Category: quick and easy.

First off, thank you all so much for your comments on Monday’s post.
There was a good mix of city slickers and country bumpkins with a few suburbanites plus one ‘lake lassie’ thrown in for good measure.  It was fun to read all of your various reasons for your choice of country v. city!

Don’t forget, if you didn’t already comment on Monday’s post, you have until Friday to leave a comment on that post to be in the running for the prize.

You’ll remember back in May I purchased some handmade vintage wooden toys at a garage sale for $1.  They weren’t marked and there was a sign at the sale that said everything that wasn’t marked was a quarter.  But I really thought the seller would say “Oh, but not those …” when I asked about them, but instead she said “you can have them all for $1.”

My first makeover was the adorable pull-toy elephant whose head bobs up and down when you pull him along.

My handyman Ken had to do a few repairs on him before I gave him a milk paint makeover.

Next up was the truck.

Ken fixed the gate on the truck bed, and then I used Dixie Belle paint and some Prima Marketing knob transfers to dress it up.

I’ve saved the best for last though.  I called this one the Find of the Day when I bought it.

I just love those horses.

But I didn’t love the faded shades of red and green on the wheels and the wagon bed.  So I painted the wheels using Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky and the wagon bed using Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  Initially I had also planned on repainting the horses, but in the end I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to recreate those faces adequately.  So instead I just gave them a good scrubbing to clean them up.

I mean really, how sweet are those faces?

And the Drop Cloth on the wagon was a pretty good match for the existing color on the horses.

Once the cart was painted I added some portions of the smaller Prima Marketing Seeds transfer to each side.

They were perfectly suited for it.

I filled the wagon with a set of Wonder Books of the World’s Progress.

I purchased them at a garage sale too.  There were quite a few sets of vintage books for sale and another shopper was scrutinizing them all, I’m sure looking for publishing dates and trying to figure out if they might be valuable.  But I just grabbed these because I thought they were pretty.

They are such a lovely shade of blue.  And they just happened to fit perfectly in the cart being pulled by these horses.

Small projects like these aren’t great money makers for me, especially considering the amount of time that goes into them.  I’d be much better off spending that time working on a piece of furniture.  But I love taking cast off things like these toys and bringing them back to life.  I know my handyman Ken really enjoyed working on these toys as well.

How about you guys?  Do you enjoy the blog posts about small projects like this, or would you prefer it was all furniture, all the time?

I’m sharing another of the brand new 2019 Summer release transfers from Prima Marketing’s Re.design line today.  This one is called Delicious Menu.

This is definitely another one of those transfers that you can use on a ton of different projects, much like one of my other favorites, Everyday Farmhouse.

Just think of the possibilities!

In fact, I’ve already pulled together three quick and easy projects using this one, so let’s get started shall we?

First, I picked up this vintage metal picnic basket at a garage sale last year sometime.  I love these old metal baskets.

This one was in kinda rough shape though.  A bit rusty and crusty.  Which is probably why it was only $2.

Initially I thought I would just sell it ‘as is’ as a planter (because obviously, how cute would this be filled with red geraniums?), but after I received this transfer I knew I could add a little bit more.

It was super simple to cut out the sections I wanted to use and rub them onto the basket.

Next, I added some holes to the bottom of the basket so that it would have good drainage for plants.  It’s easy to do this with a drill, if you have one, but you can also just pound a nail in which is just as quick (or even quicker if the battery on your cordless drill is dead).

Then I just filled the container up with some potting soil and some pretty annuals.

I see a lot of people online asking whether or not the transfers will hold up outside, and also wondering whether or not you have to seal them with something.  I don’t like to give advice on that sort of thing without testing it first myself.  So, I’ve decided to keep this basket now and see how it holds up over the summer.

Oh, who am I kidding?  I’m keeping it because it’s frickin’ adorable.

I can already tell you that I’ve had this outside since the end of May and so far so good.  I didn’t seal it with anything.  In my opinion it’s more likely that the basket itself will rust out and fall apart sooner than the transfer comes off.  But we’ll see.  I’ll keep you posted on that.

But my philosophy is this.  I paid $2 for the basket.  The section of the transfer that I used on it would be about $2 too (assuming you use the rest of the transfer on other pieces).  So I’ve got a whopping $4 invested in the container.  Meanwhile, I spent about $30 on the annuals I planted in it and I know they are only going to last a year.  Therefore, who cares if the transfer doesn’t last?  Or if the metal rusts out?  I can toss the whole thing at the end of the season.

Next up is a super simple makeover.  I just added ‘Fresh Roast’ to a vintage enamelware coffee pot.

Doesn’t that just seriously add a lot more character?  And so quick and easy to do.

Last is another really quick and easy update.  I added the word ‘CAFE’ to this straw dispenser.

As it turns out, not so easy to capture that word on a curved surface with a two dimensional photo, but you get the idea.

I used this transfer on one more really cute piece that I’ll be sharing with you guys next week, so be sure to stay tuned.

Thank you to Prima Marketing for sharing the Delicious Menu transfer with me.  If you’re wondering where to buy it, check out Prima’s ‘where to buy‘ page.

I just love quick and easy updates that take less than 30 minutes and turn something plain into something fabulous.

I purchased an old wood crate at a lunchtime garage sale a couple weeks back (oops, forgot to get a ‘before’ photo).  Then I dressed it up with a Prima Marketing transfer and some cup pulls from Hobby Lobby.

Once again I used part of the Everyday Farmhouse transfer set for the wording.

Then I added these fun, rusty looking cup pulls to the sides of the crate to use as handles.

This crate would be super cute filled up with potted flowers, or maybe just a bunch of vintage blue ball jars.

I’m continuing to get tons of use out of that one set of the Everyday Farmhouse transfers, but I am starting to run out!

I definitely need to get my hands on another set!  In the meantime, remember on Monday I mentioned that new summer release from Prima Marketing?  Well, they have another awesome set of wordy transfers in the new release too.  I’ll be sharing a few things with those words added to them next week, so be sure to stay tuned.

Remember when Prima Marketing came out with some knob transfers last year?  I fell in love with this one …

I don’t know what it is that I love so much about that design.  I think it’s the contrast between that big ol’ pig and the French writing, or maybe it’s just the graphic punch of black and white.

I still haven’t found the perfect piece of furniture for these knobs, but in the meantime I have found another use for this transfer.

I mentioned that I purchased some handmade vintage toys at the Bryn Mawr garage sales.  I’ve already shared the stinkin’ adorable elephant …

Well, the 2nd piece I’ve redone is this chunky truck.

Unfortunately, I neglected to take a ‘before’ photo, drat!  But the truck was previously painted in red and green with the black wheels.  And one of the sides on the trailer was broken.  So my handyman/neighbor Ken fixed the side, and then I painted them and the cab with Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth, and the base of the trailer got a couple of coats of Dixie Belle’s Midnight Sky.  Once dry, I sanded to distress everything and added a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat sealer.

Then I added one of those fabulous pig transfers to each side of the cab.

Then, since that looked so cute, I added a few more transfers …

The Farm Fresh one is part of another knob transfer, while the ‘No 12’ on the front of the cab is a Tim Holtz transfer.

I also added some Tim Holtz rub-on numbers to the side of the trailer.

I thought this truck would be perfect to use on a shelf in a nursery with some books in the trailer.

But of course it was really just meant to be played with!

Monique, one of the owners of Reclaiming Beautiful (the shop where I sell on consignment in Stillwater), snatched the truck up as soon as I brought it in.  I just bet it’s destined for her adorable grandson.  Hopefully he’ll have lots of fun with it.

I’m heading out to some neighborhood garage sales tomorrow with my sister, so hopefully I’ll have some fun finds to share with you next week.  I’m also putting the finishing touches on a gorgeous spoon carved bed that I’ll be sharing soon.

And don’t forget, you have until midnight tonight to leave a comment on Monday’s post to be eligible to win the giveaway.  So if you haven’t already done that, you can use this link to get to that post and leave your comment.

 

Last week I told you guys that I picked up a set of vintage handmade wooden pull toys at the Byrn Mawr sales.  I only shared the horses and cart because the other pieces had already gone over to Ken’s workshop for some repairs.

The horses and cart are super adorable, but I think my favorite piece is the elephant.

That’s not a true ‘before’ because Ken had already made some repairs.  When I bought this, the elephant was broken off his platform.  Ken replaced the little wooden blocks holding him in place and re-attached him.

I really wasn’t fond of the muddy, dark colors that the elephant was painted in.  I wanted to lighten him up a bit.

I started by sanding him down lightly, cleaning off any dust and then painting him with a base coat of Dixie Belle’s Pink Champagne.  Although I planned to go with a chippy milk paint look ultimately, I knew I’d probably have some difficulty getting milk paint to stick over that shiny existing paint. I could have just added bonding agent to my milk paint, but I had the Dixie Belle paint handy so I started with that.

Next I mixed up some of Miss Mustard Seed’s Farmhouse White for the elephant’s body.

I used two coats of the Farmhouse White.  I would likely have needed a third coat had I not already given him that light base coat color with the Pink Champagne.

Next I mixed up some of Miss Mustard Seed’s Shutter Grey for the elephant’s cart.  However, after I painted it on I felt like it was too dark.  I wanted to keep the whole look really pale. So I mixed the remainder of my Farmhouse White in with the Shutter Grey to make it a bit lighter.  I’d say this is about a half and half mix.

As you can see, I got some great chipping.  Just enough to look authentic.

Finally, I added part of a grain sack stencil to the elephant’s body.

Once that was dry, I sanded the elephant to add some distressing and then gave him a topcoat of clear wax.

I’ve left out the most amazing part of this elephant.  When you pull him along by his string, there is a mechanism attached to the front set of wheels that makes his head go up and down.  Seriously, it is the most stinkin’ adorable thing I’ve ever seen.

I’m tempted to keep this piece just to stage future pieces of furniture, but in the end I will most likely take him to Reclaiming Beautiful (the shop where I sell on consignment in Stillwater).

 I think he might just be too darn cute to keep in a cupboard somewhere.  What do you think?

I know, I know.  I share a lot of painted suitcases.  I probably sound like a broken record.  I really enjoy painting them though.  It’s probably the traveler in me.

I have found that certain styles of suitcases will not sell ‘as is’, but usually sell well painted.  This is one of them.

It’s rather blah.  It’s also a bit on the cheap side with a plastic handle rather than leather.

But a little Dixie Belle paint in Caviar and one of Prima Marketing’s new gold Somewhere in France transfers give it an entirely new look.

It was just a happy coincidence that the transfer fit the suitcase perfectly.  And FYI, this is another of the transfers from the yet to be released Spring 2019 line.  They should be hitting retailers in mid-April or so.

There are 3 designs included in the Somewhere in France set …

As you can see, I’ve used the top section on this suitcase.

I used just the bottom two lines of the bottom section on the toolbox that I shared last week.

And again, as on the toolbox, the gold looks amazing over black.

 I took the suitcase in to Reclaiming Beautiful (the shop where I sell on consignment in Stillwater, MN) on Wednesday evening, so if any of you locals are in need of a fabulous painted suitcase be sure to head to Stillwater!

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co and Prima Marketing for providing the materials used for my painted suitcase.