Category: quick and easy.

OK, so, here’s the thing.  I’m not always real good at being properly seasonal.  I know everyone else out there in social media land is pushing the pumpkins, the fall colors, and the Halloween décor.

I, on the other hand, seem to be stuck in full-on summer mode still.  At least for today.  Quite honestly, it wasn’t until I was halfway done with these boxes that I realized I should maybe have gone with more of a fall look.

Oh well, I’m going to share them with you anyway.

If you’ll remember, I picked up a mini Lane box while garage saling last week.  As several of you commented, apparently these were given away to girls graduating from high school in the past (or maybe even still?).  My picker found the box on the bottom for me, and it’s an old cigar box.

I painted them both up in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth first and then I dug through my stash of transfers to see what would inspire me.

I ended up pulling out several Dixie Belle transfers; Vintage Floral, Dewy Morning and Vintage Post.  Those last two are brand new releases and I don’t see them listed on the Dixie Belle website yet, but they are available from DB retailers if you want to look for them.

Next I just went to town adding flowers to each of the boxes.

Once I had the flowers in place, I added a little wording.  The wording is all from the Vintage Post transfer.

The Lane box has a little bit of curved wording on the front …

And this bit on the top.

I had to look closely to see what that said, ‘inspiration and enthusiasm are caught not taught’.  So true, I like it.

The cigar box has this portion of the Vintage Post transfer on the top …

I wrapped it around the sides just a bit to meet up with the florals from the sides of the box.

My favorites of the flower transfers are the iris and the blue hydrangea on this box.

Those two, and in fact most of the flowers on this box, are from the Vintage Floral transfer.

The hydrangeas on the smaller box are from the Dewy Morning transfer and lean a little bit more purple rather than blue.

I didn’t paint the inside of either box.  I definitely didn’t want to paint the cedar box, since … you know, cedar lining is the whole point of that one.

I did line each one with some Paris map paper from October Afternoon though.

These boxes may be out of season, but hopefully you caught some inspiration and enthusiasm from this post anyway.

Both of these boxes are for sale locally (check out my ‘available for local sale’ page for more details).  If they don’t sell to someone here, I’ll probably tuck them away to bring into the shop next spring when they are more in season.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for providing the paint and the transfers used on these boxes!

I feel a little bit like I should apologize for today’s makeover.

I’m sure that someone put their heart into hand-painting this little wooden recipe box.

It was certainly sweet, and very well done, but maybe just a tad outdated.  I’ve re-done a few of these recipe boxes over the years and I always enjoy the process.

So when I saw it in the thrift shop, I couldn’t resist buying it so I could give it a little makeover.

I started by sanding down the hand-painted flowers and then giving the box a fresh coat of Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.  After giving that a quick sanding to smooth out the surface and distress the edges, I pulled out all of my transfer scraps and just had fun decorating the box.

I started with some florals from I.O.D.’s Floral Anthology.  I wrapped them around each side of the box.

As well as up and over the top.

I used a mish mash of transfers for the wording on the top, some are from re.design with prima’s Classic Vintage Labels, and some are from I.O.D.’s Label Ephemera.

The little ‘No. 4899’ on the front of the box is from a Tim Holtz transfer.

I painted the inside of the box using Dixie Belle’s Silk paint in Cactus.

I tried to stage my photos in such a way as to show that the lid is not hinged, it comes off.  But just in case that wasn’t obvious so far …

You could use this as a keepsake box, or maybe a gift box filled with candies.

Or of course, you could just use this as a recipe box.  I’m curious, does anyone keeps recipe cards any more?  I know that I don’t, at least not at the moment.  But one day (when mom’s done using them) I will hang onto my mom’s handwritten recipe cards … unless my sister takes them all!  Do any of you keep family recipes that have been handed down on index cards?

You know what would be an amazing keepsake?  Mom’s recipes mixed with photos of her, especially those of her cooking.

Hmmmm … I’m giving myself an idea here.

I turned a recipe box into a ‘scrapbook’ a while back,

but that time it was with travel photos …

This time around I could intermix scrapbooked index cards with actual recipe cards.  I think I just came up with a great winter project idea for myself!

But I’ll keep an eye out for another box to use for that project, and then decorate it specifically for that.

So this particular box is for sale locally.

I’ll bring it into the shop, unless one of you locals want to snatch it up first in which case be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Thank you to Dixie Belle Paint Co for supplying the paint used on this project.

First up I want to thank everyone for the kind comments left on Monday’s post, thank you so much, those comments mean a lot to me!

Some of you may remember the black dresser that I worked on earlier this year.  When I brought the dresser home, it had a mirror on it.

I usually find that dressers sell better without a mirror, they are so much more versatile that way and can be used in more settings than just a bedroom, so I removed it.  Initially my handyman Ken and I tried to salvage the frame that held the mirror and keep it on the back of the dresser.

But in the end I felt like the scale of it was all wrong, so I replaced it with a plain, straight board.

I never like to just discard pieces like this, so I held onto it for a rainy day.  Recently I pulled it out of a pile of random furniture parts and decided to turn it into a pegboard sign.

Basically all I did was add a stencil …

some wooden knobs, and a picture wire on the back so it could hang on the wall.

And voila, a cute decoration for someone’s laundry room was born.

It’s perfect for hanging your vintage clothes pin bag, or some old advertising wooden hangers.

There’s just something about adding wooden knobs to function as pegs that elevates a stenciled sign.  When I saw a couple of Ziploc bags full of them at a garage sale for $2, I snatched them up pronto.

Now I’ll have plenty of them for some Christmas cupboard door signs.  Four of them were perfect on this piece too.

This was an easy way to give this discarded bit of trim a new life.

I’d keep this pegboard for myself, but I don’t actually offer same day service on laundry … how about you?

The laundry co pegboard sign is available for sale locally, be sure to check my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

You may remember when my picker Sue found this little cabinet for me back in May.

At the time I mentioned that I wasn’t sure that I liked the cup pulls combined with the scrolly embellishments.  It seemed a bit busy to me.  I definitely didn’t like the brick red color, but maybe that’s just a personal preference thing.

I got some mixed opinions from you guys in the comments on how to update this one, but I opted to start with painting it white to see how that changed it up.

So I mixed up some white milk paint (a mix of two shades) and gave it a couple of coats.

It turned out fabulously chippy!  And I think the white did tone down the visual clutter on those drawer fronts a bit.

Once it was painted, I kept looking at it and thinking somehow the balance was off.  I decided what it really needed was some feet, or some sort of base anyway.  I looked at both Michael’s and Hobby Lobby for some small wooden feet to add to it, but didn’t find anything I liked.  Certainly I could have then looked further afield for something appropriate, but while I was cleaning out my workshop I came across an old yardstick that I’d already cut up and used part of for another project.  There was enough left to go around three sides of the cabinet as trim for a base.

I thought it would add a funky touch.  Plus I liked that the wording on the yardstick was red, which tied in with the red paint still visible behind the chippy white paint (and I left the interior in its original red as well).

The cabinet is not just sitting on flimsy yardsticks, Ken cut some wood to use as a solid base and then tacked the yardstick pieces around three sides.  So it’s nice and sturdy.

Since the yardstick has a hardware-ish sort of theme, I thought adding this section from the I.O.D. Label Ephemera transfer to the top would tie in with that.

Side bar; am I the only one who automatically sings “02134” whenever I read “Boston, Mass”?  The old Zoom address song?  Anyone else raised on early 70’s PBS kid shows?

OK, anyway, as I mentioned, I left the cabinet red inside and then lined it with some scrapbook paper.

I also came across some vintage oil cans that Sue found for me while cleaning out the workshop, so I decided they would be perfect for continuing the hardware-ish theme.

It took a bit of cleaning to get these un-oily … or mostly un-oily.  I washed them with Dawn dish soap first, then I followed that up with two rounds Mean Green Superstrength Cleaner and Degreaser, and finally a rinse with clean, hot water.

I’ve done a few of these oil cans in the past and they’ve all sold.  Most recently, after adding a white transfer, I sold the tiny little can that I shared in the same post as this original cabinet.

I’ve also painted them in the past …

and I also found one in an original cobalt blue paint once.

So I’m still debating these oil cans.  Should I paint them, should I add transfers, or should I leave them in their current state?  Will I continue to find a market for selling them?  Any suggestions?

Meanwhile, this little cabinet would be perfect for storing one’s stash of knobs.

Or any other hardware or crafting items really.

Since I already have a good storage system for my hardware, this cabinet is for sale locally so be sure to check out the details on my ‘available for local sale‘ page.

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.

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 …

But clearly it needed a coat of paint and a transfer as well.

Both the dresser and the tote are painted in Dixie Belle’s Drop Cloth.

The bee transfer on the tote is part of a re.design with prima knob transfer with some bits trimmed away.

Naturally, I had to line the drawers with some pretty paper as well.

I had to dig to find some scrapbook paper with a small enough floral design to look appropriate in these drawers, and that floral paper was perfect.

Seriously you guys, how frickin’ adorable is this thing?  I can hardly stand it.

I’m definitely going to have to hang onto this one for now.

What do you think?

As you may remember, when I was out at my mom’s a while back I purchased another of the I.O.D. stamps called Kindest Regards.

At the time I mentioned that I don’t know why I let myself get sucked in by these stamps. I’ve never been happy with the way stamps look on anything other than paper or fabric, so I don’t do a lot of stamping.

I do love the results on paper …

I used the I.O.D. Crockery stamp on those packages.

I also think stamps work great for fabric (as long as you can lay it flat on a hard surface to apply the stamp).  I used stamps from two different sets of IOD Décor Stamps on a pair of chairs; the letters and no 2 are from the Alpha II set and the wreath and the crown are from the Grain Wreath set.

Sidebar note:  although I used Ranger Archival Ink on those chairs, I would not recommend that brand for fabric.  It fades quite a bit over time.  Instead, use a permanent fabric ink.

Well, I got sucked in again while at my mom’s house the 2nd time and I purchased the I.O.D. Queen Bee stamp.

What is wrong with me?!

The thing is, I was hoping that I could figure out how to make the stamps look good on painted items.  Because I can’t keep buying the re.design with prima Classic Vintage Labels just for the two small bee transfers that come with it.  Or their Lovely Ledger transfer just for the crown.  No matter how much I love them!

If I can get a stamp to look this good, I can add bees and crowns to everything!

So I decided to do a little experimenting with various products to try and find a combination that would work.

First up, I’ve already learned that stamping on unsealed chalk paint or milk paint is no good.  I tried that on a pair of nightstands and met with disaster.  I did have luck stamping over Fusion paint (with its built in top coat), so I felt sure I could get the same result over Dixie Belle’s Silk Paint (this product also has a built in top coat).

So I pulled out a sample board that already had Silk Paint on it, and I pulled out various stamping mediums to test out.

I tested that same Ranger Archival Ink in Watering Can that I used on the nightstands, the I.O.D. Décor Ink in Stone Gray, Momenta permanent fabric ink in Black, and Dixie Belle Silk paint in Anchor.

And here are the results.

OK, so once again I achieved the best, most crisp, result with the Ranger Archival Ink …

The color I used, Watering Can, is a medium gray.  Perhaps I need to purchase this ink in black and see how I like it.

I applied the DB Silk Paint with a brayer, and I got mediocre results with that …

If you’re kind of a picky perfectionist (um, I might have to admit this often applies to me), this look isn’t going to cut it for you.  I find that I always get a slightly sloppy look when stamping with paint, it’s difficult to keep the stamp from slipping around.  I like the idea of using a paint with a built in top coat for durability, but I think it’s always a gamble whether or not you’ll achieve a clean result.

Hmmmm.  Clearly (pardon the pun) something went very wrong with the I.O.D. ink …

I had high hopes for their ink since they’ve designed it specifically for this sort of use.  The I.O.D. content creators that I watch on YouTube seem to use it with good results.  Was it user error?  Did I not shake the bottle enough before applying?  The ink seemed really watery to me.  I used a brayer to apply the ink to the stamp, maybe I need to invest in an ink pad to use with it?  If any of you use the I.O.D. ink please share some tips with me.

Last up is the Momenta fabric ink …

This one gave me a fairly good result at first glance.  However, after giving all of the inks about an hour to dry, I gave them all a smear test by dragging my finger over it.

Yep, clearly this ink is not intended for use on anything other than fabric.  This is the only one that smeared.

I also then let all of the inks dry for 24 hours and added a coat of Dixie Belle’s flat clear coat over them.  Once again, the fabric ink smeared all over the place.  The other three mediums were all good with the top coat though.

Since the Ranger Archival Ink in Watering Can gave the best result of the four options I had on hand, I decided to move on to phase II of my experiment using it.

Stamping over a hard, completely flat surface is all well and good, but most of the time I would be stamping on potentially lumpy surfaces and working around things like hardware and such.  So I decided to experiment on a toolbox.

Since I’d already painted the toolbox using Dixie Belle’s Sawmill Gravy, which is a chalk style paint, I had to start by sealing that with their flat clear coat.  Once that was dry, I started playing around with my I.O.D. stamps.

I started out with the Kindest Regards stamp on the sides of the toolbox.

As you can see, I ended up with some smudging, especially in the upper section where there are ridges in the toolbox.  But even the completely flat area ended up a bit smudgy in spots.

I thought maybe that I could better control a smaller sized stamp, so I attempted a few of varying sizes on the top of the toolbox …

and again on the front of the toolbox …

Unfortunately, in the end, stamping on toolboxes isn’t going to work for me.  If you’re OK with the possibility of smudging, and you don’t mind how that looks, maybe it’s workable for you though.

I ended up painting back over this one and turning it into this …

So for me personally, I’ll probably stick to mainly using my stamps on paper.  Just look how pretty this one is stamped in pink on some tissue paper.

So, leave me a comment and let me know, have you had better success stamping over painted items?  If so, do you have any tips that you’d like to share with the rest of us?  We’re all ears!