mini’s – Page 7 – q is for quandie

I bought the farm.

Published on February 23, 2024September 5, 2024 by Quandie30 Comments

I’m not gonna lie people, my creative well has gone a bit dry lately. I’m still struggling with tooth extraction pain, and it took a while to get over the cold I brought home from Florida. OK, I haven’t exactly ‘bought the farm’, but I definitely haven’t felt very creative lately.

In addition, I’m heading out of town again tomorrow, this time on a solo trip to visit my mom. So it seemed like a the wrong time to get started on any sort of more complicated project.

I did manage to get out for some thrifting with my friend opK earlier in the week though. I didn’t find much, but I thought I’d share my very meager haul with you guys.

We started out at a Goodwill where I made just two purchases. First up, this amber bottle.

I brought it home, gave it a good wash and then added that faux French apothecary label.

I did some similar amber apothecary bottles in February last year …

and I thought they turned out quite nicely, so I tried it again. I shared the source for printing those labels back in that post, so you can find that there if you’re looking for it.

The labels are easy to apply with some Mod Podge.

Since I already had the Mod Podge out and some labels printed, I decided to add labels to a couple of other jars I already had on hand.

I’ve had that pair of jars for ages and they originally had a much more faux looking paper label on them. I soaked those labels off to replace them, and these are so much better.

These jars have the cutest little galvanized lids.

I also found this dollhouse barn at the Goodwill.

It needs a little TLC, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of the dollhouse that I fixed up back in December.

That was such a fun project to work on, so I’m thinking this one will be more of the same.

Here’s the other side …

I had to laugh when I brought it up to the register and the clerk said “oh, I see you’ve bought the farm!” LOL.

Anyway, the barn has already gone over to Ken’s workshop for a few repairs. I’m looking forward to giving it a fresh look.

We headed to a spot that was new to me next, the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store in St. Paul.

By the way, can I just point out that it was a beautiful sunny day and the sidewalks were completely clear of snow and ice on the sunny side of the street. This is not the norm for Minnesota in February, but I’m loving it!

Unfortunately, I think their sidewalk sign was a bit of false advertising.

I didn’t find any hot deals. However, as we were waiting in line for opK to make some purchases I saw a shoebox full of old photos so I started flipping through them and this one caught my eye.

Just look at those stern faces! These guys were very serious about their sport.

The basketball … wait … is that a basketball? I guess I’m not 100% sure about that. Is there some other sport played with a ball that looks like that? Or is that what basketballs looked like in 1929?

Well, whatever it is, it says “E.F. HS 28 – 29” on the ball. There are no markings on the back of the photo, so that’s my only clue. So the age of the photo is obvious, but no idea where it was taken.

The photos were priced at a mere 15 cents each, so I thought I really should take it home with me.

I really have no plans for its ultimate fate, but for now I’ll just enjoy displaying it somewhere.

And that’s it. I only purchased three things. I’m really looking forward to garage sale season because I am not finding much at the thrift stores these days!

As I mentioned, I’m headed off to my mom’s tomorrow. She has a to-do list all ready to go for me. So far I’m doing her taxes, cleaning out her fridge and her closets, and replanting some of her pots on the patio. I’m looking forward to just spending some time with her though, and maybe enjoying some sunshine and warm weather. Once again I don’t have any blog posts planned during my absence, but hopefully I’ll be ready to get busy on some creative projects when I get back home again!

the mini adirondack.

Published on January 29, 2024September 5, 2024 by Quandie29 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in the past, our next door neighbor Ken is also our ‘handyman’.

He has done so many projects for us over the years!

He custom built our pantry.

He helped me create the faux shiplap wall in our principle bedroom.

He also created the faux board and batten look in our piano room.

We also discovered, long after we moved in, that Ken had built the shelving in our living room for the previous owners of our house.

In addition to these larger projects, Ken has also helped out with innumerable smaller projects around our house. He once saved us $6,000 by building custom screen inserts for the windows in our dining room (we thought we’d need to replace the windows and the quote for that was $6,000!). This would become a really long post if I tried to list everything he’s done around here.

And of course, on top of all of that, Ken also does the bulk of my furniture repairs. I think his favorite fix, or at least the one he still talks about, is the humpty dumpty dresser. After accidentally knocking it off some sawhorses and having it completely fall apart, he put it back together again.

I’ve also mentioned here that Ken builds Adirondack chairs.

We have two of them on the front porch, and two of them on the deck out back.

The thing that makes these chairs special (besides the fact that Ken built them) is that they are super comfy. They are all based on an Adirondack chair that nnK once had. Ken took her chair apart and created a template for making more. Since then he has made countless chairs.

A while back he decided to see if he could make a miniature version. He scaled his template down and came up with a perfect mini replica of the chair.

He put it together with painstaking detail.

He used toothpicks as miniature dowel rods to attach the slats.

He made one of these mini’s for nnK first. Then he made another for himself. And then finally, he made one for me!

Of course, I gave mine a paint job. I started by painting it with Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky, which I then covered up with their Drop Cloth. I wanted the dark base coat so that I could distress back to it along the edges, rather than just seeing that pale wood underneath.

Once the paint was dry, I added a simple, small Tim Holtz number transfer to the front of the seat.

After sanding lightly to distress, I finished it all off with a coat of clear wax.

I staged these photos using a few of my favorite things including the small boxes I painted up last fall.

They are sitting on a tiny new testament bible that belonged to my grandfather.

There is an inscription inside that says it was gifted to him as he went off to fight in WWI. And yes, that’s WWI, and it was 1917. I believe he would have been around 24 years old at the time. If you’re trying to figure out the math and how I could have a grandfather that was born in 1893, I have to point out that he was 47 years old when my mother was born.

I grabbed a few other items to add to my photo …

Most of these things come from those shelves in my living room, which is the eventual home of the mini adirondack as well. Unfortunately, it was far too gloomy here last week to get a good photo of the chair in its ultimate resting spot. So you’ll just have to trust me when I say that it fits right in with some of my other mini’s on those shelves like this one …

and this one …

I don’t know why I find miniatures so darn appealing. How about you? Are you drawn to miniature versions of furniture? Leave a comment and let me know.

94 aldersgate street.

Published on December 15, 2023September 5, 2024 by Quandie36 Comments

You may remember that I purchased a dollhouse while out garage saling this summer.

It was a bargain at just $5. It needed a few repairs, but nothing major. I asked my handyman Ken to create a replacement shutter for the window next to the door, and he made quick work of that.

Ken also created a new window sash for the upper right window, and re-installed the glass in that lower window, which involved adding new stops to keep it in place.

I also needed to replace some of the ‘roof tiles’. Conveniently enough, I found a pack of popsicle sticks that were the exact size I needed for $1.50 at another garage sale.

I cut them to size and glued them in place.

Easy peasy.

As I was working on those repairs, I noticed that there was a signature on the bottom of the dollhouse.

Looks like Al made this dollhouse back in 1978. It’s held up pretty good for 45 years old, don’t you think?

Initially I decided to use the Dixie Belle Patina Paint to create an aged faux metal look to the roof. I first gave it a base coat of black with their Caviar paint, and then painted the shingles with their Bronze patina paint. Then while the 2nd coat of the Bronze was still wet, I spritzed on the green spray.

But that’s where things kind of fell apart. I started painting the body of the dollhouse with Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, but that warm white just wasn’t working with the bronze roof.

So then I decided to paint the body of the house with DB’s Sea Glass. And I sort of hated it. Sea Glass is a very pretty color, and it worked nicely with that verdigris patina on the roof, but the whole combo just wasn’t what I was envisioning for this makeover.

Then I reminded myself that my original idea for this house was to paint it white. All white. So that’s what I did next. I painted over everything with DB’s Drop Cloth.

But I wanted the shutters and front door to stand out just a bit more, so I mixed up a custom paint color using 50% Drop Cloth and 50% French Linen to create a nice, pale grey.

It’s just enough to let those features pop, without taking away from the monochromatic look I was going for.

I felt like the trim over the door was the ideal spot for typography of some kind, so I cobbled together an ‘address’ from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer.

Perfect. I love it!

Once everything was painted, I distressed the edges a bit to make it look a little bit worn. I feel like distressing adds so much character to a piece, even a dollhouse.

I finished off the painted areas with some clear wax, then I used hot glue to affix some wreaths to the windows and door. I attached the lights around the roofline with some Stick-Um candle adhesive, which is basically a super sticky wax.

All of that Christmas frippery could be easily removed after the holidays. The Stick-Um residue can be removed with a hot soapy rag.

I didn’t do anything to the interior of the dollhouse except use a Magic Eraser to remove some pencil marks on one of the floors.

This way the future owner can dress it up with their own style.

To be honest, this ended up being one of those ‘what was I thinking?’ projects. I don’t need a dollhouse. I don’t have a spot for a dollhouse. In fact, I got rid of my own pretty spectacular dollhouse six years ago (more about that here).

But this dollhouse was a mere $5 investment, so really, what do I have to lose other than the time it took to paint … and then re-paint … it?

And it ended up being a rather fun project to work on.

I had actually planned on doing this well ahead of Christmas, because I thought it might be the perfect time to sell it. Wouldn’t it be adorable to find under the tree? While it would make a fantastic gift for a child, it would also just be fun to have as Christmas decor.

But once again, time got away from me and here we are with just one week to spare.

I went on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist to see what kind of competition there will be for selling it and there were tons of dollhouses for sale there! I didn’t even take the time to count them all there were so many. So clearly trying to sell a dollhouse around Christmas is not a unique idea.

The prices for those similar to this one ranged from around $150 to $250. I’m going to price mine well below that though. I really just want it to go to a good home. If any of you locals are interested, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Meanwhile, I think I did right by this 1978 dollhouse.

What do you think?

the netherlands in miniature.

Published on October 11, 2023September 5, 2024 by Quandie14 Comments

When people ask me what my favorite thing that we did during our recent trip to Amsterdam was, they always look a little confused by my answer. But in all honesty, I think my favorite was Madurodam.

Madurodam is a miniature park in The Hague that is full of 1:25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks.

Well, you know me. I love me some miniature stuff!

From the moment we rounded the corner and took in a view of the whole place I knew I was in heaven.

But first, some logistics. The Hague is about an hour away from Amsterdam by train. We took a train to The Hague, then a tram from the train station to Madurodam itself.

For me the train travel was part of the experience too. We got to see a bit of the Dutch countryside including quite a few flower farms and some smaller towns like Haarlem. I also saw quite a number of community gardens. I love seeing those in Europe! If you aren’t familiar, these are spaces where people who live in apartments without any outdoor space can rent a small ‘allotment’ and plant a garden. Many of them include a small greenhouse or a cute little shed of some kind. So fun to see!

But back to Madurodam.

You guys, I had some pretty high expectations for this place and I was not disappointed.

It was absolutely charming.

It was fun to spot places that we recognized from wandering around Amsterdam, like the National Maritime Museum …

the Magere Bridge …

and of course the Rijksmuseum.

By the way, that I amsterdam sign is no longer in front of the Rijksmuseum. Apparently it drew too big of a crowd with everyone wanting the perfect selfie (read more about that here), so they opted to move it.

Madurodam even had a miniature de Wallen, or red light district, complete with ladies in the windows.

Not only were the miniature buildings fantastic, but so were the miniature gardens.

They had informal landscapes …

Their use of miniature trees in that little town just blew me away. Isn’t it something?

They also had formal gardens.

That, by the way, is the back of Paleis Het Loo. Here it is from the front.

Remember when I said I wish we’d had more time in Amsterdam? This is one place that I would have loved to visit, but didn’t have the time.

Of course they also had some miniature windmills in Madurodam.

And some miniature tulip fields.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I was kind of delighted by some of the interactive elements, like the wooden shoe factory.

If you put a 1€ coin into the machine, a pair of Dutch shoes would fall down the shoot into the waiting truck, then the truck drove to you and you could take the shoes.

How frickin’ adorable is that?

And look how cute the little shoes are.

Not a bad souvenir for 1 € (or about $1.06), and this little pair of shoes will always remind me of the delightful day we spent at Madurodam.

If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam (or Rotterdam, or The Hague, or anywhere else nearby), and if you’re as enchanted by miniatures as I am, you absolutely should make the time to visit Madurodam!

a fairy garden update.

Published on September 17, 2023September 5, 2024 by Quandie10 Comments

Good morning from the garden!

Today I thought I’d share how my new fairy garden held up over the summer.

You may remember that earlier in the season I moved my fairy garden from a cracked cement birdbath into an old wheelbarrow. I needed more space to expand!

Here’s how it looked when it was newly planted in May.

And here is how it looks now!

Um, yeah. It definitely filled in a bit.

The creeping thyme really went to town, filling in that entire front corner …

and nearly smothering the buddha.

The Golddust Mecardonia from Proven Winners also grew like crazy.

I’ve cut that one back several times as it wanted to take over the entire space.

I knew that the wire vine that I trained on the arbor would need some regular maintenance.

I grew this one in my old fairy garden too. It has to be woven in and out of the arbor, and then cut back when it starts getting shaggy.

The various sedum that I planted were a little less rambunctious. They filled in, but they didn’t need cutting back at all.

The dark green plant on the upper right side of that photo above is a dwarf betony, or stachys minima. Unfortunately, it never bloomed for me. But it is a perennial and I’m hoping that if I protect it over the winter it will come back next year and bloom.

In addition to the Feather Boa hosta that I saved from my previous fairy garden, I also planted a new miniature hosta after I’d already shared the fairy garden back in May.

That is a Mighty Mouse hosta and I tucked it in just next to the fairy’s mailbox.

So far both of the mini hostas look great!

In the past I have had mixed results overwintering these mini’s in my fairy gardens. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don’t. I used to take the top of my cement bird bath fairy garden and place it on the ground up against the house where I would bury it in leaves for the winter. This year I plan to move the entire wheelbarrow into the carriage house for the winter. I’ll likely also cover it with leaves and maybe wrap it somehow.

I’m hoping to keep the Alberta spruce and the Golden Ruby barberry alive over winter as well.

So I’ll just cross my fingers on that.

Overall, I’d say the fairy garden was a huge success this year.

So the next time you see a crumbling old metal wheelbarrow in the free pile at a garage sale (I did see one this summer!), be sure to snatch it up and plant your own fairy garden!

a new home for the fairies.

Published on May 25, 2023September 5, 2024 by Quandie16 Comments

If you’ve been following me for long, then you’ve seen my fairy garden bird bath.

This was basically a miniature garden planted in a cracked concrete birdbath that I purchased at a garage sale. It didn’t hold water anymore, so that made it perfect for planting in. I’ve shared it many times, even decorated for fall.

It had a few really nice miniature hostas and a miniature Barberry that reliably survived our Minnesota winters as long as we buried the birdbath top in a pile of leaves up against the house for the winter.

Unfortunately, I somehow missed doing that last year. So here’s what survived …

Yep, that would be zilch. As a sidebar, in order to survive the winter in a pot (rather than in the ground) a perennial needs to be zoned two zones colder than your normal zone. In other words, since I’m in zone 4b, I’d need a plant zoned to 2 or lower.

But you know what, that was all the motivation I needed to push me to expand the fairy garden. Well, that plus the cute little fairy house that my sister gave me for Christmas.

I knew I didn’t have enough square footage in the birdbath to accommodate the house.

I’d been thinking about using a run down old wheelbarrow that we had in the garden for exactly this purpose, but it needed a little help first.

I asked my handyman neighbor Ken to help me shore it up. It didn’t need to be functional as a wheelbarrow, just sturdy enough to sit upright. So he basically used some screws to hold the wooden handles in the appropriate place, and then we drilled out some drainage holes in the bottom.

Today’s q tip; you ALWAYS need drainage holes in outdoor planters! If you’re turning some sort of vintage vessel into a planter, be sure to drill some holes in the bottom if it’s going to be outside.

So once that was done, I placed the wheelbarrow in a patch of vinca and filled it up with potting soil.

Then came the fun part, planting the garden.

I’ve been to a bunch of nurseries around my area looking for just the right plants for my garden in miniature, so I can’t exactly remember where I got each individual plant. But I can tell you the names of most of the plants in case you what to create your own fairy garden.

First up, I planted ‘Easter Bonnet Mix’ alyssum on either side of the path.

I got this idea from the model train garden in the Germany pavilion in Epcot. I’ve never really been a fan of alyssum in the garden, but I’d never thought about how perfectly miniature it is until I saw it being used there.

The plant with the tiny yellow flower is Golddust Mecardonia from Proven Winners.

It also has a tiny bloom that is perfect for a fairy sized garden.

I’ve been planting a wire vine on the metal arbor for years.

It has tiny little leaves that are the perfect size. I have to periodically weave it up and over the arbor though, it doesn’t climb by itself.

The buddha and his lantern are sitting in a patch of woolly thyme.

Some of the other small plants I’ve used include Sunset Velvet oxalis, Golden Oregano, some small sedums, and a couple of small unidentified plants from the fairy garden section at Bachmans.

Also, thankfully, when I last divided the miniature ‘Feather Boa’ hosta in my old fairy garden, I put a few chunks of it in the ground near the potting shed. So I was able to dig one back up to put in my new fairy garden.

Since I’ve placed the wheelbarrow in the sunniest spot in my entire garden, I realized that I needed to provide some ‘shade’ for that hosta. I looked high and low for fairy garden sized trees or shrubs and was totally striking out. Two of my local nurseries, Bachmans and Rose Floral (in Stillwater, MN) always used to have them. But I noticed that they disappeared during Covid and they haven’t come back at either place. They still have other small plants, but no tiny evergreens or shrubs.

Oddly enough, I ended up finding some that would work at Lowe’s. The evergreen tree is a Dwarf Alberta Spruce.

The average mature size is 3′ to 4′ tall and wide, but I’m hoping to keep it smaller with regular pruning. I also trimmed off some of the root ball when I planted it to encourage it to stay small. In addition, there isn’t a ton of room in that wheelbarrow for roots, so hopefully that will discourage too much growth, but not kill the tree.

It was only $11.98 though, so if it doesn’t survive I’m not out a lot of cash.

The bush on the other side of the house is another barberry, a Golden Ruby.

It’s potential full size is 2′ tall and wide, so I gave it the same treatment as the tree, pruning both the top and the roots.

Naturally, after I had the tree and bush planted, my neighbor nnK texted to let me know that the Abrahamson’s Nursery in St. Croix Falls has a big selections of fairy garden trees and shrubs. So if any of you locals are also looking, check Abrahamson’s. They have several locations in the St. Croix valley.

I wonder if any of you remember that I mentioned potentially trying the Dixie Belle patina paint rusty look on my little angel statue last year? It was looking rather shabby, so I did rusty it up using the Iron paint and the green spray (for all of the details on using that product, check out this post).

I added the path using thin slices of flagstone that have broken off my full size flagstone patio.

I’ve had this little pavilion for several years now, but my old birdbath fairy garden wasn’t big enough for both the pavilion and the arbor, so I used to switch it up every other year or so.

Now I can fit both of them in.

One fun thing about fairy gardens, you don’t need a drone to get good aerial shots.

I had lots of fun creating my garden in miniature. It’s so much easier to plant a tree when you can just pick it up and move it with one hand, and weeding it takes no time at all.

It’s also much cheaper than it would be to create a full sized garden from scratch. Although, that being said, I probably spent somewhere around $100 for all of those mini plants.

Now, as long as the squirrels don’t decide to start digging stuff up, I think the new fairy garden is good to go. I’m looking forward to seeing it fill in over the summer. And I have about 5 months to figure out how I’m going to protect it in winter.

Have any of you got a fairy garden? Or perhaps I’ve inspired you to create one now? It would be the perfect solution for those of you who only have a small space for gardening. Leave a comment and let me know.

the top heavy cupboard fix.

Published on March 20, 2023September 5, 2024 by Quandie50 Comments

I promised I’d share what I ended up doing with that top heavy mini-cupboard.

If you’ll remember, I found it while thrifting a week or two ago. I almost put it back on the shelf because I wasn’t sure it would be worth the effort to save it. It had such a wonky, top heavy look.

In addition, what I didn’t show when I mentioned it last was that it was filled with gross contact paper.

I think yucky old drawer liner might be near the top of my list of things I really don’t like to deal with. Right after smoky smells and mouse pee. I mostly try to avoid old contact paper, but I completely draw the line at the other two!

Fortunately, the adhesive on the contact paper had really deteriorated, so it came off rather easily.

Next I had to deal with that top heavy look.

I asked you guys for suggestions, and several of you had some really good ones including just removing the door, or maybe moving the door to the bottom, or even flipping the cupboard upside down turning the top into the bottom and then cutting off the old legs and adding new ones. I did pop it upside down to see how it would look and that might have been an option that worked well.

However, after consulting with my handyman Ken, we decided to remove the door and then cut back the top half of the cupboard so that it was stepped back rather than flush with the front. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see where I marked the new measurement for Ken.

Ken simply used a jig saw to cut everything off beyond that 5″ mark. Then he did his best to recreate the curved sides below the upper shelves.

I wanted to possibly re-use the door on the bottom section, but Ken felt it was too warped to use. I suppose we could have added a new door, but in the end, I think it’s fine without a door.

After sanding and cleaning the piece, I painted the inner bits with Dixie Belle’s Kudzu, and the outer bits with their Drop Cloth.

I just love this combination of white and green, especially in springtime. OK, well, spring is definitely not here yet, we still had some single digit temps last week while I was working on this one. But surely it’s just around the corner, right?

Next I lined the shelves with that pretty gingham scrapbook paper you’ve been seeing me use a lot of recently.

Once again, I am totally kicking myself for putting the majority of my garden themed props out in the potting shed, including my green flower frogs. There is still a 3′ bank of snow in front of the door. So for now, I have to make do with my basic uncolored frogs.

Finally, I added a Classic Vintage Label transfer from re.design with prima to the ‘work surface’ before giving everything a coat of clear wax. Well … not the paper of course, but all of the painted parts. The paper, by the way, is not adhered. It’s loose, so if someone wanted to switch it out for something else they could easily do so.

In addition to those frogs, I also staged this one up with the itsy bitsy dresser that I painted up a while back and few other bits and bobs.

Isn’t it sweet?

This little cupboard would be the perfect addition to a craft room, potting shed, desk top, etc, etc.

I think Ken and I did a good job of eliminating that wonky top-heavy look and giving this little cupboard a fresh new look with some paint, paper and a small transfer. Ultimately, I’m glad I didn’t put this one back on the shelf at the thrift store.

What do you think?

The cupboard is for sale, so if you are local be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for all of the details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the paint used in this project.

a growing village.

Published on December 5, 2022September 5, 2024 by Quandie31 Comments

Well, I made it home from Mexico. We had a great time, the weather was absolutely perfect. I’ll be sharing a little bit about the trip later in the week, so stay tuned for that. I’ll also be sharing who won my blogiversary giveaway later, as soon as I get to it.

In the meantime, today I thought I’d share my growing Department 56 Dickens Christmas Village.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Department 56, it began in 1976 as part of Bachman’s and is still headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

The Original Snow Village was the only village offered initially. The Dickens Village came along in 1984. These days they have six core villages, and 12 Licensed villages like the Disney village that my sister is collecting and the Harry Potter village (and I have to say, if you’re a Potter fan this one would be amazing to have).

I have to admit, although these villages were all the rage back in the 80’s and 90’s, I think maybe the Dickens one has fallen from favor. Or maybe it’s just that the people who collected them back then are all downsizing as they age. Whatever the reason, they seem to pop up at estate sales, garage sales and thrift stores on a fairly regular basis.

The new pieces are priced at $100 and up, with the most elaborate priced at $250 or more. I do want to note here that the quality of these pieces is much higher than the cheaper, generic sort of ceramic pieces you can find out there, though. So I’m not saying they aren’t worth those prices. However, my pieces have all cost less than $20. This past summer my sister and I came across a garage sale where they were selling dozens of pieces for $10 each. So my Tower of London piece, which is selling for $249.99 on Amazon, cost me $10.

As did the Kings Road Post Office.

I certainly was never planning to collect (or should I say non-collect) a Christmas village. I did not hop on board with this trend back in the day when it was immensely popular. But back in 2016 I shared a tour of my friend Amy’s house and I fell in love with her little village vignette.

The juxtaposition of the giant books with the lighted village on top was perfect. So when I saw a few pieces at the thrift store, I decided to pick them up.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

When I find pieces at prices like $10 each, I just can’t help myself.

Last year I displayed the village on the Welsh cupboard in our dining room …

But I needed to expand this year.

So I went back to the pine cupboard in the Q branch …

as well as the top of the rooster cupboard in the same room …

and finally I displayed Victoria Station on the stack of suitcases next to the pine cupboard.

Those of you who are Christmas Village pros are probably already savvy, but I thought I’d share a few q tips on displaying a village for those who are newbies like me.

My first tip is to layer your display. Just like on a buffet table, use props to place things at different heights. I achieve this using vintage suitcases and old books.

I set these up first to create a stage for my village.

Next up is electrical. I just discovered that you can buy strings of multiple lights for the villages from Amazon last year. You can light up three, five, or even nine buildings with just one string to plug in.

I also purchased a remote control outlet to plug them into. Now with one touch of a button I can turn them all on and off. Well, technically I have two buttons. One for the group over the pine cupboard and one for the group over the rooster cupboard.

One more tip for today, on adding trees. When I was at Gertens a few weeks back, they had some fabulous faux flocked pine trees in their village display. Unfortunately, they were $49.99 each, yowza! Granted, they were lit. But I also thought they were just a tad too large for the village. So I didn’t buy any.

Then later, while perusing the Christmas décor at Target I came across these trees.

They are very similar to the Gertens trees, but about half the size. They aren’t lit, but they also were only $3 each. So I was able to get 10 of them for less than just one of the Gerten trees. And I’m OK with them not being lit, that allows the village to be the star of the show.

I think they make for a very realistic looking snowy looking background.

I get the most enjoyment out of my village at night. I leave all the lights off in the room, and just light up the village. It’s so pretty!

I suspect I’ll continue watching my village grow over the coming years.

How about you, do you have a Christmas village? Leave a comment and let us know.

seriously, what are the chances?

Published on July 18, 2022September 5, 2024 by Quandie13 Comments

My friend/picker Sue picked up this cute little toy dresser for me recently.

It’s not an antique, or a salesman sample, or anything like that. But it is pretty darn cute. If only it wasn’t missing the mirror.

Sue thought I could get a new one cut for it, and maybe so. I do wonder how difficult it would be to cut that oval though. So I decided to just paint it in and see what I could find in my transfer stash to fill that spot.

But first up, I removed the knobs. They are OK, but I knew I could do better. Especially since I already had some fabulous small glass knobs on hand (from D Lawless Hardware).

Next I gave the piece a good sanding, and then a good cleaning. Then I followed that up with two coats of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth. The existing finish was pretty dinged up, and I much prefer the warmer shade of the Drop Cloth over the original white on the dresser.

Then I added the top half or so of the small Petit Rosier transfer from I.O.D. to the front of the dresser.

The small (11″ x 14″) version of the transfer fit almost exactly across the width of the drawers, what luck.

FYI, this transfer has been retired. You can still find it online, but supplies are limited.

Next I pulled out my Classic Vintage Labels transfers from re.design with prima. I knew there was an oval shaped label in that set and I was hoping it would be the right size and shape to fill that spot where the mirror once was. I will admit that I was thinking to myself, ‘what are the chances? probably pretty slim, right?’

And look at that! Pretty much the perfect fit. Seriously, what are the chances? Things like this rarely work out this well.

Once I’d also added the “les roses.” wording from the I.O.D. transfer to the top, I sanded the edges of everything and then added a coat of clear wax.

Then I popped on the glass knobs.

I think those knobs elevate this piece just a tad, don’t you?

Finally, I lined the drawers with some pretty floral scrapbook paper.

How sweet is that?

I staged it simply with a lovely little round floral dish that Sue also found for me, and some vintage jewelry.

This would make a fun jewelry box, you’d just have to come up with some little boxes or something to put inside the drawers to prevent everything from becoming a jumbled mess.

But really, this piece could be used anywhere to hold small items … like perhaps your large collection of reading glasses … or is that just me?

I already happen to have a mini with the Petit Rosier transfer on it of my own …

So today’s project is for sale (locals only, no shipping available). Be sure to check out my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

One last thought on this project; this is not the sort of thing that anyone is going to make their fortune on … or really even be able to pay the bills with. I paid $12 for the dresser, $18 for the transfer and $9 for the knobs. It didn’t take much paint or wax, so I’m not counting those things. Plus I have a lifetime supply of scrapbook paper, so I’m just happy to be able to use that stuff up. But, that means I have $39 into this piece, which would be perfectly fine if I was keeping it for myself. However, I usually sell pieces like this for $48. So, if it sells at that price, I’ve made about $4.50/hour for my two hours of labor.

Choosing to change out the hardware and add that expensive smaller I.O.D. transfer would not be wise choices if I was in this for the money. Instead I would recommend using pieces from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer (also retired unfortunately), or the newer I.O.D. Brocante or Traditional Pots transfers. Although those are more expensive at around $30 each, I can get 10 or more projects out of each one.

Luckily I’m not in this for the money, although I try not to lose money on any of my projects! I really enjoy the process of creating, and in the end I’m happy that I can sell most of my pieces and I don’t have to become a hoarder. Or, worse yet, take them to the Goodwill. But I wanted to at least mention this for those of you who may be trying to make a buck.

If you sell your items, would you bother with a project like this? Or do you stick to items with a higher profit margin? Or maybe you think my price is too low and you could sell it for more? Leave a comment and let me know.

itsy bitsy, teenie weenie.

Published on June 2, 2022September 5, 2024 by Quandie21 Comments

It’s not a yellow polka dot bikini, but it’s definitely itsy bitsy, teenie weenie.

It might be difficult to judge the scale based on that photo, but I can tell you that this little guy is 2 3/4″ tall by 3 1/4″ wide. The knobs appear to be beads that are just glued on.

Here, maybe this photo gives you a better idea of the size.

I believe this probably qualifies as 1″ scale, if you are familiar with such terms (as in 1′ is reduced to 1″). Way smaller than yesterday’s mini.

Now you may have thought that I should just leave this one alone, but you know me better than that by now, right? Of course I painted it!

And of course I found some itsy bitsy transfers to add to it.

This is a mash up of transfers from I.O.D. , re.design with prima, and Tim Holtz.

I had the little tool tote and the bucket in my stash of dollhouse décor from back in the day when I had a pretty fabulous dollhouse (you can see it here). I ended up sending that dollhouse out to my in-law’s place because I didn’t have a good spot for it, but I hung onto a handful of little things.

The tool tote was in the attic in my dollhouse …