry, and it was not as easy to wash off as chalk paint typically is.

I didn’t attempt to distress the plant stand, so I can’t speak to whether or not the spray chalk paint distresses as easily as other chalk style paints. I’ll have to experiment with that on another project.

I checked out the Behr website and found a blurb in the description of the product calling it a “simple two-step paint and wax process.” However, the instructions for use didn’t say anything about having to add a topcoat, wax or otherwise.

But I would guess that it needs a topcoat for durability based on them calling it a “two-step process”, and that you can use any topcoat that you would normally use with chalk paint.

However, I didn’t add a topcoat to mine because as it turns out, this color is a bit brighter than I thought it would be and truthfully it’s not really my vibe.

So in the end, I decided to go back to the drawing board.

After first spraying over the Surf color with a matte black spray paint, I then brushed on the Dixie Belle Patina Paint in Bronze. While the paint was still wet, I sprayed it with the green activating spray (find a full tutorial on using the Patina Paint here).

Yep, that’s fits my aesthetic much more than the bright turquoise.

The green spray created a nice bit of verdigris.

After adding a small pot of ornamental kale, I put the plant stand in my recent sale.

It almost sold. And by that I mean that someone put it in the ‘holding area’, but then they changed their mind and didn’t buy it.

Oh well. Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, which version did you like better?

White, turquoise or bronze?

the least esteemed creatures toolbox.

Published on October 17, 2025October 15, 2025 by Quandie10 Comments

Yep, I still have more toolboxes that I’m making over, and I have one to share today.

I picked up this toolbox at a late summer garage sale.

Nothing too exciting, right?

After giving it a good cleaning, I removed that Cramer label from the front of the toolbox. I was able to pry it off quite easily, and I thought it would be better to have a flat surface for adding a transfer to the front.

Next up I sanded off any loose paint and/or chunky rust and gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss inside and out.

I followed that up with a lovely shade of grey green from their Silk Paint line called Highlands on the inside.

Once that dried, I added a sweet little bird transfer from I.O.D.’s Santa’s Hollow transfer.

Next up I painted the outside of the toolbox in Ecru, which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite colors.

Then I pulled out this page from the Winter Botanist transfer from the 2025 Holiday Collection from I.O.D.

Isn’t that lovely?

In my attempt to research what the wording said, I came across this …

Apparently the design of this transfer is based on the cover of a book in Dutch called The Wonders of God in the Least Esteemed Creatures that was originally published in 1762. It contains 50 engraved plates featuring butterflies and you can buy it from Abe Books for a whopping $9,600.

Or you can buy the Winter Botanist transfer for around $22.

I feel like this particular transfer isn’t super Christmas-y, but instead is only just slightly winter-ish. It does feature holly and pine, but it also has quite a few butterflies (and I guess the Dutch thought they were the least esteemed creatures). I don’t know about where you live, but here in Minnesota we definitely don’t have butterflies in the winter.

But let’s just go with it.

I customized the transfer to fit my toolbox by cutting out the wording from the middle to allow for the latch.

I then applied that cut out wording to the top of the toolbox.

Then I felt like I needed the transfer to spread out a bit more, so I added in some extra bits of foliage and some extra butterflies from the Winter Botanist here and there.

I also added some bells to the upper corners of the top that came from the I.O.D. Santa’s Hollow transfer.

So, definitely not overtly Christmas, and only slightly winter-ish in feeling, here is the least esteemed creatures toolbox.

For you locals who may be in need of a toolbox dedicated to God’s least esteemed creatures, I took this one in to Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater this week. This is the perfect time to head towards the St. Croix Valley to check out the fall leaves as well. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Fall Color Finder, today they should be at 50 – 75% fall color.

As for the rest of you, how’s the fall color where you are? And what do you think of today’s toolbox makeover? Leave a comment and let me know.

prince edward island.

Published on October 15, 2025October 13, 2025 by Quandie14 Comments

Every time I publish one of these travel blog posts I feel like I’m that family member who forces everyone to sit through a slide show from their summer vacation.

You know, like back in the 60’s when slides were the thing, and everyone had to sit in a dark room and watch as Dad clicked through slide after slide.

And most of those slides weren’t terribly good either.

Probably half of the audience fell asleep, and the other half desperately needed that cocktail in their hands.

So I apologize if that’s how you feel about these travel posts, but to be perfectly honest, I do these posts for myself.

I used to scrapbook all of my trips.

But I don’t scrapbook anymore. I still miss it sometimes, but I also don’t necessarily want to continue to add to the 40 or so scrapbooks that will definitely end up in the landfill one day.

So, yeah, now I do these blog posts mainly so that I can go back and look at them later and reminisce about a trip we took.

Feel free to just skip over them if they just make you want to take a nap (or drink a cocktail), I fully understand.

And that brings me to the 2nd port of call on our recent cruise on the St. Lawrence seaway, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

As you can see, it was another absolutely beautiful day. We had glorious weather on this trip.

I have to say that there wasn’t a whole lot to see here though. We could have taken a shore excursion to visit the Anne of Green Gables house, but I never read those books as a child so that didn’t really interest me. We also could have done a guided tour in a horse drawn wagon, but instead we pretty much did the same tour on foot on our own.

We walked through town admiring some of the historic homes along the way.

There were definitely some lovely old homes.

But here’s what stood out to me the most in Charlottetown, the locals were the friendliest, most helpful people I’ve ever encountered as a tourist.

We had grabbed a ‘self-guided walking tour’ map from the ship before disembarking, so as we walked along we had to stop a few times to refer to the rather unwieldy map. Nearly every time we stood on a street corner with that map unfolded, a local would stop and ask if they could help us find something. One guy was even just stopped at a stoplight in his vehicle when he rolled down his window and asked if we needed directions somewhere.

We could not possibly have felt any more welcomed by the locals. It was truly remarkable. Especially these days when tourists are definitely not welcomed everywhere.

We did eventually make our way to the Beaconsfield Historic House. The house was built in 1877 as the residence of a wealthy shipbuilder.

And we happened to be just in time for a guided tour of the inside.

When the tour guide asked us to name the oldest thing in the dining room, I correctly guessed that it was the Christmas cactus in the window. I knew those things could live for decades. She said it was over 100 years old, although I don’t know exactly how they have a record of that.

The house was built with the most modern features of the time including central heating, gas lighting and running water. Cold water, that is. If you wanted hot water they still had to heat it on the stove and then carry it upstairs to the bath room.

I always enjoy seeing the kitchens in these old homes, not sure why that is since I don’t spend a lot of time in my own kitchen.

I’m not entirely sure whether or not those cabinets are original, but aren’t they gorgeous?

After touring the Beaconsfield House we moved on to walk around Victoria Park and the Prince Edward Battery, and then back through town towards our ship.

We had plenty of time left before we sailed though, so we then headed over to Lobster on the Wharf.

It’s the restaurant above with all of the red awnings.

Prince Edward Island is known for its lobster, so we figured we had to try some. We ordered a lobster dip appetizer that was absolutely delicious. We also ordered a lobster roll to share, and after one bite I decided that was not for me. But Mr. Q polished it off and thought it was pretty good. To be fair, I don’t particularly like fish or most seafood.

With that, it was time to sail away from Charlottetown and head towards our next port of call, Sydney, Nova Scotia. If I haven’t put you to sleep with my travel posts, be sure to check back next week to read about Sydney!

it ain’t over yet.

Published on October 13, 2025October 11, 2025 by Quandie6 Comments

This warmer than usual autumn weather seems to mean that garage sale season isn’t quite over yet. So last Thursday my friend opK and I headed out to a few sales.

Our first stop was an estate sale where I came across this mid-century painting.

I just can’t resist these city street scenes with their thin matchstick figures. I am guessing that they were a dime a dozen back in the 60’s and 70’s, but I don’t know much about them. Do you? If so, be sure to leave a comment and tell me more. I plan to hang this on the gallery wall in my q branch.

Our next stop was a vintage/garage sale that my friend Sue told me about. It was called JunkSmith Market, and if you’re local I highly recommend their sale.

It looks like they just have one sale per year in the fall, so unfortunately you’ve missed it for this year. But maybe next year (follow them on Facebook).

I purchased quite a few fun things from them including this birdbath and large watering can.

I also purchased this old cupboard door from them …

I plan to clean it up, replace the knob with something a bit more fabulous, and add some sort of stenciled signage.

I also brought home some vintage books and an old brush …

and some adorable vintage Christmas glasses.

Our next stop was the Picket Fence Gals sale in Lindstrom. If you’re from around here, you probably know about this one. I posted about this sale last year after one of the vendors there purchased a few things at my sale, and I then saw them in her booth …

She did the same this year, but I neglected to get any photos of her booth this time around, but I did buy a couple of lanterns from some other booths.

I plan to do these up for Christmas, much like this one I did a couple of years ago.

So, there you have it. I found a few fun goodies, not bad for the middle of October.

I’m going to have to get going on some Christmas projects this week, November is usually my best month for selling Christmas merch at the shop and that’s only three weeks away! Time flies, doesn’t it?

the queen’s glory toolbox.

Published on October 10, 2025October 7, 2025 by Quandie4 Comments

I actually completed the project that I’m sharing today more than a month ago. It was one of the several projects that I cranked out before our trip to Canada, and it’s this toolbox …

I purchased this toolbox way back in January at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and it has been sitting in my stash ever since.

Since it was already black, I decided to go ahead and keep it that color on the outside. That being said, I did scuff sand it, clean it and then give it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss to both help my paint stick, and keep any bits of rust from bleeding through.

Once that prep was done, I painted the inside in Dixie Belle’s Cottage Door.

After all, who doesn’t love a gorgeous pop of color on the inside?

Next up I gave the outside just one coat of Dixie Belle’s Caviar. Since I was painting black over black, just one careful coat was all that was needed.

Next up I applied some of those gorgeous florals from I.O.D.’s Saint Germain transfer.

I wrapped them around each side.

Next up I pulled out the Queen’s Glory transfer from re.design with prima. This is another gold transfer, but it isn’t like the gilded transfers from I.O.D. that I’ve been using lately. It goes on like any other transfer, whereas the I.O.D. gilded transfers require a bit of a more delicate touch when applying them.

It isn’t as ‘gilded’ looking though either. The gold is a bit darker and not quite as shiny.

But I also think the smaller details are much better defined. For example, compare the re.design with prima transfer above to the I.O.D. transfer below …

Another plus to the re.design with prima version is price point. I paid around $20 for two 12″ x 12″ sheets of the Queen’s Glory transfer (so two sheets of the same design, I used just one of them on this toolbox). The I.O.D. Etiquettes gilded transfer is around $50 for four 12″ x 16″ sheets. So granted, yes, you’re paying about the same price per square inch, but if you just want to do one project, the Queen’s Glory would accomplish that at a much lower price.

So, six of one, half dozen of the other. Both products have pros and cons.

And both products are fun to use to add a little bling to your project.

I finished off the toolbox with a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

FYI, the final waxing step really brings out the richness of the Caviar paint, and it also helps add contrast between the transfers and the black paint. So if you decide to try something similar, don’t panic if it doesn’t look great right away. Adding the wax really pulls it all together.

Normally this is where I would say that this toolbox is for sale locally. However, I already sold it at my Carriage House Sale. But I hope you enjoyed seeing it here anyway.

Have you tried both the re.design with prima and I.O.D. gold transfers? And if so, which one did you like better? Leave a comment and let me know.

the gaspé peninsula.

Published on October 8, 2025October 7, 2025 by Quandie2 Comments

The first port of call on our recent Azamara cruise was Gaspé.

Gaspé is about 650 km northeast of Québec City, and has a population of just over 15,000 people. We were greeted at the port by a band of drummers which was a nice touch.

Mr. Q and I didn’t really see much of Gaspé itself though, instead we took an excursion to Percé which is about an hour further along the coast.

I had read that it was a very scenic drive to Percé, and it was lovely, although I have to admit we were spoiled by the scenic drive in Norway that we experienced back in 2023 and this wasn’t nearly as dramatic.

Percé itself is known as one of the most beautiful villages in Québec, and I will agree that it was lovely.

And as you’ll soon learn was the case for almost our entire trip, we had glorious weather that day. Sunny and low 70’s. Perfect.

Percé means ‘pierced’ in English and the town is named for the rock formation that is located on the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula.

I didn’t really get a good photo of it, but the rock formation does have a natural arch at one end (on the right end in my photo above), so in other words, it is pierced.

Percé is even smaller than Gaspé, having a population of around 3,000 people. It definitely felt like a tourist destination with mostly small shops, cafes and hotels in the center of town.

It is beautifully situated on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

But the shoreline is very pebbly. Mr. Q and I attempted to walk along the water, but those pebbles are bigger than they look in my photo and they aren’t very stable to walk on. I’m sure I wouldn’t want to attempt it barefoot.

Luckily Percé has added a very nice boardwalk along the waterfront that is far easier to walk on.

There were lots of comfy chairs where you could just sit and admire the view.

The boardwalk was mostly backed by small hotels.

I can see where this would be a great spot for a family summer vacation. There are plenty of outdoor activities nearby like hiking, kayaking and birdwatching. According to Wikipedia they get over 500,000 visitors per year.

But it was very quiet the day we were there since the summer season was pretty much over.

After first getting some coffee and pastries at a local cafe, then strolling along that boardwalk, we decided to walk along this road to admire some of the houses …

I suspect that most of these places are either private vacation homes or vacation rentals.

I certainly could see the appeal of staying in one of these for a few days.

However, I have to say that there really wasn’t much to do in Percé itself. We were only there for about 2 hours and that was plenty of time to see the town itself, but not enough time to try out any of the surrounding outdoor activities. I think this small village would be better experienced by staying there and exploring the surrounding areas rather than visiting on an afternoon cruise ship excursion.

That being said, it was a lovely day and I certainly don’t regret spending it in Percé.

If you enjoy my travel posts, be sure to check back next week when I’ll share our 2nd port of call on Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown. And if you don’t enjoy my travel posts, check back on Friday when I’ll be sharing another makeover project!

carriage house recap.

Published on October 6, 2025October 5, 2025 by Quandie11 Comments

I meant to take some photos once I had everything all set up for my recent Carriage House Sale.

But, you know how that goes. You get busy making sure the signs are up, everything is ready for the checkout table, and everything looks good … and next thing you know the sale is all over and you forgot to take any pictures.

Well … regardless … I thought you all might appreciate a recap.

I would say we had a smaller than usual crowd waiting to get in at rope drop, ie. 10 a.m. when we opened. So, I’ll admit I was a little worried. But after our usual opening hour rush, we then had a fairly steady stream of customers up until around noon when it turned into a trickle.

The weather went downhill a bit at that point too. It got really warm (upper 80’s) and super windy. The wind was a little scary since I have a large tree that overhangs my driveway, and those trees were really whipping around by the time we closed up shop.

Overall the sale was a success though.

My rusty pumpkins were a big hit, they all sold within the first half an hour or so.

My black hat society sign sold …

but none of my other cupboard door signs went.

I did sell all of my toolboxes …

a tacklebox …

and a lunchbox …

so that was awesome.

I also sold all of my painted books.

I also sold this floral cabinet at the sale.

I guess that answers the question of whether or not floral items will still sell in the fall.

I can also answer the question of whether or not buyers are willing to purchase Christmas merch when it’s nearly 90° outside, and that would be no.

None of my sleds sold.

And very little of the other random Christmas merch sold either.

I did whip up a few other fun Christmas decor items right before the sale, so I’ll be sharing some of those projects here on the blog when the holiday gets a little closer.

But for now I need to put my carriage house back in working order. We’ll need to be able to get our vehicles in there as soon as the snow flies. You just never know when that’s going to start here in Minnesota, could be next week.

I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled programing with another post about our trip to Canada coming up later this week along with another toolbox makeover that you haven’t seen yet. I hope you’ll stay tuned!

hope to see you there.

Published on October 3, 2025October 2, 2025 by Quandie9 Comments

We’ve been busy all week getting the carriage house ready for tomorrow’s sale.

It looks like we’re finally going to get lucky with the weather this time around. Well … for the most part. It’s not going to rain, so that’s good. And we aren’t going to freeze our toes off, so that’s good too. Instead it’s going to be in the upper 80’s. We may actually be hot!

And speaking of hot, we’ve got some hot deals (bad segue, I know). My rusty pumpkins range from only $12 for the largest to $8 for the smallest.

We’ve got a few pieces of ironstone available again this time around.

We’ve got a sizable Christmas section as well, so I hope some of the buyers can think ahead to Christmas despite the unseasonable heat.

As an avid garage saler, I’m used to buying vintage Christmas items when I come across them in the summer. It’s always good to plan ahead.

After getting a message on Facebook Marketplace from someone who was annoyed that we don’t accept credit cards, I feel like I need to remind people that we are not a shop.

We are three gals who enjoy thrifting, garage sales and the occasional estate sale. We find cool vintage items and sometimes we add a little something fun to them.

And sometimes we don’t mess with the original.

I think the best way to think about the Carriage House Sale is to consider it a very highly curated garage sale.

We’ve dug through all of the piles of old stained Tupperware and tacky plastic kid’s toys so that you don’t have to. We’ve spent hours and hours scouring garage sales to come home with only a handful of finds that will make their way into our sale.

Really, you just never know what you might find at one of our sales, but we think it’s all good.

Nothing here has been ordered in bulk from China, pretty much everything is vintage and one of a kind. Except possibly the random decorating or gardening book …