happy holidays. – q is for quandie

the year in review.

Published on January 1, 2026December 31, 2025 by Quandie12 Comments

Happy New Year!

Rather than making a list of resolutions for the new year, which often leads to a sense of failure when you don’t actually accomplish most of them (hello exercising at least 5 days/week), I find that it’s much more satisfying to celebrate the things that you did accomplish over the previous year.

I don’t know about you, but I definitely tend to forget about the stuff that I’ve already done and focus too much on the stuff that I haven’t.

So for me New Year’s Day is a good time to look back and remind myself what I did in 2025, starting with my dollhouse reno.

I have to admit, when I originally decided to tackle this project I half expected it to get pushed to the back of workshop mostly unfinished. I definitely was not confident in my ability to get it done.

But as it turned out, I really enjoyed working on it. I finished 9 rooms, if you count the two hallways as rooms.

I do have two rooms left, the living room and the library (which is up in the tower). I’m just waiting for some inspiration to strike for the living room, I don’t have a clear idea of how I want it to look yet, and the library is just going to require a lot of books.

I’m sure you noticed that most of the furniture I painted in 2025 was miniature too.

I had so much fun creating miniature pieces last year.

They are so much easier to work on than full sized furniture!

But now that my dollhouse is mostly complete, I’m not sure how I’m going to justify continuing to paint more miniatures. I’m working on a plan for that though, so stay tuned.

I did manage to paint a few full size furniture pieces this year including a desk that I purchased for just $4 at a garage sale.

I also painted up this small cabinet …

and a trio of bar stools.

I hope to do more furniture when the weather warms up enough for me to work out in my unheated carriage house workshop again in spring.

I created quite a few rusty masterpieces in 2025 using Dixie Belle’s Patina Paint as well.

I use the Iron Paint and the Green Spray to add faux rust to otherwise somewhat boring (or dare I even say, tacky) items.

I love using it on plastic garden planters especially.

To me they look totally realistic, and since I don’t want to spend a few hundred dollars on an authentic iron garden urn they make a great alternative.

I also used Patina Paint to transform garish orange pumpkins into rusty masterpieces.

They were a big hit at my fall sale.

Speaking of which, I managed to host the Carriage House Sale twice last year. Once in May …

and again in October.

I definitely plan to do that again in 2026.

Of course, I also painted a multitude of toolboxes in 2025. I haven’t taken the time to count them all, but here are a few of my favorites starting with this pretty one from back in January.

I honestly could share a favorite toolbox from every month of the year, but that might get tedious. So I’ve only gone back to May for this next favorite.

It seems that I had a recurring theme of roses last year.

I can’t help it that I.O.D. has so many beautiful rose themed transfers.

I did find some other florals to use too.

And of course I did a few holiday themed boxes as well.

I did a lot of traveling in 2025. I took several trips to visit my mom (she lives in a suburb of Las Vegas).

I plan to head back there again in February.

I also took two trips to Orlando to visit my favorite theme park last year, one in February with just my sister …

And one in November with both my sister and my niece.

Mr. Q and I took a fantastic trip to the Brandywine Valley in May.

If I had to pick a favorite trip in 2025, this one was it. We enjoyed checking out gardens …

historic towns …

historic homes …

and battlefields.

We also took an Azamara cruise along the St Lawrence Seaway all the way from Montreal out to the Atlantic Ocean in September.

Honestly, this trip would probably have rated higher if I hadn’t come down with Covid halfway through.

But prior to getting sick, we did do some fun sightseeing in Montreal.

and we really enjoyed the Fortress of Louisbourg.

And despite being rather under the weather, I did get to see Quebec City which has always been on my bucket list.

I finished the travel year off with my annual trip to Puerto Vallarta with my neighbor’s family.

A week at the pool with a good book is the perfect way to relax a bit during the holiday season.

I spent a bit of time out in the garden in 2025 too.

Despite my jumping worm infestation, things looked pretty good for most of the year. I did have to do more watering and fertilizing than I used to do, but fortunately now that I’m retired I have time for that.

Although I was mostly focused on maintenance for 2025, I did finally choose a tree for the front yard.

It’s a Princeton Gold Maple, fingers crossed that it thrives in 2026.

For that matter, I hope for the same for myself and for all of you. May we all thrive in 2026! But before we move on to the new year, maybe take a moment to create your own list of the things you accomplished in 2025! It’s so much more rewarding than making a list of resolutions, and I bet it will be much longer than you think. In fact, why not share some of your accomplishments with me in a comment?!

Happy New Year!

tidings of joy.

Published on December 26, 2025December 23, 2025 by Quandie12 Comments

OK, I know, Christmas is over. It’s time to move on.

And originally I wasn’t going to share today’s project here. Especially since it’s a Christmas present and I didn’t want to give it away because the recipient does occasionally read my blog. But then I loved how it turned out and decided, well, why not share it after Christmas?

You’ll remember the recipe box makeover that I shared last week.

Well, when my niece saw that post she was about to leave a comment suggesting what a great Christmas present this would make for one’s niece. But then she saw that I mentioned it had already been sold.

Well … no problem. I decided to just make another one for her. I had another small, wooden recipe box on hand, and I also had more of the I.O.D. Partridge Lane transfer.

I did my usual prep of cleaning, scuff sanding, and applying a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss. Then after two coats of DB’s Ecru, I first applied one of I.O.D.’s Twelfth Night paint inlays to the top of the box.

Then I added some more of the building fronts from the Partridge Lane transfer to the front …

and I wrapped them around each side.

I also added a small number transfer from Tim Holtz on one side.

You may notice that these buildings are a bit larger than the ones I used on the first recipe box. The Partridge Lane transfer comes with three different sizes of buildings, and these are the biggest.

I lined the box with some cute Santa scrapbook paper.

I simply used double sided tape to hold the paper in place. If it gets dirty and worn down the road, it can easily be pulled out and replaced.

Ultimately I think I like this 2nd box even better than the first.

What do you think?

P.S. I painted up that first box way back in October and just waited to share it with you here last week. As you can see, the view outside the window behind the box has changed quite a bit since then. It’s a little more white than green now.

OK, that’s it for Christmas projects, I promise.

What’s next? Well, I’m not entirely sure. I plan to take a short break between now and the New Year, during which time I will be working on a list of ideas for winter projects. Painting the bathroom? Making over a dollhouse that I found free at the curb? Painting more toolboxes? Adding some much needed final touches to previous home decor projects? How about finally getting around to painting the inside of my kitchen cabinets? I’ve got lots of ideas!

I hope you’ll stay tuned to see what I get up to!

merry mini christmas!

Published on December 24, 2025December 23, 2025 by Quandie24 Comments

For my final Christmas project of the year, I thought it would be fun to create a mini Christmas vignette.

And I thought of the perfect spot for it, inside my clock cloche!

I started by ordering a few items from Miniature Crush. They are a miniatures mail order company located here in the Twin Cities. They don’t have a brick and mortar, but they do ship super quickly which I always appreciate.

I ordered a wing back chair, a fireplace and some wallpaper (the star lights are from a local gift shop).

Next I got out my Dixie Belle paints and got to work. I started with the chair.

I gave the chair a base coat of Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean, which is a dark brown/black color. I wanted to cover up the original red completely and have a dark color to distress back to.

Then I added two coats of Dixie Belle’s Putty. Once dry, I added a small transfer from the I.O.D. Santa’s Hollow set to the seat back. I modified that transfer a bit to make it work for the chair by painting over some portions with more of the Putty.

Once the transfer was in place, I gave the chair a topcoat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax. Then rather than distressing back to the Coffee Bean underlayer, I used some of DB’s Dixie Dirt in the Earth color to add some age.

I used a small brush to apply it to some of the corners and creases.

Oh, and FYI, I dry brushed some of the Putty paint over the Coffee Bean on the legs of the chair to bring out the detail.

Those adorable packages on the chair were a gift from my friend and fellow Reclaiming Beautiful vendor, Amy (they were the perfect addition to my Christmas scene Amy!).

Next up, the fireplace.

Unfortunately, it seems that I may have ordered one of the last of this style available from Miniature Crush because it’s now sold out.

I like purchasing these unfinished pieces and then putting my own stamp on them. Once again, I gave this piece a base coat of the Coffee Bean, then I added a couple of coats of DB’s Ecru over it.

In this case, I did distress the paint back to the dark undercoat.

I lined the back of the fireplace in some brown brick textured paper from Miniature Crush. Then I used some of re.design with prima’s Bronze Age metallique wax on the surround. I applied a little Mod Podge over the brick and then sprinkled on some more of the Dixie Dirt to make the brick look sooty.

I gathered some twigs from the garden to cut into logs for the fireplace.

I realize now that it would have worked better to get some photos of these details before hot-gluing the Christmas stockings into place, but … well … I didn’t do that.

Speaking of the stockings, I made those myself.

I layered ticking stripe fabric on either side of some thin batting, gluing all three layers together. Then I cut out the stocking shapes. Once I had them cut out, I had to add a little more glue to the ‘seams’ using a toothpick. Finally I added the trim from an old hanky to the top of each stocking with some more glue. Easy peasy.

One of my favorite pieces in the vignette is the ‘painting’ of Santa that hangs over the fireplace.

That came together so perfectly! I used I.O.D.’s Air Dry Clay and their Frames mold to create the frame. Once the clay was dry, I once again began with a base coat of Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean. Then I applied their Antique Gold gilding wax over it. The dark background really makes those frame details pop.

I then painted the center oval with DB’s Ecru. Then, as though it was meant to be, that Santa transfer, also from the Santa’s Hollow set, was the perfect fit for the oval. Did they plan that? I don’t know, but I love it.

There are two more similar Santa transfers in that set and now I’m thinking I might frame those up and add them to the wall as well.

By the way, the wallpaper is also from Miniature Crush. It’s the Berkshire Damask Clay on Cream Bradbury & Bradbury paper.

The ‘wall’ is just a piece of foam core board that I cut to size. I used spray adhesive to apply the wallpaper, then I used double sided tape to stick the ‘wall’ to the back of the fireplace so it would stand upright. I also used double sided tape to ‘hang’ the painting on the wall. We’ll have to see how well that holds up over time. I may have to use something stronger down the road.

Before I move on to my final favorite detail, let’s address the elephant in the room … the Christmas tree.

You know how it is when you go to the tree farm and you pick out what you think will be the perfect tree, then you get it home and it seems to have grown 2 sizes on the drive home?

Something similar happened here. I ordered this tree from KADkrafts on Etsy. It’s available in two sizes; 7″ and 9″. Naturally I ordered the larger size, somehow thinking that the 7″ would be too small. Of course, when it arrived I realized that the 9″ tree was going to be a bit overpowering in my vignette.

However, aside from the size, this tree is perfect. I think it really looks like a real tree. So I decided to go ahead and order the 7″ one too (I can use the 9″ tree in the dollhouse garden, when I get to that). Unfortunately, even though I paid extra for priority shipping, and it was supposed to arrive on Monday, it’s not here yet. Lucky it wasn’t meant to be a Christmas present, right? So for now I’m just using the larger tree, but not decorating it with anything more than the lights.

That brings me to my final bit of miniature Christmas fun!

The tree is just waiting to be decorated with a non-collection of Shiny Brite ornaments. These were a digital download from Etsy. In other words, you download a digital file, print it out, then cut out the paper and glue it into box shapes. It’s a little bit putzy, but I love the results.

So there aren’t any presents under the tree yet, Santa will bring them tonight. But, who needs presents when you have all of these Shiny Brite ornaments?

I struggled to get a good photo with the glass cloche in place.

But there was a little too much light bouncing off the glass. However, I have to say that this little scene looks best at night when it just lit by the glow from those little star lights on the tree.

With that I’d like to wish a mini Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it! And to those who don’t, not to worry, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programing after the New Year.

the left-overs.

Published on December 22, 2025December 21, 2025 by Quandie18 Comments

Every year I seem to end up having a couple of holiday projects that I meant to blog about, but somehow they didn’t make the cut.

Sometimes it’s just because I didn’t think there was much to say about them. For example, I painted up some faux cutting boards earlier this fall, and then added some of the I.O.D. Clementine transfers to them.

You might be thinking that those don’t look like ‘holiday’ decor, but the Clementine transfer was from the I.O.D. 2025 Holiday Release. They did turn out lovely, but what could I say about them? Paint the cutting boards, sand to distress, add a transfer and bam! You’re done.

I also sometimes don’t share a project because I don’t like how it turns out. For example, I picked up a pair of rusty deer at the Bachman’s after Christmas sale a couple of years ago. They were definitely an impulse buy, and I really only grabbed them because they were 75% off.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a true ‘before’ picture of them. However, after initially deciding to add some simple small stencils to them last year I did take a photo.

The stencils weren’t quite right. So I shoved them into the back of the closet and walked away (remember? I said I have a tendency to do that when things don’t turn out).

But I pulled them back out again this year and decided to give them a different look. I was inspired by the finish on the container in this photo …

I started by painting over the deer entirely using a Dixie Belle color called The Gulf.

Then I stippled on blotches here and there of the Iron Patina Paint and followed that up with the green spray and then waited for the rust to appear (for a more detailed tutorial on using the Patina Paint, check out this post).

Next I pulled out an old re.design with prima transfer simply called Deer. I used this transfer on this tacklebox back in 2019.

I still have some bits and pieces of it left, so I picked out some appropriate wording to add the bases of my rusty deer.

Well, somewhat appropriate anyway.

I do really like how the patina ended up looking on my metal deer. They are a bit more rusty than the inspiration piece, but I think that’s OK.

By the way, if you’re looking closely you may notice that I still had a leafy green background in the garden when all of these photos were taken. I actually finished these projects before my sale back in October.

Finally, some projects get pushed to the bottom of the list because something that I liked even better took precedence. Such is the case with a trio of brushed that I upcycled as decor.

I purchased this old wallpaper paste brush at a garage sale a couple of months ago.

I simply added some Tim Holtz Eccentric Remnant Rubs to the handle.

In hindsight I wish I would have trimmed off the words “skill and” and just went with “for amusement only”.

Too late now.

For the next brush I started by painting the metal ferrule to give me a clean background to work with. I simply brushed on some of Dixie Belle’s Truffle, and then while it was still wet I also blended in some of their Ecru.

Then I applied a label from the I.O.D. Winter Botanist transfer.

I had to cut it up a bit to get it to fit just right, but I love how it turned out.

I liked the addition of some more color in the transfer, so I went all out on the next brush with some more sweet little birds from an I.O.D. transfer.

I liked how the brushes turned out, but it just seemed like I always had something better to post so these kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list.

But with that, I’m nearly done with Christmas projects. I have one more special project that I did just for myself to share on Wednesday though, so be sure to check back for that!

the partridge lane box.

Published on December 17, 2025December 16, 2025 by Quandie16 Comments

My friend Sue picked up this wooden recipe box for me a while back.

The design on the front was definitely outdated, but other than that it was in pretty good shape.

I think these little boxes make fun, quick and easy projects. I’ve done a few of them over the years, like this one …

and this one …

These recipe boxes are fairly easy to come by at garage sales or thrift stores.

For today’s recipe box, I started out by sanding down the design on the front. It didn’t feel like it was raised at all, but I often think that only to find that the outline does show up after I add paint. Next up I gave it a coat of Dixie Belle’s Bonding Boss to prevent any bleed thru. I’ve also learned that these old recipe boxes frequently have a finish on them that will bleed (read about that here).

I then gave the box a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Ecru, and before allowing the final coat on the top to dry I added one of I.O.D.’s Twelfth Night paint inlays.

Once dry, I gave the paint inlay a quick spray with some Rust-Oleum matte spray sealer to seal it in. I know you sometimes see people skipping this step, but I find that it’s really easy to smear those inlays if you skip it. Better safe than sorry, right?

I then used some of the cute little houses from their Partridge Lane transfer on the front …

and around the sides.

I just love the detail on these little buildings.

After adding a little “No. 154” to the front corner of the box, I lined the inside with some red and green plaid scrapbook paper.

Finally I finished off the outside of the box with some of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.

Wouldn’t this make a fun little gift box for Christmas? Or maybe go old school and actually keep your favorite holiday recipes in it. Either way, it was a quick and easy project to work on, perfect for a winter afternoon spent indoors crafting.

I took this little box into Reclaiming Beautiful back in early November and it did sell fairly quickly.

I have a few more recipe boxes in my stash to work on over the coming months. How about you? Have you ever painted up any of these small boxes? Leave a comment and let me know.

the cape cod box.

Published on December 11, 2025December 10, 2025 by Quandie16 Comments

I’ve got another holiday tacklebox for you today.

If I remember correctly, my friend Sue found this one for me.

And now that I think about it, it’s probably not a tacklebox. It doesn’t have a pop up tray inside like your typical tacklebox. Perhaps it’s just a lockbox or strong box of some kind?

Regardless, I gave it the usual treatment. I scrubbed it with soap and hot water, then gave it a light scuff sanding, followed by a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear Bonding Boss.

Then I painted the interior in Dixie Belle’s Barn Red.

Next I painted the outside in DB’s Ecru. Once that was dry, I taped off a wide stripe down the middle and painted it in more of the Barn Red.

After sanding to distress the paint a bit around the edges, I added some pretty florals from the I.O.D. Winter Botanist transfer.

The little bird is also from the Winter Botanist.

The wording is from an old re.design with prima transfer called Classic Vintage Labels. I’d forgotten how some of those first generation transfers could leave that faint halo around them when used over a darker paint color.

But it’s far more noticeable in that close up photo than it is with the naked eye.

I used another portion of that Classic Vintage Label on the front of the box.

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

While I had my paint out, I also decided to paint up another trio of thrift store books.

They are also painted in Dixie Belle’s Ecru, and I used that same I.O.D. Winter Botanist transfer on the spines.

I was in a bit of a hurry to get these items photographed and into the shop before I left for Mexico, so I only managed one final photo.

I’m fairly sure that the box has already sold, but I’m not sure about the books.

With Christmas fast approaching (is it really only two weeks away?), I’ll probably only share a few more holiday projects this year. But which ones have been your favorites so far? The toolboxes? Painted books? The sleds? Or maybe the ice skates?

santa’s workshop.

Published on December 9, 2025December 8, 2025 by Quandie14 Comments

First up, congrats to Ally. I drew her name at random to win my blogiversary giveaway. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a comment, I appreciate every one of you!

In other news, I’m back from Mexico and working hard to get back in the festive Christmas spirit. And by working hard, I mostly mean I’m watching sappy holiday rom coms while watching the snow come down outside my window.

I have to say, it’s a bit jarring to go from 85° and sunny with this view …

back to 4° and this view, with more snow predicted today.

But that being said, it’s always good to be back home and ready to work on some projects.

Speaking of which, over the summer my friend Jackie gave me a bunch of boxes to paint, including a small cardboard case with a handle. Then, just a week or two ago my friend Susan also gave me a small black case.

Since I got such good results adding a stencil to an unpainted suitcase a few weeks ago, I thought I’d try it again with both of these.

Let’s start with the black case.

It’s a little beat up, but I think that’s part of its charm.

I first added a shadow to the words “Rudolph and Co” using Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage.

Then I applied the entire stencil using DB’s Ecru.

By the way, I think I often forget to mention it, but I usually fill in the bridges on stencils using a small artist’s brush. For more info on what that means, and also on how to create the shadow, check out my ‘how to stencil’ post.

This little case had some pretty fabric lining, but there was a big stain on the bottom. So I simply covered that up with some Christmas themed scrapbook paper.

I gave the outside of the case a quick coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax to add some protection.

Moving on to the cardboard case.

After using my usual technique of stenciling the larger typography in a dark color, in this case Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean, to create a shadow, I moved the stencil slightly up and over and then … well … I made a colossal mistake.

I taped the stencil down around all four sides. This particular stencil is cut pretty close to the edges of the stencil and I thought it would best to avoid getting paint off the edge of the stencil with my large Best Dang Brush from Dixie Belle (my favorite brush for stenciling, FYI) by taping them off.

I used the yellow Frogtape, which is meant for delicate surfaces, but nonetheless, when I pulled it up it took the top layer of the case with it.

Ugh!

I really should have seen that coming! It was especially disappointing because the stencil itself looked really pretty darn good.

My typical first reaction to this sort of thing is to throw a little tantrum, and then shove the item to the back of the closet and leave it there. According to my mother, this was how I handled her telling me to hang up my coat as a child. I guess some personality traits never change.

But, I’m slightly more mature now. So I took a step back and thought perhaps I could fix it with paint.

I started by stippling some of Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage over the tape damage. It’s a little more green than the background color of the case, but it was the closest color I had. Next I stippled some of the Coffee Bean over it.

It’s not perfect, but I think it sort of works. I’ve gone ahead and ordered some Dixie Belle paint in a color called Pine Cone to see if that might be a closer match. But in the meantime, I think this was a pretty good save.

As for the inside of this case, it was lined with paper that was a bit stained. So I got out my stash of scrapbook paper and picked out some Christmas paper to affix over the old stuff.

I’m not 100% positive, but I’m fairly sure that is another paper from October Afternoon, a now defunct local company that made all kinds of fab scrapbook supplies.

I found the perfect spot for this little case in my own home for now.

I’ll hang onto it until I can do a little more touch up with the Dixie Belle Pine Cone.

As for the Rudolph & Co case, that is for sale locally. Check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

I think both of these little cases would make adorable gift boxes, but what would you do with them? Leave a comment and let me know.

a pair of pink stockings.

Published on December 4, 2025November 27, 2025 by Quandie18 Comments

I picked up a pair of vintage needlepoint Christmas stockings at a garage sale last summer.

Pink roses might not be everyone’s choice for Christmas, but someone went with it. They put a lot of time into this pair of stockings.

I decided to lean in to their floral design by not only stuffing them with winter greens, but by also adding some faux pink ranunculus.

I also had some vintage glass pink ball clusters in my stash. They aren’t ornaments, but rather a cluster that was meant to embellish a Christmas package. Do any of you remember when these were popular?

FYI, I had to borrow that photo from Etsy because I didn’t think to take a picture of mine before I used them.

Anyway, those went into the mix as well, along with some frosty pink berry sprigs from Hobby Lobby.

These will be perfect for someone who still loves a shabby chic Christmas, or is into the Granny Core look (although I hate calling it that, who you calling a granny?).

You don’t find a lot of pink Christmas out there these days, but I’ve always been drawn to it as evidenced by my pink packages from 2017.

My Venetian velvet inspired stenciled wrapping paper from 2018 also featured pink.

And then there was the pink dustpan from 2019.

Last year I added a pop of pale pink to the inside of a Christmas toolbox too.

And actually, many of my favorite vintage Christmas bulbs in my non-collection are pink.

In addition to these pink floral stockings, I also gave a pair of skates some pink florals this year.

When I stopped into the shop just before Thanksgiving to drop off the pink stockings, I noticed that the skates are still there.

So maybe pink florals aren’t everyone’s cup of tea at Christmas?

What do you think? Would you add a pair of Christmas stockings with pink roses to your holiday decor?

the charcuterie toolbox.

Published on December 2, 2025November 26, 2025 by Quandie10 Comments

I ended up bringing four Christmas themed toolboxes into the shop for the holiday season this year, and much to my surprise they have all sold already.

I really felt like I was taking a chance with them. After all, if they didn’t sell I’d have to hang onto them for a full year before I could try again next year. Well … maybe that’s not entirely true, I could have tried selling them at my occasional sale in the spring. But typically holiday items don’t sell well in summer.

I really just wasn’t sure if people would get it. I mean, I know you can use a Christmas toolbox in a variety of ways, but does anyone else?

For example, you can use one to display your non-collection of vintage tree toppers.

You can also use one to store your favorite fragile glass ornaments.

How about using a tacklebox to corral your Christmas card writing supplies (does anyone even do cards anymore?).

They also make fantastic gift ‘boxes’.

I’ve done a couple of different toolbox gifts over the years.

And that brings me to my latest toolbox creation.

But let’s start at this story at the beginning. I wanted to create more Christmas toolboxes for the shop, but I was all out of the raw materials, ie. some toolboxes. So my friend opK and I stopped in at our favorite Habitat for Humanity Restore. I have had good luck finding toolboxes there in the past, so we headed in with fingers crossed.

Sure enough, we found two of them!

Yee haw!

I decided to start with the slightly smaller one.

After using a razor blade to scrape off the “Powr Kraft” label, I gave it a good scrub with Dawn dish soap. Unfortunately, my garden hose is put away for the winter so I had to do this in my kitchen sink this time around, rather than out in the back yard. It’s so much easier in the back yard.

But I got it done. I followed that up with a good scuff sanding and another rinse, and then I added a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear Bonding Boss. I won’t paint a toolbox without it anymore. It keeps any rust from leaching through my paint, and it also aids in the adhesion of the paint to a metal, and quite likely still a little greasy, surface.

Next up I painted the inside in my new favorite Christmas red, Dixie Belle’s Barn Red.

I added a transfer from the I.O.D. Clementine set to the inside of the lid.

Does that just pop on the red or what?

As for the outside, I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Ecru and then added a few more Clementine transfers.

I had to get creative with cutting and re-arranging a few of the various Clementine designs to fit my toolbox.

But I was able to take two 12″ tall sheets and rework them to fit the front of my 7″ tall toolbox.

It wasn’t until I was adding a topcoat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax that I realized how perfect this toolbox would be as a gift box. Just fill it with all kinds of delicious charcuterie board ingredients.

Perfect for Christmas, but also perfect any time of the year. The Clementine transfer doesn’t scream Christmas, but has a bit of a wintery look with its deep green foliage and those bright red flowers and berries.

By the way, if you didn’t see my blogiversary giveaway post last week, go back and check it out. I’m including the Bonding Boss, Barn Red, Ecru and clear wax in that giveaway. Everything you need to create your own Charcuterie toolbox except for the toolbox itself and that I.O.D. Clementine transfer (you can still find it online at The Painted Heirloom, which is where I ordered all three of mine!).

As for this Charcuterie toolbox, I took it into Reclaiming Beautiful last week before I left for Mexico. I’m not sure whether or not it’s still there, but if you’re local and in need of a fun, unique gift box you may want to pop in and see.

a pop of red.

Published on November 28, 2025November 26, 2025 by Quandie31 Comments

First up, thank you so much for all of your kind comments on my blogiversary post!

Sometimes I need a reminder that there are still people out there reading my posts, it gives me the motivation to keep at it. I really do appreciate all of you who keep reading 🙂

In other news, it snowed on Wednesday!

Yay!

Now it’s really beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

OK, we didn’t get a lot of snow, just a little over 3″, but enough to make things look festive.

Isn’t that so much more festive than this …

It was enough snow to make for a fun photoshoot of today’s makeover project.

Yep, it’s another pair of skates, speaking of the same ol’ thing 😉

But there is a bit of a difference this time because I’m painting these for myself and I wanted to add another pop of red to the decor on our deck. I kept this pair of skates aside for that purpose.

It wasn’t until I started to work on them that I really noticed that scallop detail at the top of each skate, so I decided to keep that top portion white and paint the rest of the skate in red.

I did freshen up that white part using Dixie Belle’s Ecru.

I painted the rest in Dixie Belle’s Barn Red.

I didn’t add any transfers because I plan to mainly display these outdoors. I have found that transfers don’t hold up for more than about one season when exposed to the elements, at least here in Minnesota. Our winter weather can be a tad extreme sometimes.

I finished them off with a generous amount of Dixie Belle’s clear wax. This will help repel moisture when they do get rained and/or snowed on.

I debated just putting the laces they came with back on, or adding some of that velvet ribbon I’ve been using as skate laces lately. I ended up choosing the ribbon. I’m not sure how well that will hold up, but I can always remove it and go back to the laces if it falls apart.

Although I enjoyed getting some pics of the skates on the rusty iron bench in my garden …