Category: just stuff.

This would have been so much better if I’d had this all pulled together for my New Year’s Eve post, but hey, better late than never, right?

So … just a quick post to tell you what I am sending out to the lucky winner whose name will be drawn from among the comments left on my previous post, these are a few of my favorite things.

The lucky recipient will receive a few of my favorite things including my favorite color of MMS milk paint, Kitchen Scale, a bingo card of vintage buttons, some blue velvet ribbon, a vintage brooch and a hairpin made from an old button.

Not to mention, the most recent issue of my favorite magazine, Jeanne d’Arc Living …

And, no collection of my favorite things would be complete without some tiny furniture, so I’m also including this tiny dresser …

Which you may remember from this post.

So, if you haven’t done so already, just leave a comment telling me which of my furniture makeovers from 2014 was your favorite and why.  You still have until midnight on Friday, January 2, so get crackin’.

P.S.  This post is not sponsored by anybody except me!

One of the fun things about our recent Danube river cruise was getting a chance to share our dinner table with other passengers.  We noticed that the highest percentage of travelers were also Americans, but the next largest group seemed to be British.  We enjoyed dining with a few different British couples, and one thing that was mentioned more than once was that this year was the 100th anniversary of the start of the first world war.  Perhaps it came up in conversation so often because we visited Vienna, the seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire.  You may know that the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary is what prompted the start of WWI (although of course it is far more complicated than that).   Still, it seemed as though this anniversary was a much bigger thing in England that it is here.  I assume because we didn’t join the war until much later.

But why am I sharing this history lesson with you on Christmas?  Well, hang on, I’m getting there I promise.

After Mr. Q and I returned home, we saw an advertisement for All is Calm, the Christmas Truce of 1914, which was playing at Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis.  We were intrigued and decided to splurge on tickets.

All is Calm is based on the incredible true story of the truce between German and Allied soldiers on Christmas Day 1914.  Here is a brief explanation of the truce from history.com.

All is Calm is performed by Cantus, a men’s vocal ensemble with 9 members.  The show is mostly music, with some narration by 3 actors who quote from letters and journals of real WWI soldiers.  The music was incredible, just 9 men’s voices singing in amazing harmony.  Some highlights were when they sang O’ Tannebaum and of course, Stille Nacht, which they sang with snow softly falling around them on the stage.  My ultimate favorite was Minuit chrétiens (O Holy Night) sung in the original French.

So, while it wasn’t the Nutcracker or Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas Tour, for us it was a much more poignant reminder of the true meaning of the season.  Peace on earth and good will towards men.

It is the classic Christmas combo, but I rarely decorate for the holidays with red and green.

But, that didn’t stop me from having some fun with a few vintage goodies I had on hand.

Sometimes it’s fun to play around with the classics.

Even just a couple of vintage books can seem festive in the right colors.

Best wishes to you for a festive Christmas Eve!

Sue brought this darling little rustic box to the Carriage House sale last fall, and no one bought it.  Can you imagine?  Did no one see its potential?  It was only priced at $6, so I know it wasn’t overpriced.

So rather than let Sue take it back home with her after the sale, I purchased it from her myself.  I felt it was calling out for some finishing touches, so I decided to add a stencil and some vintage drawer pulls as handles on the sides.  I was dying to use my newest stencil, which is this one (and you can order it here).

I’ve mentioned this stencil in a couple of posts.  It says “Family and Friends gather here”, which makes it rather inappropriate for bedroom furniture, no?  I’ve been searching Craigslist high and low for a buffet or sideboard to paint since that would be the perfect piece for such a sentiment, but haven’t found anything yet.  Meanwhile, I realized that a portion of the stencil would be perfect for the side of this box.

I stenciled it using black craft paint, and freshly stenciled it looked like this.

I sanded it to give it a more authentic look, and then finished it off with a little Miss Mustard Seed furniture wax.  Next, I added some old cup pulls to the sides of the box just to add a little more interest.

Since I was on a roll and I had all of my supplies out and ready to go, I decided to do some more stenciling on boxes.

That box in the middle is covered in galvanized metal, the other two are both wood.

There are so many possibilities for boxes like these.  For example, they make great containers for storing all of your Jeanne d’Arc magazines.

Or add some vintage faux berries and a candle to create an awesome centerpiece.

I like using containers like this in my pantry to store the more mundane household goods, like paper towels.

I use this one to corral stuff on my coffee table; kleenex, remotes, coasters, etc.

 These boxes make great container gardens for the winter window sill too.

The possibilities are endless!

Sometimes I have what I think are brilliant ideas for a blog post.  I take on a project, shoot a bunch of photos, and in the end I only have one or two pictures that I like.  It doesn’t feel like I have enough for a full on blog post.  Such has been the case with most of my holiday decorating this season.

I was going to do a full post on the winter window box, but I really only had two decent photos.

It looks great in person.  The lights are pretty at night.  But the photos just felt sort of blah.

I also decorated the Eastlake dresser that is next to my back door.

I picked up the small silver ornaments in Germany and the vintage camera was a gift from my friend Sue.

The vintage Christmas postcard in the typewriter is from 1926, and was mailed from Notodden, Norway to Minneapolis with a Christmas message written in Norwegian.  God Jul!

I’ve also added a festive holiday pop to my Kitchen Scale buffet.

I was hoping to have some more photos to share with you, but it’s been so gloomy here lately that I can’t get any good pictures.

The forecast calls for sun this weekend though, and I hope to get a few projects cranked out that I can share with you next week.  Stay tuned.

If you followed my blog last Christmas, you already know that I have a collection of vintage glass Christmas ornaments.  I have a small silver tree that I display most of them on.  Last year I had a big plan to limit my collection to mainly pink, aqua and green, I wrote about that here (and you can see the full tree on that post as well).

The pink and aqua are definitely still my faves.

So pretty.

I totally adore this little blue one because of its space age theme.

Try to ignore my reflection in the ornament, lol.

But I wasn’t that successful at limiting my collection.  I ended up saving all of the silver and gold ones to decorate my dining room.

And I certainly couldn’t part with some of the more unusual ornaments, like these …

 A few years ago I used a lot of my plain vintage bulbs to create a wreath.

I have to laugh at the countless reflections of my black and white checked floor that you can see in this close up.

So, in the end I rarely have very many ornaments that I actually want to get rid of.  But, sometimes I put some aside for my Carriage House sale.  I’m trying to fill this box for next year’s sale.

I just need six more.  I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for them at garage sales next summer!

If I sometimes give the appearance of doing it all myself, you should know that in reality I have a lot of help.   With my one year blogiversary coming up soon, I thought I would officially introduce you what has become the cast of characters on q is for quandie.

First and foremost, of course, is Mr. Q.  My hubby of 25 years.  I’m pretty sure I couldn’t live without him. He is the brawn behind q is for quandie, helping me move furniture here and there.  He runs all over tarnation picking up craigslist buys.  He has also started doing a lot of the prep work for me; sanding and removing hardware.  He also is very understanding about my total obsession with refurbishing old stuff.  Really, he is just an all around good guy.

My sis (on left, that’s me on the right).  She lives in New Jersey (bummer!), but you’ll still see her mentioned all over the place on my blog.  She is always supportive of everything I do!  She visits as often as possible, and we travel together frequently.  Thank goodness for modern technology because we can text, call, email and just basically pretend like we don’t really live way too far apart.

Handyman Ken.   Several of my readers have gotten confused and think that Ken is Mr. Q a.k.a. my husband, but no, Ken lives next door.  He’s retired, so he has a little spare time on his hands for fixing stuff.  He is one of those guys who just knows how to make stuff work.  I think it’s a dying breed really.  I truly couldn’t do what I do without Ken.  He makes sure that the furniture I revamp functions the way it should.  He likes to sneak over during the day while I am at work.  Then, like magic, I come home from work to find that the furniture in my Carriage House has been magically transformed while I was off at the day job.  And best of all, he accepts payment in the form of wine!

New neighbor Karen, a.k.a. nnK.  She lives across the street from me and is my numero uno craigslist spotter.  She is always on the lookout for great pieces.  She’s also available at the drop of a hat to help me move furniture when Mr. Q isn’t home.  I can text her, and she’ll pop right over to lend a hand.  How fabulous is that?  nnK and her mom, Judy, are also there at every Carriage House Sale to help man the check out.

 

Sue (on left) is the other half of the Carriage House sale.  Sue and I have worked together at our day jobs for over 27 years (dear lord, how can that be possible I wonder).  We started hosting our sale together over 15 years ago and we are still going strong.  We’ve added other vendors here and there over the years, but in the end we find that we really only have enough space for stuff from just the two of us.  In the center of this picture is Sue’s sister Jan who always keeps me fortified with triscuits and cheese in a can while we garage sale! Cathy (on right) is the finder of free, or almost free stuff.  When she spots a cheap piece of furniture that she knows I can revamp, she grabs it for me every time!

And finally, there is me.  The creative mastermind behind qisforquandie.com (ha!  I say that with a big smirk on my face).  My real name is Linda, in case you didn’t know.  I started this blog nearly one year ago to share my furniture makeovers with the world, or really just the very small group of people who might be interested.

So, that is my fabulous cast of characters.  Hope you’ll continue to join us for another year of adventures!

I am so looking forward to my trip to Budapest and the cruise on the Danube River, but I am a little nervous about traveling in winter.  But, heck, I’m a Minnesotan for gosh sakes (you betcha).  I should be able to handle it.  I definitely have plenty of winter gear.  The real trick for me is figuring out which things to bring.

I recently purchased a new coat for the trip that meets all of what I consider to be the necessary requirements; waterproof, warm, comfortable, has good pockets, covers my butt.  All important factors.  I also got a great deal on it on the sale rack at Macy’s.  I also have a North Face fleece hoodie that I can add under it for even more warmth, not to mention some long undies just in case it is really cold.

I plan to style it up with some fabulous scarves, hats and gloves.  But I’m also debating about a suitable bag.  I like to use a cross body type bag when I travel, and it needs to be big enough to hold my digital SLR camera, maybe an extra lens, a bottle of water, definitely a collapsible umbrella, plus all of the usual suspects that go in your handbag.

I’ve narrowed it down to two choices.  I thought maybe you guys could help me pick.

Option 1 is a suede Crown Vintage bag that I picked up at DSW for $119.95.

I really love the look of this bag, but the drawstring top makes it a little tricky getting the camera in and out easily.  I take a lot of photos when I travel, so easy access to the camera is important to me.  Plus, the color of this bag kind of leans towards the khaki green side of grey.  It looks great here with my new furry infinity scarf that I bought at Carver Junk Co though.

But it doesn’t work quite as well with my aqua scarf and gloves.

Option 2 is an inexpensive Mossimo bag from Target that cost $29.99.

This bag is totally faux leather, but it has a distressed look that is almost believable.  The camera comes in and out a little easier with this bag.

It also looks better with the aqua ensemble (and I do plan to bring both the aqua and the furry scarves).

And let’s not ignore the fact that it is $80 cheaper than option no. 1.  However, it does look cheaper to me, and I doubt it will hold up as well as the more expensive bag.  I probably won’t use this bag at home at all, it will likely only be pulled out for traveling.  And only winter traveling at that, so it’s not going to get a ton of use.

There are definitely pros and cons to each bag.  I haven’t take the tags off either one yet, so both are still returnable.  So, tell me, which bag would you choose?