Category: happy holidays.

Happy New Year!

At the end of the year I like to put together a recap post of the previous 12 months.  To be honest, it’s mainly for my own benefit.  I tend to feel like I haven’t really accomplished much, but then I look back and realize I’ve done more than I thought.

For example, I’ve been thinking I didn’t really makeover any furniture in 2023, but that’s not entirely true.  I did do about 10 pieces of furniture (check out my fab furniture page to see them all).

One of my favorites was the Summer Villa dresser.

That one featured the I.O.D. Summer Villa paint inlay, and it was gorgeous.

Another favorite of mine was the flower market dresser.

It was created using a large stencil from Wallcutz.

The botanist bed was another favorite of mine.

That thing really was gorgeous.  It sold to a woman who was restoring the farmhouse that belonged to her Swedish grandparents.  Her daughter’s family was going to live there, and this bed was going in her granddaughter’s room.  I always love it when I learn more about where my pieces are going.

Reviewing these pieces from last year makes me realize that I shouldn’t give up furniture makeovers entirely.  I’m going to be keeping my eye out for fun pieces to makeover this year.

I did spend quite a bit more of my time on ‘smalls’ last year.  There were somewhere around 17 toolboxes (if my counting is right).  You can see them all by going to the ‘toolboxes’ category under ‘sorted.’ over on the right side of the page if you’re viewing this on a computer screen.  If you’re on your phone, then try this link.

But anyway, I think I did a toolbox for every season starting with spring …

This rose chintz toolbox would be perfect for housing your garden planning supplies.

I created a bunch of summery floral toolboxes, but I think my favorites were embellished with the I.O.D. Elysium transfer.

This next one with the I.O.D. Flora Parisiensis transfer was a close 2nd.

Then fall came along and I felt like I had to move away from the summery florals into something a bit more autumnal.

That one featured the Harvest Hues transfer from re.design with prima.

Fall is always such a short season, in the blink of an eye I needed to move on to Christmas.

I used the I.O.D. Candy Cane Cottage transfers on that one.

One of my top faves from 2023 wasn’t seasonal though, it was inspired by our trip to Norway in September.

You just gotta love a toolbox based on the Norwegian flag, right?

I really enjoy working on these toolboxes, so you’re sure to see many more of them from me in 2024.

There were lots of other smalls in 2023 though, everything from DIY apothecary bottles …

to painted lunch pails …

to painted pumpkins.

I brought home a few goodies from the thrift store, and garage/estate sales like my original Al Teeter …

and this lovely gold framed mirror.

And of course, lots of old books!

I also painted up several cupboard door signs in 2023.

I got my Flower Market sign done just in time for our April Fool’s snowstorm.

And of course there was the North Pole Bed and Breakfast sign.

Rather than being stenciled, this next one was super simple to create with some I.O.D. transfers.

Aside from all of the blog-worthy posts, I also accomplished quite a bit around here (with help in most cases).  We painted the back of the house, replaced a section of our fence, refinished the front stoop, repaired and refinished our deck, and repainted our Adirondack chairs.

Phew!

I really enjoyed working in the garden this year as well.  I’d planted a bunch of new bulbs the previous fall, so it was fun to see them all come up in the spring.

The peonies in the cutting garden really flourished last year too.

And of course the hydrangeas were amazing as always.

One of my favorite new (to me) plants for 2023 was the Raspberry Splash lungwort (or pulmonaria).

Another new favorite was the Curly Fries hosta.  I planted three of them in the shade garden.

But I think my best garden makeover for 2023 was the fairy garden.

I expanded it by moving it into an old wheelbarrow, and it worked out beautifully.  I’ve left it out for winter with a bit of protection, so we’ll see if everything survives.  If not, gee, I guess I’ll have to get all new plants for next year!

I did quite a bit of traveling in 2023.  Being able to head out of town whenever I want to is one of the best things about being retired.

My sister and I visited our mom back in February and we took a short road trip to the Valley of Fire while we were there.

I went back again in April and did a little planting outside of my comfort zone for mom.

My sister and I also went to DisneyWorld for her birthday in May.

We were there for the Flower and Garden festival which was right up my alley.

In September Mr. Q and I headed to Amsterdam with my sister and niece.

We spent six days in Amsterdam, and then boarded a Holland America Viking Sagas cruise around Norway.

We were pretty much plagued by rain the entire 7 day cruise, but it was still fantastic.

At the end of October my sister and I headed back out to Vegas for our mom’s 83rd birthday.  We took her on a little road trip to Zion National Park to celebrate.

Finally, I went to Puerto Vallarta at the end of November with my neighbor nnK and her parents.

I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to do all of this traveling.  I’m hoping to do just as much in 2024.

I’m also hoping to have plenty of garage sale/thrifting hauls to share with you guys, along with lots of makeovers small or large.  I’m sure I’ll have a few gardening posts along the way as well.  I hope that you’ll continue to tag along!

In the meantime, leave me a comment and let me know if you had a favorite from among my posts in 2023.

Today I’m squeezing in one last Christmas project.

I found this old beadboard cupboard door at a garage sale a few months back.

You know, back when there were hostas and lots of other green things in my garden.

I’ve always been a fan of old beadboard, and I thought the hardware on this one was kind of fun too.

I ended up painting it in Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky and then adding the North Pole stencil from Wallcutz in Drop Cloth.

The beadboard did make the stenciling a bit more challenging, and it looked a bit sloppy when I first pulled the stencil away.  I had to go back with a small artist’s brush and fill in a lot of grooves to keep the wording legible.  Especially the smaller section in the circle.

Once that was done I added a couple of rusty, old, metal hooks from my stash.

These sort of hooks just screw into place.

I had initially taken photos of this sign hanging on a tree out in the garden.  I was planning to bring the sign into the shop with the rest of my Christmas merchandise.

But then I realized that this one would be perfect for hanging stockings.

And since we don’t have any sort of mantle I decided to keep it for that purpose.

I also had the perfect spot for it in the piano room.

Who knows, maybe next year I’ll sell this one on, but for now I’m really enjoying it in this spot.

A few of you have mentioned hoping that I’d share a tour of my Christmas decor this year, but to be honest, my indoor decorating was a bit haphazard.  I think that trip to Mexico back in late November kind of threw me off.  I never even put up the tree.

Do you remember the clock cloche?  I like to switch up the contents under the cloche depending on the season, and I did get that done this year.

It’s a simple look with some bottle brush trees and a tiny greenhouse full of poinsettias sitting on a vintage gardening book that my friend Sue gave me for my birthday.

And remember that Dutch ice skate I brought home from Amsterdam?  I hung that on my old wooden ladder along with some greens.

My friend opK was going through her stash of vintage Christmas cards and came across one with a snowy windmill scene and she thought it would be perfect for me.  I framed it up in an old chippy frame that I had on hand.  I layered it with an old invoice (sometimes the accountant in me still comes out).

I hung that from the ladder using some green velvet ribbon.

I’ve already shared the little bit of decorating that I did in our bedroom, and now this beadboard sign in the piano room.  Otherwise, I think you’ve seen everything else I have out this year in previous years including my toolbox full of tree toppers …

and my Christmas village …

To be precise, I actually set up my village twice.  I originally thought it would be nice to change it up and put it in the living room under the window.  I had it all set up there, and then decided it wasn’t working so I moved everything to the top of my English cupboard in the q branch.

I had to consolidate it down this year to fit entirely on top of that cupboard.  Last year I also had the blue rooster cupboard in that room, but if you’ll remember I moved it out when I brought in a larger desk.

And speaking of the q branch, finishing up the makeover in that room is on my to-do list for January.  I’ve picked out the new wall color, so once I get that village put back away again I’m going to get started on painting the walls.  So be sure to stay tuned in the new year!

‘Tis the season for the ever popular gift exchange.

For a recent gathering I attended I needed to bring an item for a gift exchange, so I decided to turn a wooden recipe box from the thrift store into my contribution.

After giving it a light scuff sanding and wiping it down with a damp cloth, I painted it in two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

Next I added a small bit of wording from the I.O.D. Melange paint inlay.

I applied most of it to the top of the box, but there was a bit leftover and that went on the front of the box.

Once the paint inlay was applied (see full instructions for applying a paint inlay here) I gave it a quick spray with some Rust-Oleum clear matte spray sealer to seal it before moving on to add the floral transfers.

The florals are all from the Dixie Belle Evergreen and Holly transfer, which I am nearly out of now.

I sanded the edges of the box to distress it a bit, and then finished it off with some clear wax.

I then lined the inside with some October Afternoon scrapbook paper.

Before gifting the box, I added some shredded book pages and a pretty glass ornament.

The theme of this gift exchange was supposed to be ‘favorite things’.

First of all, DB’s Drop Cloth is my favorite warm white paint color.  Their Evergreen and Holly transfer is my favorite Christmas floral (oh, how I wish they’d brought it back this year!), October Afternoon was always my favorite brand of scrapbook paper (and sadly, they have gone out of business), and that style of typography from the Melange paint inlay is my favorite as well.

So yeah, I think I nailed it, from a ‘favorite things’ point of view anyway.

I’m always a little nervous about whether or not my style meshes with that of the recipient, but I think this one was a hit.

And hey, remember those old paint brushes I purchased at the estate sale a week or two ago?

I thought it would be fun to dress one up with a couple of Tim Holtz transfers and use it to embellish the wrapped gift.

It maybe wouldn’t be the right look for just any crowd, but this particular gathering was for my fellow vendors at Reclaiming Beautiful (the shop where I sell some of my merch), so I figured they would share my affection for a worn out old paint brush.

How about you?

Last summer one of my readers offered me some cupboard doors.  She was remodeling her bathroom and the doors were going to be discarded.  They are the perfect size and shape for turning into stenciled signs.  I always appreciate finding the ones that don’t have an arched panel that makes them wrong for turning sideways.

I’ve already shared a makeover of one of these doors, but I had three left that I was saving for Christmas themed signs.

But then time got away from me.  I worked on other projects, and I spent a week in Mexico, and now here we are just 10 days away from Christmas.  It’s pretty much too late to sell Christmas decor.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t still paint one up for myself, right?

After my usual prep of cleaning with a TSP substitute and scuff sanding, I decided to pull out some milk paint.  It’s been a while since I’ve used milk paint, I wasn’t sure I still knew how!  But I like a chippy look, so I decided to go for it.

I wanted to go with a traditional Christmas red and I ended up having just enough of Miss Mustard Seed’s Tricycle left for this sign.

However, as any of you who have used milk paint know, sometimes you just don’t get the chipping!  I tried to fake it by using tape to pull off some paint (sort of like using tape to remove cat hair from your black leggings) and I got a few little chips here and there, but not a lot.

I also ordered myself a new stencil for this one.  I did have an older ‘bed and breakfast’ style stencil that I’ve used on lots of items …

but it was getting rather worn out (because I’m not good about cleaning my stencils after each use!).

So I searched high and low for a new stencil, and I specifically wanted a Christmas themed bed and breakfast design.  I thought there would be lots to choose from, but I really only found a handful of possibilities.  Ultimately I decided on this one from The Stencil Smith.

I liked that I could order it in an appropriate size for my cupboard door.  Well … close to the right size anyway, I did have to mask off the border.  But that’s OK, I don’t particularly love the border anyway.

I did use my shadowing technique just on the words “bed” and “breakfast”.

If you aren’t familiar with this technique, you simply place your stencil just below and to the left of center and apply the stencil with a darker, shadow color.  In this case I used Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean.  Once that is dry, move your stencil up and over just a tad and stencil again with your final color.  I used Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth here.

The shadow barely shows up in photos, but it really does make a world of difference in person, adding a lot of depth to the final look.

By the way, I don’t think I mentioned it, but the reason I specifically wanted a ‘bed and breakfast’ sign was because I planned to hang this in our bedroom.

I’ve hung it above my jelly cupboard (where I keep clothes, not jelly).  I draped it with some faux holly garland and a string of red, green and white lights.

I added a vignette to the top of the cupboard made up of a few of my favorite things.

Some vintage ornaments and ornament boxes, and that cute little lantern that I made up last year.

I also added some red and green books, and a ‘Christmas time’ clock

By the way, my friend Netti gave me that red book, The Q Document.  She thought it had my name written all over it 😉

I found these red and green vintage ornaments while out shopping with opK last week.

Now, I have to confess.  My original plan was to give the entire room a new red and green holiday look this year.  I was going to use those green shutters that I picked up last week and hang them behind the bed and breakfast sign, but ultimately I didn’t think my plaster walls could handle the weight.

I also found this adorable throw pillow at Michaels …

and I ordered a green and red plaid duvet set from Amazon.

Unfortunately, when that set arrived it was awfully cheap and tacky looking.  So that went back.  I found a nice looking set on Pottery Barn’s website, but at about $300 for the duvet cover and a pair of shams it’s a bit out of my price range.  I did then find another set on Amazon that I’m going to try, but it won’t be here in time for a Christmas blog post.

So for this year, the full-on red and green Christmas bedroom is on hold.

In the meantime, how do you like the Bed and Breakfast sign?

Although I did paint this one up with myself in mind, I would be willing to part with it if any of you locals need a last minute Christmas gift for someone … or even just some last minute decor for yourself.  I can always paint another for myself.  So check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details!

I’m pretty sure that ‘never say never’ should be my motto.

Having just celebrated my 60th birthday (good lord, how is that possible?), one thing that I know about myself is that I almost always change my mind about things over time.  I suddenly find myself liking something that I once thought would never appeal to me.

And that brings me to today’s project, another pair of ice skates.

This is not the pair that I asked you guys whether or not I should paint, this is another 80’s-ish pair of skates that my friend Sue found for me (probably at a garage sale, but I’m not 100% sure).  Sidebar; I decided not to paint that pair since I’m using them outside as winter decor (you’ll probably see them when I share some of my own holiday decorating in December).

Anyway, today’s skates were another pair that were a no-brainer for paint.  They were quite blah to begin with.

First up I pulled out the laces and tossed them.  They were pretty stained and I didn’t want to salvage them.  Next I cleaned up the skates with a damp cloth and then gave them a coat of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

I knew I was going to use the holly and red berries from the Dixie Belle Evergreen and Holly transfer …

But I also decided to use up some bits and pieces from my scrap pile for the rest.

I just happened to have a couple of lines of script in gold in my stash, so I added those to the upper part of the skates next.  I also had the ‘$10’ and ‘$4’ in gold left over from re.design with prima’s Flower Collector transfer in gold.

I still had a little bit of empty space towards the front of the skates, so I pulled out an old re.design with prima transfer called Gilded Home & Nature which is just a bunch of random things in gold.

I was able to piecemeal a few things to add to the skates including some scrolly bits and the word ‘ROYAL’.

After all of the transfers were in place, I protected everything with a coat of clear wax.

Lastly, I originally intended to add some red velvet laces.  The skates have a fabulous red fabric lining, and I also wanted to play off those red berries.

But the red velvet ribbon I had on hand was too thick to fit through the grommets.

Then I remembered a pair of gold laces that I had removed from a pair of skates last year.

I really didn’t care for the sparkly gold look on that pair of skates.  I swapped them out for some alphabet twill ribbon, which worked much better.

And I very nearly threw those gold laces into the trash.

But at the last minute I decided to keep them because … well … never say never!

You just never know when you might really wish you had a pair of gold laces.

Having the gold transfers on the skates makes the gold laces really work here.

So if you’re someone who likes a bit of sparkle in your holiday decor, these are perfect.

I am tempted to say that the moral to this story is never throw anything away.  But I don’t really support that plan.  No one wants piles and piles of cast off bits and pieces everywhere.  But use your best judgement, you may find a use for those random scraps of gold lettering or that pair of gold laces.

I took this pair of skates into the shop, so if any of you locals are interested you could head in to Reclaiming Beautiful in Stillwater today to check them out.  As an added bonus, they are serving free mimosas this morning from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  You gotta love a free mimosa!

By the end of last summer I was beginning to think that I wasn’t going to have any sleds to paint this year!

I hadn’t found any at garage sales, and usually I find at least 2 or 3.

Last year I had 4 sleds to paint.

That was a good year!

Maybe I should clarify that to say that I hadn’t found any affordable sleds at garage sales.  I’d seen a few that were priced in the $60 and up range, and I don’t even charge that much for mine once they are painted.

But then I found a broken one at a late season garage sale, and then another one at my friend Jackie’s sale in the fall.  Then I also remembered that I had a different sort of sled out in the workshop that I found in early summer.  I’d forgotten about that one!

So once again I pulled out my favorite stencils and got to painting.

First up, the broken one.

Fortunately, whoever owned this sled before me had already gone to the trouble of cutting out a replacement for the missing slat.  I’m not sure why they didn’t go one further and actually attach it, but my handyman Ken made quick work of that.

Then I painted just the slats in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Once dry I pulled out my random selection of stencils to see what would fit.

This is really the most challenging part of stenciling on these sleds, finding wording that fits on the slats.  I have a selection of various stencils that I take lines of wording from for the sleds.  All three of these lines are from different stencils.  I’ve had most of them for quite a few years now, so I’m sorry but I don’t have sources for them.

I stenciled ‘Saint Nick’s’ in Dixie Belle’s Honky Tonk Red, ‘Christmas Trees’ in their English Ivy, and ‘cut your own fresh tree’ in Coffee Bean.

The next sled is the one I found at my friend Jackie’s sale, but somehow I neglected to get a ‘before’ photo of it.  But I didn’t have to do too much to this one aside from giving it a good clean, and then painting it.

That ‘Bed & Breakfast’ stencil is one of my favorites, but again, I couldn’t tell you where I got it.  But no matter, I’m sure you could find something similar out there if you do a little searching online.

I painted this sled in Dixie Belle’s Dried Sage, then added the bottom section of wording in their Coffee Bean.  I also added a shadow of the wording to the first two slats using Coffee Bean.

That shadowing really adds a lot of depth to a stencil, and it really helps make those words pop even though they are in that warm white.

It’s super simple to do, just stencil the design first in the shadow color, in this case the Coffee Bean.  Then move your stencil just a tad up and over and stencil again in the final color.

Last up is this sled I found earlier in the year.  This one is more of a toboggan, rather than a sled.

First I removed that bright yellow rope from the sides, that wasn’t going to work with my aesthetic at all.

Then after giving it a good cleaning, I painted it in Dixie Belle’s Coffee Bean.  The stencil is from Wallcutz and I used Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth for the stenciling.

I sealed it up with some clear wax, and the I pulled a length of old rope out of my stash and strung that through two holes at the top of the toboggan.

Although most of us think of sleds as an outdoor sort of item, I think they can be adorable hung inside as Christmas decor too.  When I brought these in to the shop, I hung the Bed & Breakfast sled in a ‘bedroom’ vignette and it looks great (and P.S., isn’t that bed gorgeous?).

That being said, I do have a sled that I’ve hung onto for myself and I’ve used in in several different spots outside.

Hanging on the potting shed …

Hanging on the carriage house …

Or just leaning on a bench.

So many options!

What would you do with a painted sled?  Leave a comment and let me know.