Category: giveaways.

one size fits all.

Published on by Quandie119 Comments

Welcome to day 6 of my 12 days of giveaways!  Gosh, how is it possible that we are already halfway through?

Before we proceed, congrats to Kim Moran the winner of day 3 and Jennifer Knopf the winner of day 4 (check out Jennifer’s shop here).

Each year I try to come up with a new idea for wrapping my Christmas gifts.

Last year was one of my favorites.  I had visited a workshop in Venice last November that made the most beautiful velvet …

And that inspired me to create some gift boxes and wrapping paper using paint and stencils.

In 2017 I went with a pretty in pink theme.

I painted boxes using Fusion’s English Rose and Little Piggy, then I used their Transfer Gel to add some Twelve Days of Christmas Graphics.

In 2016 I went with a more elegant approach using Fusion’s Studio Metallics paint in Copper combined with some old rolls of player piano music.

After painting the toolbox that I shared last week, this year I was inspired to try a rather muted neutral color scheme.  I pulled out some cardboard boxes and some brown paper gift bags.  Then I grabbed one of my Christmas stencils from Maison de Stencils, my Deer transfers from re.design with Prima Marketing and some Dixie Belle paint.

I started out simply by stenciling a grain sack stripe down the middle of the first box and then adding part of the Santa Claus & Co feedsack stencil in black.

I also used part of the stencil on some gift bags.

I have to confess, I flubbed up on stenciling the next box.  My stencil moved and I didn’t notice it until it was too late.  That’s what I get for not taping it down (remember, do as I say, not as I do).  So to salvage the box I pulled out my Dixie Belle paint in Putty and painted over the messed up stencil.

Then, rather than stenciling again, I decided to add a section of the Deer transfer.

I also added some deer to a couple of other boxes.

I have to admit, that one with the ‘fang-like canine’ is a little on the creepy side.  Maybe more suitable for a Halloween decoration, right?  It looks a little like Dracula Bambi.

My initial plan was to use some plain shipping tags as my gift tags, but I should have known I wouldn’t be able to just leave them plain.  When I found my box of shipping tags, there were a few photocopies of old photos nearby.

I also came across some rubber stamps that I forgot I had.

Next thing I knew I had totally fallen down a rabbit hole and was whipping up some gift tags to go on my packages.

Does this ever happen to you?  I completely lose track of time and forget about what I was planning to do (which was paint a dresser, coming soon).  Next thing I know I have made a huge mess and two hours have gone by in a creative haze.

I used some Tim Holtz rubber stamps on my tags  and the metal charms are also from Tim Holtz.  You can find his stuff at both Hobby Lobby and Michaels (at least that was true the last time I checked), and of course online too.

I know most people aren’t going to spend this much time on gift wrapping, and usually folks just throw away (or hopefully recycle) the boxes that their gifts came in.  But I hope my boxes inspire people to hang onto them and reuse them (less for the landfill).

Now, for the part you’ve all been waiting for, today’s giveaway.

Not only does the winner get a reindeer gift box and one of my tags, but you’ll also get a 10 oz. jar of Dixie Belle’s Big Mama’s Butta in the Orange Grove scent and a 10 oz. jar of their Clear Best Dang Wax.

But wait, that’s not all (said in my best game show host voice), you’ll also get a 4 oz. jar of each of Dixie Belle’s colored waxes.

So, if you’ve always wanted to try a colored wax but haven’t had a chance yet, this one is going to be perfect for you.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the waxes.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me whether you wrap your presents ahead of time or do you want until Christmas Eve and then scramble to get them all wrapped?  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $100, if the prize is not claimed by Friday, December 13, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

my new favorite holiday stencils.

Published on by Quandie126 Comments

Welcome to day no. 5 of my 12 days of giveaways!

Way back last summer I ordered two new holiday stencils for myself from Maison de Stencils.  I had a feeling I would get a fair amount of use out of them when the holiday season arrived, and turns out I was right.

I used them on chairs …

And on sleds …

And on signs …

When my sister saw the Christmas Farm stencil …

she mentioned that she’d like to have a throw pillow with that design on it.

So I dug through my stash and pulled out a couple of pillow covers from re.design with Prima Marketing.

Their 18″ x 18″ pillow case is made with a nice and thick 100% cotton fabric that accepts paint beautifully and they have a zipper closure.

So I grabbed my stencils, some acrylic craft paint and a couple of re.design with Prima Marketing stencil brushes and got to work.

I started with the easier of the two designs.   I say ‘easier’ simply because I stuck with one color of paint which made it a quick stencil job.  First I placed a piece of thin hardboard inside the empty pillow case to give me a nice firm surface to stencil on and also to prevent my paint from bleeding through to the back of the pillow case.  Then I just taped my stencil in place and went at it with the red paint.

I love the graphic punch of the red on the white pillow form.

I know my sister is going to prefer the 2nd pillow though, and I’ll be giving this one to her for Christmas.  I warned her not to read my blog today, so hopefully I’m not ruining the surprise.

This one took just a little bit longer to do since I had to tape off the different areas for the three colors I used.  First the black, then the red, then the green.  It’s not hard to do, but you do need to wait a little in between each color to let the paint dry.

I loved both of these stencils so much that I reached out to Maison de Stencils and asked them if they’d be willing to send another of each that I could give away as part of my 12 days of giveaways.  And yee haw, they agreed!  Not only that, but they gave me a couple more to give away in the next two weeks, plus a couple for me to use myself on some upcoming furniture projects.

  Today I’m giving away both of the Christmas stencils plus  1″ and 2″ stencil brushes from re.design with Prima Marketing.

The larger 2″ brush makes quick work of larger stenciling projects, while the 1″ brush is better for more detailed work.

Thank you to both Maison de Stencils and Prima Marketing for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the stencils and the brushes.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me which stencil is your favorite.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, December 8, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $65, if the prize is not claimed by Wednesday, December 11, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

oh deer.

Published on by Quandie138 Comments

Congrats to Laura Hopwood, the winner of the day no. 2 prize.  I’ll be drawing a name for the winner of the day no. 3 prize tomorrow (is this getting confusing for you guys too?  I’m doing my best to keep track of it all), if you haven’t commented on that post you have until midnight tonight!

In the meantime, today is day 4 of my 12 days of giveaways, and I’m first sharing the transformation of this adorable (if I do say so myself) metal toolbox.

This toolbox started out looking like this …

My picker, Sue, found this for me.  She always grabs metal toolboxes when she sees them.  She knows I love to give these a new life with some paint.

To begin with I washed the toolbox using Dawn dish washing soap to cut any grease that might have been left behind by the former owner.  Next I added a coat of Miss Mustard Seed’s Tough Coat Sealer to prevent the rust from coming through my paint.

Today’s q tip:  Keep in mind that the Tough Coat Sealer does not block stain from bleeding thru (try the Dixie Belle BOSS for that), but I have found that it works well as a protective coat over rust.  It also works well as a top coat for a rusty piece when you want to retain the rusty look.

Next I pulled out a couple of new Dixie Belle paint colors, Sawmill Gravy and French Linen.  I can tell you now, both of these colors will be making their way onto my list of favorite neutrals.

I first painted the entire toolbox in two coats of the Sawmill Gravy.  Once dry, I taped off a wide stripe down the middle and painted it in the French Linen.  After that dried, I sanded the box lightly and then added a few sections from re.design with Prima’s Deer transfer.

I have to say, I totally underestimated the cuteness factor of this transfer!  When I first saw it I thought it was only going to be good for some sort of man-cave or hunting shack item.  But then I looked a little closer and realized it had a reindeer on it.

Seriously!  How cute is that?

If you have a few men in your life and you are looking for something that’s not feminine and flowery, be sure to check out the Deer transfer.  And if you really do need to dress something up for the hunting shack, this transfer would still be perfect for that too 😉

Now, for today’s giveaway.  I wish I had a spare Deer transfer, but unfortunately I don’t.  I do, however, have some Sawmill Gravy and French Linen to give away.  I also thought, why not give them away along with the toolbox itself?  They fit perfectly inside.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing the paint, and to Prima Marketing for providing the Deer transfer that I used on the tool box.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me what you would keep in this toolbox.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, December 6, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $65, if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 8, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

me and Switzerland.

Published on by Quandie143 Comments

It’s day 3 of my 12 days of giveaways, and today I’m giving away a couple of my favorite shades of Dixie Belle Paint.  But first, congrats to Susan Williams who won the day 1 prize.  Last night at midnight was the cut off to be eligible for the day 2 prize so I haven’t drawn that name yet but I’ll get on it this morning.

I go through two Dixie Belle colors like there’s no tomorrow.  I have to say that, like Switzerland, I tend to stay neutral.  Partially because I find that neutral shades sell really well for me, but also simply because personally I currently prefer them in my own home too.

Drop Cloth is probably the color I use most often these days.

Drop Cloth is a warm, creamy white with a slightly greige undertone.  It’s not a yellow-ish cream, and it’s definitely not a bright white.

It’s my white of choice because I feel like you can bring this color into any room and it will play well with your other shades of white.  It won’t make any of them look dingy, although it may make some of your brighter whites look brighter.

My 2nd favorite neutral Dixie Belle color is Midnight Sky.  I originally favored their Caviar, and I do still love that color, but as I’ve been living with both of these shades of black I’ve realized that I prefer the Midnight Sky.  It’s just a hair lighter and leans more towards a deep, dark charcoal.

Because this color is slightly … well, for lack of a better description … less black than the Caviar I think it tends to be more forgiving when it comes to dust or smudges.

I used this color on my piano and quite honestly, I rarely dust.  So I need a dark color that is more forgiving 😉

The brush that I tend to reach for the most these days when using the Dixie Belle paint is their Flat Medium Synthetic brush.  It holds a nice amount of paint and I find that the shape of the handle makes it really comfortable to hold in my hand.  It’s also the perfect size to fit into even the smallest Dixie Belle paint jar without catching on the lip.  I know you aren’t supposed to paint straight out of the jar, but I do it all the time (maybe you guys should do as I say, not as I do on this one).  It may be my imagination, but somehow this brush also seems easier to clean that my Purdy brushes.  I have no idea why that would be, maybe the type of bristle?

Anyway, today’s giveaway is for all of you fellow neutral lovers out there.  It includes a 16 oz. jar of Drop Cloth, a 16 oz. jar of Midnight Sky and the Flat Medium Synthetic Brush.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing these products.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me whether you’re a fellow lover of neutrals or you prefer lots of color in your world.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $65, if the prize is not claimed by Sunday, December 8, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!

problem solvers.

Published on by Quandie94 Comments

Welcome back for day 2 of my 12 days of giveaways!

Today I want to talk about problem solvers.  When you’ve been refurbishing furniture as long as I have (25+ years), you know that running into problems is a given.  It’s rare to find a piece of furniture that just needs a coat of paint slapped on and it’s good to go.  More often, it has other problems that need to be solved first.

Luckily I have some help in that area in the form of my neighbor/handyman and number 1 problem solver, Ken.

Ken is a fixer.  He gets great satisfaction out of finding creative ways to fix things.  One of his favorite fix-it successes was the Humpty Dumpty dresser.  It was named that for obvious reasons.  All of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men may not have been able to put it together again, but Ken did.

After taking a fall off of the horses (the saw horse kind, not the kind the king’s men had), the Humpty Dumpty dresser looked like this …

But after a few days in Ken’s workshop, it looked like this …

To this day Ken still talks about how much he enjoyed rebuilding this dresser.  Sometimes I’m tempted to look for more pieces that are totally falling apart just to give Ken a puzzle to work on.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of a way to give away a ‘Ken’ today, but I can give away a couple of great products that help me deal with smaller problems.  The first problem being the dreaded bleed thru.

It’s always such a bummer when you realize your piece has stain that bleeds thru paint.  No matter how many coats of paint you put over this stain, the stain will just keep coming through.  But there’s a great fix for that though, Dixie Belle’s BOSS.  The drawers shown above are a great example.  They had some serious bleed thru issues as you can see on the top drawer, but the lower drawer shows how beautifully the BOSS worked to block the stain.

Another problem I run into fairly often is when a piece of furniture is missing just one drawer pull.  I always joke about this because if a piece is missing just one, it might as well be missing them all, right?

This washstand is a good example.  It was missing just one drawer pull, and I would have had a difficult time finding an exact match as a replacement.

So instead, I filled the holes for the original drawer pulls and added centered knobs to the drawers rather than pulls.

My favorite product for filling holes is Dixie Belle’s Mud, and I apply it using their little plastic spatula.

Today’s giveaway consists of these two problem solvers; Dixie Belle’s BOSS and Mud.

Plus a chip brush and the plastic spatula that works great with the Mud.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for sponsoring this giveaway by providing these products.

The rules:  to be eligible to win today’s prize leave a comment on this blog post.  If you can’t think of anything to say, just tell me what problem you run into most often while DIY’ing.  Your comment must be left on the blog, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the name of a winner for today’s prize from all of the comments left on this post by Sunday, December 1, 2019 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $40, if the prize is not claimed by Tuesday, December 3, another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

Good luck!